You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
How can salt lose its taste? It seems impossible for sodium chloride to dissipate, that is, unless it were dissolved. What is Jesus telling us here spiritually? That our faith loses its vigor once it is compromised— “It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out…”
Our faith must season the world. We lose our Christian identity when we conform to the world, becoming of it. We lose our Christian identity when we fail to live according to the Gospel, when we fail to strive after Christian virtues, when we fail to follow Jesus Christ with our thoughts hearts and minds. We lose our Christian identity when we start to compromise the Truth that saves and instead run after mere earthly temporalities that do not glorify God.
Salt is used to flavor food, to preserve meat. We are supposed to “flavor” the world, to preserve the meat of the Gospel. Salt also stings cuts and wounds, telling us that being salt in the world may cause others discomfort and even pain. But for love of our brethren, and by God’s command, we continue to be uncompromising in our living and preaching of the Gospel in hopes that others might be preserved for eternal life.
May we continue to be courageous disciples of Christ, carrying our crosses after him—to be salt of the earth.
