Day 12 – Matthew 5: 13

When I was advised to omit salt from cooking it took a while to get accustomed to but it was only when someone else, months later, cooked for me that I immediately sensed the intensity of the effect on my palate. I then couldn’t get rid of the taste. It lingered determinedly on!

When Jesus exhorted His disciples to be the salt of the earth, He used this basic, every day and yet infinitely necessary element of life. A grain of salt is such a small thing but we all know what a difference even a small amount can make. Salt gives zest and a distinctive flavour but if it’s left in the salt cellar it will never make a difference.  It has to make contact with the food.

In using this illustration Jesus demonstrates how to bring out the distinctive flavour of His kingdom to all. Not in some big, dramatic way but in all the ordinary everyday things we do and say so that we quietly infuse others with the true flavour of His kingdom values – love, mercy, peace – qualities we all want to see in the world. The first disciples enacted the preservative attributes of salt in maintaining and furthering the faith following the crucifixion. It should be our mission to re-new, and grow it.

Jesus was an expert at grounding His teachings in real life. He often used the natural world to explain His teachings and the image of salt is one everyone can associate with as we share, but it is more importantly about who we are, what we do, that will leave the lingering flavour of Him in people’s lives.

Lord, may the flavour of You be tasted in my sharing, that distinctive flavour that makes a difference.

By Lesley Hopwood
Stokesley Circuit