13 June 2017
According to scientists, salt cannot really lose its taste. Apparently, it’s a very stable chemical
compound, and so it never loses its ability to flavor things. But, there is a way that its taste can be
lessened, and that’s by diluting it. And
maybe this is a reason why Jesus uses the image of salt to describe his
disciples. They (we) can become diluted
and lose our ability to “flavor” the world with the gospel.
St. Paul gets at this in his letter to the Corinthians. He writes, “The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who
was proclaimed to you . . . was not "yes" and "no," but
"yes" has been in him.” In
Jesus, there is no waffling, no being diluted; he is devoted to God the Father,
and that’s how he lived his life in the flesh—total commitment to his loving
Father.
Later on in the Gospel of Matthew, we hear, “Let your yes
mean yes, and your no mean no” (5:37).
In other words, Jesus gives us a commandment: “Do not be diluted; do not
lose your flavor. Let your ‘yes’ to me
mean ‘yes.’” That commitment to the Lord
and his ways of love, mercy, hope, truth, and so on, is what we have to offer
the world.
That commitment to the Lord is a flavor the world always
needs. Without it, both the world and we
become sort of . . . dry and tasteless.
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