Chaplain’s Column

In the Gospel of Matthew we hear something remarkable as Jesus tells us: “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5: 13-14).

Today if we call someone “the salt of the earth,” we are saying that that person is solid and dependable, someone we can count on in good times and bad.

It is an exceptional honor to be called the “salt of the earth,” but to give us a further understanding, there is a story of an ancient king who one day asked his three daughters how much they loved him?

The first daughter said “she loved him more than gold or silver.” The king was very pleased by her response and smiled.

The second daughter told him that “she loved him more than diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds or any other precious gem.” Again the king was pleased to be loved more than such precious treasures.

The king then looked at his youngest daughter who simply and quietly told him that “she loved him more than salt.”

The king was not very pleased with the answer of his third daughter.

The cook overheard the conversation and so, when he prepared a special meal for the king, he left out the salt. The food was so dull and tasteless that the king could not eat it. Then he understood a little of what his daughter had meant. The youngest daughter told her father that “she loved him more than that which gives life,” which is a great love indeed.

Salt not only gives food flavor and makes it more pleasant but it also preserves food from going bad.

Salt is so common, inexpensive and easy to get today that we can forget how precious and important salt was at one time.

Friendship and loyalty were sealed with salt because salt doesn’t change.

Even when salt is dissolved in water it can be evaporated back into hard crystals. In the past, trade routes were created, alliances built, empires strengthened and revolutions started over salt.

Until about one hundred years ago salt was carefully searched for, traded for and fought over. For much of history salt represented wealth.

The word salary comes from salt. Soldiers and workers were sometimes paid in salt. More wars have been fought over salt than over gold.

It is easier to understand the great compliment Jesus gives us and why he uses the image of salt to describe how we are to live in the world. Salt was such a necessity of life. In calling us “the salt of the world,” Jesus is speaking about the goodness within us and the new life he came to give us.

By our actions and words, we can influence the world for good. We can season and purify the world with God’s love.

A final point is that salt and light are most effective when they do not call attention to themselves.

Just as in well-seasoned food, the salt is not noticeable, and in a well lit room, the lamps are not the focus of attention, so the attention of our good deeds should not come back to us, but instead lead others to thank God.

Jesus wants our lives to be beautiful and filled with the goodness that leads to God and which leads others to give glory to God.