Salt

There is certainly salt all over today. At least in our area of the world. There is salt on the sidewalks, salt on the roadways, salt on the parking lots, all put there with one goal: to melt the snow and ice. (Of course, with the low, low temperatures this morning, the salt is going to have to wait to do its work.) Salt is there to try to provide safe transport from one place to the other, whether you are walking or driving.

As I walked from my car to the coffee shop this morning, I noticed the salt. Everywhere. And the verse that popped into my mind is from Matthew 5, where Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth. Maybe it's on my mind because it figures into a sermon coming up. Probably. But I got a different perspective on that verse this morning.

Normally, when such a verse is preached, we'll remind folks that salt was more than just flavoring in the ancient world. Salt was a preservative, a necessary ingredient in keeping food edible. Salt was also not always pure, and could lose its flavor and potency, at which point it was thrown out because it was useless. And so, we tell congregations, when Jesus tells us we are the salt, he's saying we're to "flavor" the world and to be a "preserving" agent in the world.

And all of that is true. Wonderfully true. But for those of us who live in the snow belt, salt has another function.

It melts.

It melts the ice and the snow. It turns what was unsafe into something safe. A sidewalk becomes a place to walk again rather than a skating rink. A roadway becomes a place to drive again without as much risk of accident. Salt restores, salt melts, salt makes safe.

You are the salt of the earth. In the midst of a world that is more than just cool toward Christian faith, but is actually cold, even frozen, toward people of faith, those of us who are salt have a "melting" function. With kindness, with deeds of generosity, with actions of grace, we melt the hearts that have become antagonistic toward Jesus and toward the church. Bit by bit, inch by inch, molecule by molecule, we respond to our frozen world with the warmth of Jesus' love. And as faith takes over, the world becomes ever safer, ever more the way God intended it to be.

Did the Gospel writers have this in mind when they included this saying of Jesus? I doubt it. Did Jesus have it in mind when he said it? Who knows? And maybe it's pushing the metaphor too far. But as I head out this morning, I'm thankful for the salt on the sidewalk and the roads, making it safe for me to move. And I'm thankful for those who salt my life with kindness, good words, and acts of grace. May we melt the frozen heart of this world with His love.