Salt

Salt

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Mark 9:49-50

Mark 9:49 "For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you 1make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

This short narrative about salt has a couple of essential features in it. Salt was a scarce commodity in the Near East in Jesus' day. Salt was used as currency, and in many places, it was more valuable than gold. Salt is needed in dry locations. It forces the body to retain water. In arid places keeping the body hydrated is imperative. Today when a person suffers from high blood pressure, the first antidote is to stop using salt. A cause of high blood pressure is the body retaining water more water than it needs. In Jesus' day, the sun's heat caused the body to release water as sweat; therefore, retaining water was not a problem.

Salt was also used to preserve meat. Animal meat decays rapidly. Salting the meat preserved it for a short amount of time. Animals sacrificed to the LORD were salted before being placed on the altar. It was believed that salting the sacrificed animal's meat made it tastier for the LORD.

Sharing salt between persons created a friendship between them. People in the Hebrew community worked together and in the small villages took care of each other. The salt would represent the family bonds because everyone was from the same family in the small villages. One aspect of this narrative is that people should be at peace with one another. The two great commandments are to love God and to love neighbor. Salting each other is loving each other. It is another way of saying love neighbor – share salt.

In the early Christian community, there was the problem of Roman persecutions. This situation would cause persons to leave the faith. The drain on the community's population must have been large enough for the leaders to invoke this narrative. Jesus says that when you come into faith in His teachings, it is a mistake to leave the faith. Trust in the peace that Jesus offers to all who follow him.

Since the members of the early Christian communities shared everything they had, they would have shared salt. The custom of salt showing friendship permeated the community and the people worked together for the glory of Jesus, God and their community. These people placed their faith and trust in Jesus, God, and each other. It would be folly to believe that disagreements did not occur in these communities. However, for the community's sake, disagreements needed to be resolved quickly to the satisfaction of as many people as possible.

How are disagreements handled in your faith community? I met an amazing man in one of my church assignments whose behavior I prayed would be emulated by every Christian in every church. He was a prominent member of the Administrative Board and well respected for his opinion but even more because he always worked for the good of the Board's decisions. This man might not have agreed with a decision or direction of the Board. However, he would give his 100% to implementing the decision of the Board. I am so happy to have been blessed by this man and his attitude toward the church. He indeed demonstrated the salt covenant.

The only sadness is that in 24 years of pastoral ministry, I only met one person who acted in this way. He is the example that must be held up to the church. God gave us different gifts and talents, and that alone will cause disagreements. The people should benefit from disagreements. Different opinions can be valuable resources to getting a task done correctly. Too often, the dissenters to a decision do not help to implement. Instead, they are disruptive to the process.

As a church pastor, I worked at implementing ideas that I did not fully agree with. The program or policy that was proposed had to pass one test! That test was, is this action biblical? If the answer was yes, I became a resource to the church to move forward on implementing it. If the idea was unbiblical, then I would voice the theological position.

I wish the church had more congregation members who helped implement new ideas when they disagreed with them as long as they were biblically-based. As I was creating this message, I thought that I should have talked about the salt covenant and Jesus words from this passage before every Administrative Board meeting in every church. I should have created a simple salt ceremony to start the meetings like used in Jesus day.

This attitude of working for the greater good has to flow out of the church's Administrative Board and into the congregation. Members who do not like Board decisions tend not to help, and too many try to create stumbling blocks. I read a church book written by a consultant that said that 15% of the congregation would leave the church if a capital campaign is created. These folks do not want to give more money to the church and will show that by walking out. IT IS TRUE! I was assigned to a church that planned the capital campaign. The current pastor got smart and retired. So, the bishop sent me there. The campaign started three months after I arrived. Within six months, 15% of the congregation left. It did not matter that I told the people that participation was not mandatory and it would not affect their standing in the church. However, that did not matter.