Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:13-16

“But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?”

In today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses two phrases to describe His disciples.  He calls them “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”.  Of course, in describing His disciples in these two ways, He’s also describing what your life ought to look like, as you strive to follow Jesus each day of your earthly pilgrimage.

Salt has long been used in human cultures as a preservative of food.  So it’s tempting to consider Jesus’ image of “the salt of the earth” as meaning that Christians are called to preserve life.  In other words, Christians are called to preserve what we already have.  While that’s true, Jesus’ following words suggest that Jesus is making a different point.

Jesus speaks of salt in terms of its taste:  that is, as a seasoning.  We all know that salt is not meant to be tasted by itself.  Most of us would be repulsed by the idea of putting a spoonful of salt in our mouths.  However, we sprinkle salt on our food in order to bring out the taste within the food.

So here we can reflect on Jesus’ image in terms of our own discipleship.  If we as Jesus’ disciples are “the salt of the earth”, Jesus is complimenting “the earth”.  The earth is the plate of food, and we are the salt that brings out the taste of that food.  Jesus is reminding us that there is value—there is taste—in the world because it was created by God.  Even though the world is fallen, our role as disciples involves bringing out what is good in God’s creation—in fact, cultivating that good—so that it might be elevated by God’s supernatural grace.