Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year B September 20, 2024
Salt and God’s Covenant (Mark 9:38-50)
42 years ago, when George and I were just starting our journey together as a married couple, an issue arose concerning salt. You see, I love to cook and bake, and I have been doing it since I was about 10 years old. So, I’m pretty good and I use seasonings to enhance my dishes. I was caught up in the newness of marriage, the joy of love and I cooked with all my heart and soul. George would come to the table, put his food on his plate and immediately salt it without tasting it. This annoyed me immensely and I mentioned it to him, but he kept doing it. So, one day, I fixed a wonderful meal of turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing and vegetables…and I oversalted everything. We sat down to dinner and George immediately added salt to his food…I waited and watched as he took his first bite and then I fell off my chair laughing…the look on his face was priceless, I could tell he wanted to spit the food out. But he swallowed it. He didn’t eat any more of that dinner, but he never again sat down and added salt to food that I had cooked without tasting it first!
Now, that was using salt as a means of revenge, and it isn’t at all what Jesus has in mind when he calls us to have saltiness in ourselves in fact it could be said that that was an example of losing the saltiness of God and embracing the saltiness of the world.
Salt isn’t meant to be the star of the dish; salt always has a supporting role.
Salt allows the other ingredients to shine; to be the star-- and in that supporting role the salt achieves greatness.
Salt enhances and preserves others.
Salt is widely used in the Bible as a symbol, a sacred sign in Ancient Israel.
Salt is a necessity of life and has been used since ancient times as a seasoning, a preservative, a disinfectant, a part of ceremonial offerings and sacrifices.
Iin Genesis 19:26 Lot’s wife is turned into a pillar of salt as she looks back to all she is leaving instead of looking forward to the hope and promise of new life.
In Leviticus 2:13 and in Ezekiel 43:24- we see salt is a requirement for ancient Hebrew religious sacrifices.
Salt was used as a covenant of friendship in ancient cultures and eating salt together was seen as a sign of friendship according to 2Chronicles 13:5
In the New Testament we first encounter salt in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount where we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
In today’s passage Mark talks about having salt in ourselves and peace with one another.
In the Bible, salt is seen as a way of preserving God’s covenant with his people.
Could it be that Jesus is calling us to be the additive—the extra oomph- that brings out the fullness of life in others?
At our meeting with Pastor Nicole and in our last council meeting, we discussed the need to have a better system for visiting the sick, the hospitalized, the homebound, the lonely.
There are many ways to be involved with this ministry- prayer, phone calls, visits, and visits with holy communion
We talked about the need for it to be a community response. Not just a pastoral responsibility, although the pastor does make visits, but the responsibility of the entire faith community.
We discussed the need to invite the members of the congregation to be a part of the lay eucharistic ministry- a ministry they would share with the pastor, a ministry where they would be taught and empowered before being sent out, a ministry which supports and provides for those who are no longer to be present in the church.
A ministry that preserves, and keeps alive the memory of others in the community alive- that keeps them present even when they are no longer able to actively participate.
Visitation – a time where we are entering the journey of another person, one who is now experiencing loss and grief over what was and is no more.
We’re called to be present to listen and support this person.
We are not called to provide a cure or a quick fix.
We’re not called to be the star.
We’re called to be the sidekick, the salt, the ordinary person that brings to life the other person’s journey.
The preservative that keeps a memory alive.
We visit members of our faith community so they can share their story, their grief, their loss, their fear, and also so they can see how they have coped in the past, the things they have accomplished, how they have been blessed, and the blessings they continue to have, their value and role in the community.
As salt, a simple unassuming ingredient, we allow the individual and their life to shine.
We give value to their lives,
-to whom they are now,
and to where they are going.
We are the supporting characters within their story, but it is an Academy Award deserving role.
As we share their intimacy, their story, their life, we affirm that life without judgment or guilt.
We give them the gifts of affirmation and trust.
Affirmation for who they are,
what they have done,
for their feelings,
their pain,
their fears of what is to come.
They trust that we value them and will not share their story with others.
They trust that we will listen with our hearts and not our heads
They trust that we will listen and not judge
They trust that even though we may not have the same experiences,
we too have experienced fear and loss and can relate to their situation
They trust that we will not try to fix them but instead will allow them to reflect and live into the reality of their life now.
They trust that we will help them as they adjust to the new reality of who they are.
They trust that we will we allow them to shine and be the star.
It is their story after all.
In doing these things we not only give them our affirmation and trust, we also give them God’s affirmation and trust.
We remind them of their value as a child of God.
We remind them they are a valued part of this community.
We remind them that they will never be alone for God is always present, with us during our suffering, loss and grief.
And as the salt we find that we are blessed, affirmed, called and commissioned to be who we are, the people of God who care for one another.
So perhaps Jesus is calling us to be the salt, meaning to serve others with humility, grace, mercy and love just as God in his mercy and steadfast love has served us.
When we function as the salt, helping to define, serve and love others, we become the light of the world.
We are the face of Jesus to the people we serve.
We don’t hide who we are and what we’re about,
instead, we share ourselves with others and in doing this we share the light of God’s love in the world.
When Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world perhaps Jesus is sending us out into the world to help the people start looking for and seeing God in the world.
Helping us to see that we are the instruments through which God is working in the world.
In calling us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, Jesus is bestowing us with blessing.
Jesus is also affirming, trusting and commissioning us to be his co-workers in the world.
Being salt and having saltiness within us preserve the covenant that God has made with us in righteousness and purity.
God’s work our hands.
May we continue to be filled with saltiness within ourselves as we live in peace with one another. Amen
