“You are the salt of the earth. But if the 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 by men. “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 13-20)

My dad had his first heart attack when I was just 11. We had moved into our first (and only) owned home in Brooklyn, N.Y. I remember from that point learning all the do’s, don’ts and other information of living with heart disease. One of the big things they taught us from the beginning was to avoid using salt.

So we as a family learned to eat foods without much or any salt or to use a salt substitute. Now anyone can tell you that salt substitutes are anything but a substitute for salt. Salt is one of the five tastes that the receptors, or taste buds, can detect along with sweet tastes, bitter, sour and a new one called umami (look it up, it’s true). One taste of a salt substitute tells you quickly there is nothing salty about it.

Something is lost when you can no longer taste the salt in or on a food. There is a certain blandness that makes things uninteresting. Even if we say that we still have four other tastes we can appreciate, there is something satisfying about salt that cannot be replaced. Not being a candy person, I can really go without sweets for an extended period of time. Sour and bitter is a now and again thing for me. I like lemon in my iced tea and a bitter ale every now and again, but it bugs the crap out of me to go without a salty taste. I don’t even want to imagine a sweet tasting steak.

Think about what kinds of snacks are sold most often. We, especially in America, like our potato chips and cheese puffs and tortilla chips. All of them are salty snacks. So there is something satisfying to human existence that salt provides. That is why Jesus used this metaphor. Life without the presence of God through Jesus is less than satisfying. There is no getting around this fact.

Life without hope. Life without joy. Life without love. Life without any sense of peace. Life without goodness, fairness or justice. All leave a void in human existence that cannot be replaced. If we ourselves do not have these things or do not share these things leaves life a little empty and meaningless.

Jesus goes on and tells us he doesn’t want us to hide these things from the world. In some form we have to be sharing these things, and openly. He doesn’t ask us to stand on a street corner and preach them. He is asking us to find ways to live them to each other, to strangers, to coworkers or classmates.

Most of us have been doing this all our lives. We share our peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch with our best girlfriend in kindergarten. We carry the packages of the old neighbor lady into her house. We run errands for lunch at work or loan tools so our neighbor can fix his water heater. Now we just need to find expanded ways to salt the world, reach out to more and more people with the salt of Christ.

Jesus teaches us that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. The law of God must be kept in every detail. This too salts the world. If we become those who hate and steal and lust and murder, how does this add to the salt of the world? This is the bitter or sour that I said I could do without.

If we fail to show God his proper respect and reverence, if we take him for granted, it becomes too easy to withhold salt. We become greedy instead of generous, bitter instead of gracious. If we don’t ponder all the salt God has added to our own lives, if we don’t take the time to reflect on what we do have instead of what we don’t, it will become too easy to hold back when another person needs our salt. God’s salt in us. There is no substitute for that.

So what will we add to the world today? Will we withhold the salt of Christ? Or will we season it with just the right blend of herbs and spices? Bring me the shaker please.