Complaints or Warnings? Be Salty. Get Lit!
Matthew 5:13-20; Isaiah 58:1-9a
What do you think I am making if I have these ingredients? A cup of butter, cup of sugar, cup of brown sugar, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 2 teaspoons of hot water, 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1/ 2 teaspoon of salt… 2 cups of chocolate chips… and if you’re feeling nutty, a cup of chopped walnuts.
Chocolate chip cookies, of course. Did you know that chocolate chip cookies have salt in them? Salt is a staple. It’s on every table. It adds flavor and it entices other flavors – like the buttery-ness and the sweetness of a chocolate chip cookie. But like many things, using too much, could ruin the whole batch.
In January of 2024, I did a retreat with the older elementary children of CBF churches in Georgia. And the theme that weekend was Salt & Light based on these verses in Matthew 5 that follow the Beatitudes. I gave them the recipe for chocolate chip cookies because they’re experts on chocolate chip cookies and because I figured it would surprise them, unlike you seasoned cookie bakers (and eaters), to learn that one of their favorite desserts actually had salt in it.
I told them about the ways salt has been used since ancient times and in many cultures. It's been added to soil as a fertilizer for seeds. It’s a preservative – think pickles or bacon; as well as a healing agent - gargling with salt water to help your sore throat or soaking muscles in epsom salts. It can melt ice and be used to scour a pan. Salt, in other words, is very important. Of course, we are most aware of its importance to french fries, a bag of popcorn, potato chips. Can you imagine eating one of those without salt? Yuck!
What I didn’t tell them was the first century problem Jesus mentioned here about salt losing its saltiness. Table salt, that we are familiar with, rarely loses its saltiness, but in Jesus' day, when the salt was mixed with chemical impurities or exposed to moisture[1], one could be left with a sandy powder that might as well be used to fill potholes in the street. Salt with no taste? Whose ever heard of that?
What I did say to them was, God’s people act like salt when they make life better for people around them. Bringing out the God-flavors in the world.[2] Love, joy, peace, kindness, justice, mercy, compassion…When Jesus said, You are salt!" to my young friends, it sounded like a wonderful compliment. You are the salt of the earth. It’s a phrase we use to describe a kind-hearted soul, humble, helpful. What I didn’t tell them was that too many of us “put the period there (You are the salt of the earth.), and carry on like Jesus didn’t say anything else.” What we take as a compliment, Jesus meant as a warning
God is speaking, but if we don’t hear it all in context then we have missed something dire. “Jesus didn’t call his followers salt to describe them or to point out their saving and savoring abilities – he did that with the Beatitudes. He called them salt for one purpose - to warn them that they can lose their power to salt.” [3]
What I described to those children was what a “salty” life looked like. I wanted them to believe they could do it, so I said, your flavor doesn’t have to be BIG! Half a teaspoon of salt makes a difference! Flavor your community with small spoonfuls of mercy, justice, patience, kindness (a smile for someone who is all alone, playing fair, choosing to include someone who feels left out) and so on.
Salt is the kind of seasoning that invites other flavors around it to shine! So, then I asked those kiddos:Did Jesus say, You are the cayenne pepper of the whole earth?[4] You are the cinnamon! You are the turmeric! The curry powder! NOOOOOOOO! These are unique, wonderful, strong flavors that might totally overtake a recipe. Salt that takes over a dish will ruin it… Jesus was not inviting disciples to a great position of status, but of function. A bit of salt makes the whole recipe more delicious, more interesting. There is a little bit in almost everything. So then I told I had a different word to describe the kind of flavoring Jesus’ followers are supposed to be doing. We are supposed to add ZEST to the whole world, I said. A little zest here and a little zest there. Jesus told his followers to always be ready with a teaspoon of joy, a tablespoon of patience, a little bit of compassion, a cup full of love. You’re not taking over the world. You’re salting the earth one teaspoon at a time.
