I was reading Matthew 5:13 this morning. It's the familiar passage in the Beatitudes where Jesus teaches about his followers being "salt of the earth." Here it is:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."
Something hit me strangely about it today...maybe it was a question about how salt could actually lose saltiness or maybe it's the weird reference to being "trampled." But in any case, I got curious. And so I dug and dug until I discovered something I never knew:
Salting-the-earth was an actual practice of the Roman Empire! They would literally salt the earth of enemies after they'd conquered their lands...to ruin the soil for crops (and make them dependent upon Rome for food). Salt ruins the ground for any crops to ever grow there again!
So when Jesus tells us to be "salt of the earth," I don't think he's primarily talking about salt as a flavor or preservative (both helpful analogies for Christ-followers, but I don't think the main point). Instead, He is telling us that WE are to prevent the enemy from EVER growing "crops" in that land again. We're to RID the world of the enemy by salting the land so Satan can no longer grow his crops here! It's war-talk. It's about conquering. It's making sure that no enemy-crops grow up around US.
I also learned that salt loses it's "saltiness" only when mixed with impurities. When we mix ourselves in with worldliness (i.e. enemy territory) than we are ineffective as salt. We lose our saltiness. We cannot conquer enemy lands and prevent his crops from growing if we, ourselves, are mixed together with impurities.
I love learning. And this one really blew my skirt up!!
3 comments:
Good stuff. It's interesting to me with something I'm still processing - how in Joshua God commands that Israel kill everyone before moving into Canaan so they wouldn't be influenced by their evil. That is the ultimate example to me of not mixing it up with the world. In this case, God is incredibly serious about not losing saltiness, so strong he wants them to kill. Takes the measure of guarding your heart to a new place. It challenges me as an individual and parent; I don't want to live in a bubble, but these are strong commands. When it gets complicated is Jesus hanging out with the prostitutes and tax collectors. Thoughts on reconciling?
I think this, as with many things with God, is purely a matter of where your heart is. I believe if you listen to God and are honest about what your own motivations are then it comes down to a question of if you are mixing with the world because you're drawn to it and filled up by something there or are you going into places where your heart is safe and therefore you can move about freely with God. Anyone can put on a good, upright show...so it's impossible to tell unless you're on the inside. And I guess that's only you...and God.
Alli - I LOVE this! The kids and I have been camped out on this discussion for awhile (including the Joshua story, Krissy!) and this will definitely fuel our next couple of morning conversations. As always, thanks for digging - and sharing!
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