Four Tastes

Centuries ago a Jewish man named Matthew lived in Israel and worked for the Roman government.  He was a friend of Jesus’ and wrote a book about him.  In the book he quoted Jesus when he told his students, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Rock Salt

 A lot of people over the years have discussed, written about, and preached on exactly what Jesus meant by “the salt of the earth.”  This morning I was thinking about what he was not talking about.  After all, we have 3 other taste receptors in our mouth apart from just saltiness.

The world is full of bitterness.  People have plenty to be angry about, and in a world full of social media outlets that bitterness can spread quickly and easily.  We are not to be the bitterness of the world.

There is plenty in this world to sour our tastes.  We see injustices on a daily basis, but we are not to be a part of them.  We see cheating, dishonesty, and corruption.  These things sour the world.  We should not partake in them.

Sweetness may seem like a good thing.  Who would turn down a good piece of cake?  Yet too many sweets rot our teeth and destroy our health.  When evil comes in the world, it does us no good to simply hand out pieces of candy to make ourselves feel better.  Sweets make us feel good, but they do not make us healthy.

Salt preserves.  Salt is necessary for life.   If we are bitter, sour, or artificially sweet, we are not being salt, and “if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”