“You are the salt of the earth”
Right after preaching the Beatitudes during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns his focus to his disciples by naming them with two metaphors. A metaphor is a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest a likeness or similarity between them. [1]
The first metaphor that Jesus uses to identify the disciples is comparing them to the ‘salt of the earth.’ Salt is a substance that is very familiar to us, if there is one thing that we love here in America it is salt. We put it on everything, and it is in almost everything we eat. More importantly, salt has been a staple to human civilization even before recorded history. [1] It is very interesting then for us to unpack what Jesus meant when he called his disciples the ‘salt of the earth.’
Why does Jesus call his disciples the ‘salt of the earth’? First, it is important to note that Jesus uses this metaphor to describe who the disciples already are and not about what they can be or will be in the future. Disciples of Jesus ARE the salt of the earth because that is what God created them to be. They have not earned this title, it is written into their very nature.
Next, we must look at what Jesus meant by the phrase ‘salt of the earth.’ Salt imagery can be found throughout Scripture in a variety of uses which include: flavoring, preserving, a purifying/cleansing agent [3], a required addition to sacrifice (‘salt of the covenant’) [4], a fundamental human necessity [5], and used to render land unusable [6].
So, if salt is a necessary component to the earth that we live in, then the disciples must be a necessary component for the earth as well. The mission of the disciples is to be sown into the earth to purify it and make it worthy to be a sacrifice. The disciples are the salt of humankind; they spread the Word of God among all men and live as an example of faithful men of God. Just as salt is a fertilizer to promote vegetation; the disciples are that which prepares the soil of mankind for the Sower.
What was Jesus’ audience when he said, “you are the salt of the earth”? Who is he speaking to when he says “you”? Jesus’ audience during the Sermon on the Mount was the crowds of people that followed him to the Mount, which included his disciples. By extension, however, he is speaking to all those men who would someday hear or read the Scriptures. This means that Jesus is speaking to us when he says ‘you are the salt of the earth’ since we have been baptized into the Catholic Church. All men and women who choose to follow Christ have the mission of evangelizing all mankind.
How have Jesus’ disciples been the ‘salt of the earth’ throughout history? Jesus’s public ministry took place in Israel, and he traveled only within her boundary. His mission was confined to a certain area, which is why the first apostles were so vital to the institution of the Church. Before ascending into Heaven, Jesus says to his disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [7] We see that Jesus sends his disciples out to evangelize the world by baptizing them and instructing them according to what they had been taught. The foundation that the apostles laid is the groundwork for the development of the Church; they passed on the words and actions of Jesus. From that institution, the Church has continuously grown and been preserved by the many disciples of Christ throughout the centuries. The Church and her members have been preserved from corruption, greed, and persecutions to bring wisdom to men by their words. [8]
We see in Jesus’ last words in Matthew that He promises to be with them always which means that He has been with His disciples throughout history. His disciples are able to fulfill God’s Will in their lives because God is always with them.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns us that salt can lose its taste and when that happens, “it is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” How can salt lose its flavor?
Salt, as a substance, cannot lose its taste or flavor unless something else is mixed in and dilutes it. However, in the Jewish tradition salt can become unclean and when it does, it must be thrown out. [9] In Israel, the salt that was thrown out was spread over the flat roofs covered in soil to harden the soil and stop leakage. This stresses the importance of our mission as disciples and the importance of us staying ‘clean’ and pure. We do not want to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
What are some ways we, as the ‘salt of the earth,’ lose our flavor? In our faith, Christ satisfies all of our needs. When we rely solely on this world to satisfy our needs, we can be assured that the world will not satisfy and that which we thought would satisfy will loose it’s taste. When we try to use the world’s “salt,” it can grow bland very quickly and we move on to something else. We must show self-control and temperance when using the “salt” of this world. We must use earthly goods, “according to their needs and duties, with the moderation of the person using them, and not of the one who attaches too much value to them and sees himself dragged down by them.” [10]
How can we keep from losing our flavor? One way to keep from losing our flavor is to keep the Beatific Vision, the face of God in mind. “We must first remember that God created man in his image, calling him to his first and fundamental vocation: communion with him! It is this that gives human beings their highest dignity... Yes, dear friends, we are created by God and for God, and our longing for him is engraved on our hearts! Since ‘the glory of God is living man’, as St Irenaeus of Lyons observed, God never ceases to draw man to Himself, so that in Him, man may find the truth, beauty and happiness that he seeks without pause. This attraction that God exercises on us is called ‘vocation’.” [11]
We remember that our highest vocation is to behold the face of God for all eternity. While we are on earth, we also must seek to know and live our earthly vocation. What is God calling you to do with your life? You have a mission that is fulfilled by you alone. You are the salt of your earth; you are a source of life and love to the people you meet and see everyday. Are you keeping yourself clean and pure so as to be an example in your words and actions to fertilize the soil for God?
[1] Merriam-Webster Dictionary
[2] http://www.saltinstitute.org/Uses-benefits/Salt-in-history
[3] Ex. 30:35; 2 Ki. 2:19-23; Ez. 16.4
[4] Lv. 2:13, Ez. 43:24 and Nu. 18:19; 2 Ch. 13:5, Ezra 4:14
[5] Sir. 39:26, Pliny, Nat. hist. 31.102
[6] Dt. 29:23; Je. 17:6
[7] Matthew 28:18-20
[8] Fernandez In Conversation with God, 34.1
[9] Benedict T. Viviano, O.P. “The Gospel According the Matthew,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. R. Brown; J. Fitzmyer; and R. Murphy (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1990), 23
[10] St. Augustine, On the customs of the Catholic Church, 1, 21
[11] Address to the youth of Rome preparing for World Youth Day, n. 3