“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13
You are the Salt of the earth. Who is Jesus talking to? I have heard a few good sermons on this verse, using it directed at us as Christians. But Who was Jesus actually talking to? We will get to the point of how it relates to Christians shortly; but Jesus was talking to Jews. He was talking to members of the chosen race. God’s chosen people, Israel. You are the salt of the earth.
A broken people in many ways, oppressed by the tyranny of Rome, corrupted by false teaching of many of its religious leaders, everywhere Jesus went there were many sick people, oppressed by the devil. Under the curse of the law. Yet Jesus said You are THE salt of the earth. God’s chosen people. A people that had for the most lost their way; in a wilderness waiting, hoping that the Messiah would come to set them free.
Here He was the One they had been waiting for, telling them that “You are the salt of the earth.” Amazing, yet there is a warning in the words of Jesus. Maybe it was just a statement. As they were a nation that were being trampled underfoot by men, by the Roman empire, and the religious leaders. Still Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world.” Still even today the world looks toward Israel to see what is going on there. It is like they do not know but there is something significant about what goes on in and around Israel.
Salt, if it becomes tasteless how will it become salty again? Could this be a camel through the eye of a needle question where the answer is, ‘with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible! One thing I know that Jesus was saying, is that there were groups of people, that had lost their saltiness, and that they could not in themselves, be made salty again. There was nothing that they could do to bring the taste back, through doing, or trying to be righteous. Salt cannot make itself salty again.
Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:50
Jesus tells the people to have salt in themselves. What does that mean? It is to do with making the choice to be in fellowship, to have a relationship with God. If we are in relationship with God then we have salt, we are tasty. Here Jesus talks about having salt in regard to our relationship with each other, that we be at peace with each other.
I see that Jesus is telling us here that we are to be careful not to become unsalty. We have to decide to make sacrifices out of love for God to enable us to remain salty. Again it is not about actually doing something to make us righteous, salty, it is more about deciding to allow God to work in us and through us. To be led by the Spirit, and not satisfy the yearnings of the flesh. We have the salt, we are salt, but the world around us can dilute that saltiness. They the Israelite were and we are the salt of the earth.
A chosen people that are supposed to be the salt of the earth, to season the earth with the truth of the love and grace of God. The only way that they could regain their flavour is through the grace of God. that is kind of what happened on the day of Pentecost. God giving restoring the saltiness. You are The Salt of the Earth! You are the Light of the world!
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; Matthew 5:14
but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? Matthew 5:13
There are some great truths hidden in these scriptures that the Spirit of God would want to reveal. So we can see how they can relate to us in our walk with the Lord. If the salt is not made salty again, it is good for nothing. So how can tasteless salt be made salty again? The answer is not anything too difficult, it does not take hours, days, weeks of begging of the Lord to help. To the people of Jesus time it was simply to believe in Him and His words.
I Think that it is still that simple, despite all of our religious traditions. Jesus never turned people away. He did rebuke some for lack of faith, and darkened minds to the truth. Even if a religious leader would have been brave enough to step out and follow the Lord, he would have been made tasty salt again. We are the ones who make all of these things difficult. To be made salty again is just a matter of coming back into fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Along with this is the fellowship with other believers. As simple as, one man’s faith can rub off onto another, or many.
We are the salt of the earth and we do have influence over the world around us. Our Faith is what overcomes the world in our lives, and that faith can affect and infect people around us; Those in the Church as well as those in the world. That is why Jesus told us to teach the world the things that He said. Affecting and infecting the world for Jesus requires that we are salty. Have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; Then we will heal the sick and cast out demons. We will do what Jesus did, and heal those who are oppressed by the devil.
Charlie King
