How Salty Are You?

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Mt 5:13 AV)

 

The initial thought I had is if Jesus is teaching that salt cannot be revitalized to become saltier, then if the saint were to lose any effectiveness to influence his world, this loss of influence would be permanent.  I then asked the question of how salt can lose its savory nature.  If salt is a chemical compound, how does that chemical compound diminish?  This lead me to several commentaries and articles regarding the differences between salt in the western world and the salt commonly used in Palestine.  In most parts of the world, we get our salt from evaporation or mining.  The salt we harvest is purified salt.  According to a chemist, there is no known substance or process by which salt can lose its savor.  We know Jesus cannot be wrong, so what is going on here?  The salt of the middle east was harvested from marshes along the coastline or from salt lakes that would dry up in summer.  This salt contained much organic material.  The more organic material, the less savory the salt.  Now we begin to understand how salt can lose its saltiness.  The more organic material salt contains, the less salty it will taste.  The more pure salt is, the saltier it will taste.

My wife and I love watching cooking shows.  Particularly those which teach the viewer something about food.  We were watching the last season of a particular show last night which featured a different celebrity chef in each episode.  Many of these chefs I have never heard of.  Last night was such a case.  This Chef’s specialty was desserts.  In particular, baked goods.  During the challenge, a judge and the guest chef would go to each contestant and taste their cooking as they go, but also offer advice on how to improve their dish.  They were looking for teachability in these contestants.  If there were not willing to listen, then they would more than likely exit the show.  One particular candidate wanted to show all of his techniques and creativity in one dish.  They warned him about overcomplicating a dish and causing no symmetry in the flavor profile of his finished dish.  He ignored their advice and that is exactly what happened.  Another cook made his dish way too salty.  This grabbed my attention because we have all been there.  How do you un-salt a salty dish?  I believe it was some kind of batter he was mixing.  My first thought was to dilute it.  Make a second batch of batter and dilute the salty batter with unsalted batter.  That would have been my solution.  However, the guest celebrity chef advised him to add lemon juice.  Something about lemon juice reduces the perceived savoriness of salt.  There was organic material added to reduce the salty taste of salt.  Salt itself was not reduced.  The amount of salt in the dish remained.  There was something else added which reduced the impact of that salt.  A conflicting flavor profile that reduced the impact of the salt.

Now, we see exactly what the LORD was trying to tell His disciples and it is so simple.  The introduction of organic material into salt makes it less salty.  At some point, the purification process of contaminated salt would be more work than merely going to the marsh and getting more.  The permanent state of unsavoriness was only permanent in the sense that purifying it would not be cost-effective.  There was better salt out there that was easier to get.  This is a great illustration of the usefulness of God’s saints to the work of the kingdom.  No doubt, we have connected the dots.  The organic material found in Palestinian salt is equated to the world.  As the world influences the saint, he becomes less effective in influencing the world.  The more we let into our lives and become like that which surrounds us, the less we can exhibit a contrast between the world and God’s holiness.  The more evident application is what the middle eastern cook would do with the salt.  He would cast it aside in favor of more potent seasoning.  This application then becomes a warning.  If we have too much of the world in us that we can no longer affect the world, then God will turn to another salt that is more separated from its world.  In this, we see a challenge.  The more purified from the world we are, the more useful we are from God.  If we will not be purified, then God simply turns to others who will be.