What I didn’t tell them is that if they’re doing it right, being salt, that right-living, right-religion, righteousness, will earn them the blessedness at the bottom of the beatitudes, for sure. You know you're blessed, you’re doing it right, when you’ve earned some good, old-fashioned persecution. Salt that has lost its taste is a faith that’s not taking any chances, a church that no one bothers to persecute for Christ’s sake. Clarence Jordan wrote, “Whenever tension ceases to exist between the church and the world, one of two things has happened: Either the world has been completely converted to Christ,” or the church has so diluted and compromised Jesus’ message that it is irrelevant. That church has become what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called, “pious godlessness… dressed in religious-Christian finery” but devoid of God-flavors, and distracting from how God is still speaking![5]
“When this happens, people will no longer even bother to persecute Christians,” wrote Jordan. “They’ll do something even worse; they’ll dump them out [like flavorless salt] and go on about their business.”[6]
I don’t know what’s worse, the churches who have gone silent and flavorless, or those who have heaped their “salt” in the wounds of those hurt by the church. You know, salt in excess can kill, the way conquerors would raze a village, level it to the ground, and then go back and spread the salt so that nothing would grow. “Salt is meant to enhance, not dominate. Christian saltiness heals; it doesn’t wound. It purifies; it doesn’t desiccate. It softens; it doesn’t destroy. One of the great tragedies of historic Christianity has been its failure to understand this distinction.”[7] There’s a flavor of Christianity in this country that has utterly discredited itself by its complicity with idolatrous nationalism, and covert racism, and their inhospitality to the immigrant. It’s all dressed up in Christian finery, but Jesus himself would spew it out of his mouth! The God of Isaiah must weep over empty praises, one-sided prayers and lame excuses.
This sounds like the worshippers Isaiah describes. God is not remotely impressed with their so-called fasting. Isaiah describes religion when the salt shaker is empty, the ritual is hollow of honest repent. They fast for show, or out of obligation, and then take their frustrations out on their workers. They act out selfishly, brawl and bellyache that God is ignoring them. Then God speaks, Kendall Rothaus called it, one of the best descriptions of “right religion” (the way it’s supposed to be done!) in all of scripture.
Isn’t this the fast I choose:
releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
setting free the mistreated..?
Isn’t sharing your bread with the hungry
and bringing in the homeless poor,
covering the naked when you see them…?
Isaiah 58, one of the best descriptions in all of scripture of what being the salt of the earth looks like – its doing all the good you can for the least among you. This is not about proclaiming your doctrine. It’s about doing good works so that others see where that salt and light comes from. God is the (capital S) Source. You are the salt of the earth! You are the light of the world! It’s not an invitation. It’s a fact. It’s not meant to be a compliment. It’s a warning.
You’re going to get yourself into some good trouble if you are being the kind of salt and light that Jesus is talking about here. He’s not talking about a quiet, personal faith that is private and unseen. He is looking for intentional, public followers who have a love and a light inside them that is impossible to keep to themselves. By “public followers” I don’t really think a well-timed, well-written facebook stand and a reposted awesome zinger quote on your insta-story is the same as putting your lamp on a stand. Being salt and light is about the good things you DO for others. Post what you think you gotta post, but don’t let that be a substitute for genuine salt shaking and shining your light! Social media is a powerful reality, but it is not (reality) as important as how you interact with your neighbors face to face. Share your bread with the hungry, clothe the naked, unbind the yoke of the oppressed, then your light will shine!
The last story I told the kids was a Steve Hartman story that happened to be about a little boy in Birmingham. He was only 4 years old and his name is Austin. When Austin learned from his Dad that there were people in his city who didn’t have a house and didn’t always have something to eat, he insisted that he be allowed to use whatever money, allowance he saved to feed as many people as possible. So, he puts on a super hero cape, and he and his dad buy chicken sandwiches and then deliver them to folks in Linn Park. Austin says his super hero name is “President Austin” because he thinks this is the kind of thing Presidents do. Every time Austin shares a sandwich with someone, they say, “thank you baby” and he says, “You’re welcome!” in his tiny little voice, “Don’t forget to show love!” Every time. Don’t forget to show love. President Austin is doing it right. [8] Go get yourself in some good trouble being salt and light in the world!
As you leave today, take a chocolate chip cookie from one of the baskets to remind you that it really does just take a little salt to make a difference.
[1] Rothaus, Kendall Rae, Sojourners Magazine, Living the Word February 2026
[2] Peterson, Eugene, The Message Matthew 5
[3] Jordan, Clarence, Sermon on the Mount revised edition
[4] Hare, Douglas R. A., Interpretation commentary series, Matthew
[5] Loftin, Mac, Christian Century, The Cities Church Protest and Bonhoeffer…, January 28, 2026
[6] Jordan ibid
[7] https://cac.org/daily-meditations/being-salt-and-light-weekly-summary/