Fr.
Tony’s Mid-week Message
August
7, 2013
“You
are Salt”
“You
are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its
saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and
trampled under foot.” (Matthew 5:13)
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, progressive theologian of the mid-20th century martyred
by the Nazis, wrote the following reflection on
this line of Jesus in the Gospels:
“You are the salt”
[it says,] not “You should be the
salt!” The disciples are given no choice whether they want to be salt or not.
No appeal is made to them to become the salt of the earth. Rather they just are
salt whether they want to be or not, by the power of the call which has reached
them. “You are the salt,” not “you have the salt.” It would diminish the
meaning to equate the disciples’ message with salt, as the reformers did. What
is meant is their whole existence, to
the extent that it is newly grounded in Christ’s call to discipleship, that
existence of which the Beatitudes speak. All those who follow Jesus’ call to
discipleship are made by that call to
be the salt of the earth in their whole existence.” (from The
Cost of Discipleship)
Jesus
calls us to be present in the world, stand with our fellow creatures, and
serve. He calls us to make a difference in the world and in
the lives of those about us simply being who are, who we have become in
Him. For Jesus, salt makes things
flavorful, and preserves things from going bad.
It is also a purifying element in Jewish ritual. Salt makes a difference. That’s what he says we, his followers,
are: people who make a difference, who
bring flavor and joy to life, and who through our actions and words keep the
good and drive out the bad of the world.
Grace
and peace,
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