This Article is based on the Sermon preached on September 15th "RESTORING SALTINESS"
COMPOUNDING OUR FAITH
“Got Salt?” Or “Godsalt”
On Sunday September 15th I agreed to preach at the Desert Hot Springs Church. I decided to preach to this struggling-to-survive-congregation about restoring “saltiness.” Though Jesus wasn’t a chemist, the gospel writers make it clear that Jesus used the image of salt to describe how Christians are to relate to the world. “You are the salt of the earth,” he said at the very beginning of his ministry while preaching his famous Sermon on the Mount. (Mt. 5:13) It was after the Transfiguration event that Mark’s Jesus proclaimed: “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” (Mk. 9:49) And Luke’s Jesus on his way to Jerusalem said: “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is neither good for the soil not for the manure pile; they throw it away.” (Lk.14:34)
Salt is a chemical compound, a uniting of two elements a molecule of “Sodium Na+” and a molecule of “Chlorine Cl-.” Each has an electrical charge -- one positive and the other negative. They attract like opposite poles, magnetically drawn to one another. They have such an affinity for each other that they are hard to dissolve or break apart. Together sodium and chlorine not only season; they preserve, protect, heal, make a safe path through a blizzard, and can put out a fire. Salt is in us; it is an essential part of us. When you find yourself in an emergency room, unless you are in Congestive Heart failure, the first intravenous infusion you will be given is Normal Saline (a 0.9% or 0.45% solution of Sodium Chloride).
The salt verses were placed in different sections of the three gospels, because each gospel writer had a specific message he wanted to convey to the reader. Matthew’s message plants the seed of encouragement for the first followers of Jesus. Mark is preparing those who have ears to hear to muster their salt and get ready to take care of each other. Luke is warning the followers of Jesus that things are going to get dicey in Jerusalem and their saltiness is going to be severely tested. If you were in the garden outside the home of the High Priest listening to your master being grilled and accused of blaspheme, would you, like Peter, begin to lose your salt? When asked by others in the garden three times “Weren’t you one of his followers?” What would you say? (Remember, you’re losing your salt when you’re sweating!)
In that closing verse of Luke 14, Luke’s Jesus seems to be well aware of what his disciples will be up against in the months and years to come. Perhaps this is why the three kingdom parables in Luke 15 follow the salt verse. Jesus wants his disciples to know that God will go to any lengths to be reunited with a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a lost child. God as shepherd will go in search of the one lost sheep until it is found and when he finds it he will return it into the care of the fold. Only then will God, the shepherd, throw a party to celebrate. God as a woman will search for the lost coin in every nook and cranny, under every piece of furniture and will keep searching until she finds it. Then and only then will she return it to its rightful place among the other coins and throw a party to celebrate. God as a loving father, mourns the loss of his youngest son, and celebrates his return. No matter what condition he is in, or the circumstances of his child’s return, God as father is overjoyed, and throws a party to welcome him home.
Lest you think being salty is all you have, I have one more poured out for me by the Holy Spirit in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I am probably not the first person to have thought of this, but it was really marvelous when I did.
I first heard about DNA in the 9th grade. “It is a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. In living organisms DNA does not usually exist as a single molecule, but instead as a pair of molecules (like NaCl) that are held tightly together. These two long strands entwine like vines, in the shape of a double helix.” (Wikipedia) Don’t you just love the vine imagery? My science teacher called it Desoxyribonucleic acid, which is what they called it until 1953. After that the scientists (removed the “s”) calling it Deoxyribonucleic acid. Get Ready… I know you are going to love this as much as I did. DON’T YOU SEE, it’s all in the name? GOD IS IN OUR DNA. God is not only the source of life and breath, God is chemically part of us. DEO, the first three letters in the chemical name of DNA is the Latin word for God!!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Don’t just think about it…CELEBRATE IT!!
Blessings,
Rev. Amanda
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