2014-02-09
Daniel
Daring 2013
articles 2012
articles
A pinch of salt
Isaiah
58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-17
(Comments welcome here)
Richard
Attenborough's award winning movie, Gandhi,
has an illuminating scene in which the council of a new Viceroy of India
discusses Gandhi's campaign of making salt. When India was still a part of the
British Empire, there was a legal decree that forbade people to make or sell
salt without a government license. The oppressive rule was candidly explained:
"In this climate nothing lives without water or salt. Our absolute control
of it is a control on the pulse of India." Thus Gandhi's campaign of
making salt was a symbolic attack on the mighty Empire. The new Viceroy decided
to ignore the campaign, proudly proclaiming that Mr. Gandhi would need "a
great deal more then a pinch of salt" to bring down the British Empire. If
he only knew his mistake. He underestimated the pinch of salt that Gandhi was
about to make.
Two thousand years earlier a very similar mistake
was committed by the Roman Emperor, Trajan. Informed by his legate from
Bithynia-Pontus, Pliny the Younger, about "a depraved superstition"
called Christianity, which was affecting people from all walks of life, the
Emperor told Pliny to ignore it. The decision cost the Empire dearly. The small
group of Christians was able to season the society in such a way that insipid
Roman paganism could not stand the challenge. They were truly "the salt of
the earth" (Matthew 5:13). How about us today?
W. Barclay indicates three main
qualities of salt. The first quality is that of purity. "The Romans said
that salt was the purest of all things, because it came from the purest of all
things, the sun and the sea." Next, salt in the time of Jesus was used as
the main preservative that kept things from rotting. Finally, salt was used to
give flavor to food. Thus, the metaphor of salt indicates that those who believe
in Christ should be "an example of purity," "must have a certain
antiseptic influence on life," and should "lend flavor to life."
"Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season
it?" (Mark 9:50a). Sad to say, many Christians seems to lose their
saltiness. Instead of giving flavor to life, we often take vividness out of
life. And even Christianity in general is often seen as a religion of rules, of
dos and don'ts, and not as faith
that gives fullness of life. H. Ibsen (1828-1906), a Norwegian playwright, with
contempt looked at Christians of his time for being unable to enjoy the beauty
of the world: "the sun shines for them, but they do not see it; the earth
offers them its fullness, but they desire it not; all their desire is to
renounce and to suffer that they may come to die." And Gandhi himself
seemed to give an impression that it was the bad example of Christians that
turned him away from embracing faith in Christ. Even if those claims are
exaggerated and biased, it is still worth examining our saltiness.
Are we examples of purity? Do we keep the world from getting bad? Are we
lending flavor to life? And if all the answers are negative then we need
"to be salted with fire" (Mark 9:49). We need to be filled with the
Spirit of God who alone can make us into "the salt of the earth" and
keep us from losing our saltiness. At the same time, we need to take
responsibility for that saltiness, for the Spirit of God who dwells within us.
"Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another" (Mark
9:50b).
Upon making that pinch of salt, Gandhi said: "Man needs salt, as he
needs air and water. This salt comes from the Indian Ocean. Let every Indian
claim it as his right." Mahatma was right. We need salt, as much as we need
air and water. And it is our right to have free access to it. Therefore when
Jesus says that we "are the salt of the earth," we should live up to
that statement. It is not flattery; it is a responsibility. The world needs good
and honest people that it can always depend on and it should be able to meet
them freely on the streets. They cannot be "manufactured" by rules and
regulations. They can only develop within the atmosphere of freedom, trust and
love. Such an atmosphere should be present among Christians. "For Christ
has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of
slavery" (Galatians 5:1); "For in Christ Jesus . . . the only thing
that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). And this
atmosphere can be translated into practical actions of making our world a better
place for living: "Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed
and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back
on your own. . . . remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and
malicious speech" (Isaiah 58:7-10). Would
our world not look different if we would practice these simple deeds of charity?
May the Lord season us with the fire of His Spirit
so we can truly live up to our responsibility of being the salt of this
beautiful earth created by our marvelous God and as the pinch of salt which
lends flavor to our lives and the lives of others.
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