Luke 14:34-35 “Now salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

You and I are the salt in this picture. Commentators argue about whether it is actually possible for salt to lose its taste–the chemical properties of sodium chloride don’t change. Does Jesus refer to something someone mistakenly believes is salt, but isn’t? Is this salt somehow corrupted by something else mixed in that overwhelms and negates its flavor?

Trying to explain Jesus’ illustration scientifically is not helpful to understanding his point. Salt has a strong, distinctive flavor. Everyone is familiar with it. Whether that can actually be changed or not, if somehow salt did lose its taste, what would it be good for? You can’t use it on your food. What would be the point? Even in the manure pile it wouldn’t be good for anything. What could it possibly offer for improvement there? It is completely useless.

What if we were Christians who wouldn’t live as Christians? What if we rejected the cost of following Jesus? What if we just compromised our values to keep the peace or to have what we wanted? What good are we, what difference do we make in the world, if we are just like everybody else? We have lost our saltiness. We serve no purpose. We have no value to God’s kingdom.

So, Jesus is urging us to accept the cost of following him and keep our saltiness. Then our love, our sacrifice, and our words of gospel witness can make a difference for others. The world may think that we change things too much, that there is too much “bite” in the impact we are making. But Jesus is using us to season more people, more lives, to his taste. The truth is, our lives of love and witness make this place more palatable. We make a difference when we openly live our faith and accept the consequences.

That’s what he did for us. He embraced loving us, sacrificed himself to save us, and gave us words of gospel promise in spite of the cost. Now he owns us. May God help us to live lives that pay him dividends of love.