5th Sunday after Epiphany

What do we mean when we say, “you are the salt of the earth?”  In Jesus’ time salt had three important properties.  Firstly, it was considered to be pure.  Its glistening whiteness was associated with purity.  The Romans said that salt was the purest of all things because it came from the purest of all things: the sun and the sea.  The second important property of salt was that it could preserve food.  Salt stopped meat from going bad by keeping it fresh.  Plutarch said that salt is like a new soul inserted into a dead body.  Finally, and most importantly perhaps, salt gives flavour.  Food without salt can be insipid and flavourless.  Salt makes food more exciting.  In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said that his followers should be “the salt of the earth.”  God wants His people to be pure, to be a cleansing antiseptic and to bring flavour to life.  It is this last quality that was important to Jesus.  “What good is it if salt loses its flavour?”  It is a call for all Christians to be people that radiate the richness of life.  That is what God wants from all of us.