Sermon: Salt, Pepper and Heat

Sermon: Salt, Pepper and Heat

Mark 9:38-50

In today’s reading, Jesus says, “Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

I think that what Jesus is saying here is that having salt in ourselves naturally leads us and helps us to be at peace with each other. Salt has some magic in keeping the peace, just as it is used to bring out a food’s harmony and therefore enhance the taste. I wonder what it means to have salt in ourselves and how this symbolic salt can help us to live out our call to love one another.  

Salt is everywhere. Salt is essential in almost all cooking. Most families keep in their cupboard at least one kind of salt: sea salt, refined salt, coarse salt, Himalayan pink salt, garlic salt. onion salt. Their flavours and nutrients may be slightly different from each other, but salt is salt: it helps make our food special.

For us, salt is ordinary. We can get it easily and cheaply from any nearby grocery store. Salt is salt, and it doesn’t have any more meaning than that. However, salt in Jesus’ time was not so ordinary. Hard to get, it even had a religious value. You may wonder what Jesus really means when he says, “For everyone will be salted with fire”. To Jesus’ audience, it would have been quite obvious that he was making an analogy with a common sacrificial ritual. In Jesus’ time, people came to the temple to celebrate or to remember the most special moments of their lives. They bought and dedicated what they could offer: animals and birds, ritually killed and burned on the altar fire; the smoke rising up to God as appeasement and thanks. Salt plays an important role in the sacrifice, as is written in Old Testament law: “With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” (Lev. 2:13) and “Every sacrifice will be salted with fire.” All offerings were salted first, then burnt. In this context, what I hear from Jesus’ message is that we need to be a holy sacrifice offered to God and one another. To make that happen, that symbolic salt should play an integral role in the process. We need that symbolic salt, and heat, and, I like to think, a bit of pepper - the spice of our individual personalities. 

With the images of salt, pepper and heat here, we are not imagining a recipe for chicken wings  but the recipe for making a disciple. Today’s story comes after the story we heard last Sunday. Do you remember it? The twelve disciples were arguing with each other secretly, (or so they thought)  about which of them was the greatest and who would be first when they all entered the new world, the Kingdom of God, which they believed Jesus would establish soon. Their ‘secret’ bickering was immediately challenged by Jesus, who said, “Whoever wants to be the first should be the last of all and the servant of all.” Then he provided a kind of ‘acted parable’ by welcoming a very young child to sit on his lap and saying that welcoming such a young child in his name is like welcoming Jesus himself. What amazes me is how he uses the image of being a servant and reverses its implied meaning. We who live in the 21st century tend to avoid using the image of being a servant as it reminds us of the terrible and painful history of slavery and of the oppressive nature of a stratified society. We strive to build a society that secures equality and equity. As far as I have observed, ‘being a servant leader’ has never been a favored theological concept among United Church folk; the idea has been rarely discussed. Yet in the Gospel, the image of the social hierarchy is, very vividly in Jesus’ words, overturned completely, upside down. “Whoever wants to be the first must be the last of all and a servant of all.” Discipleship, the idea of becoming a servant to all as a disciple of Christ is at odds with the modern, common concept of equality: everyone equal, nobody last, nobody first. 

Jesus’ words that the community of disciples is not equal are very clear. He doesn’t say that you and me and we are equal. Jesus’ words are very clear: “I” must be a servant of all, and the last of all. It is not just imagery - it should be practical. Two weeks ago, when I planned and prepared for the first morning of Interpreting Whispers, our Thursday Morning Bible Study, after a three - month break, I was quite delighted to find a guideline document which was written by a Christian leader who leans to the the Evangelical side of Christianity. I found it quite refreshing to read the recurring emphasis that “A leader always must remember Christ’s instruction to be a servant to the members.” Being a servant may sound like a strange goal - even thinking of becoming a servant to somebody sounds pre-modern. What I was reminded of first was my internship experience at Chemainus United Church. There was a church member who wished to challenge the church leaders to take the meaning of being a ‘servant-leader’ more seriously and to teach the concept to the congregation. And as you may rightly guess, I resisted. At the time, three years ago, I thought it wasn’t right to evoke the image of a servant when I had high hopes of sharing with people an enhanced awareness of ‘equity.’ 

“Being a servant leader has its point, for sure,” I thought. “But should we borrow the image of slavery or a hierarchy to help us understand how to be better Christians?” 

But, as that guideline showed, many Evangelical Christians still use the Biblical image of servanthood to convey the meaning of discipleship, and I’ve surprised myself by taking this old theological concept more seriously. I took some time to ask myself, “Have I become a servant of all, in ministry and in life?” 

That question resonates in my life, inspiring a deeper awareness, disturbance and questions, especially about whether I have been more concerned about myself, my dreams, my achievements, the security of my status, rather than sharing, expanding and delivering the life-giving love of Jesus.  I believe that we should take time as a community to ask ourselves whether we are more concerned about our success than we are eager to learn God’s missions and justice. We need to look through our hearts, minds and behaviours to discern whether it is “Thou” or it is “me” we truly care about most.

I confess that my personal character and my awareness of my own social status – an Asian young(er) woman – has driven me to prove that I am better than the way people see me. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes I feel I should always hold a sign in my hand - my degrees, my qualifications, my varied life experiences, my resumé, to insist that I not be considered as the last. Some of my experiences in Canada have given me a strong impression that I tend to become invisible if I don’t speak up and  insist on being seen. So I taught myself to raise my voice, blow my own horn, and make myself visible and known so that I don’t get lumped into that dreaded last group. 

And I do believe that all the efforts I have made to speak up and be seen have been valuable. Yet, now I am also aware that the call to follow Jesus is universal. I am given the same task as everybody else.  I am aware that I am called to serve God through serving others, helping others to grow, not me. Now, using ‘not’ may sound too strong, but here’s my point for today: The desire to promote oneself and to tend to one’s own need is quite natural. There is a great value in caring for yourself and it takes a lot of practice, yet knowing how to take care of oneself is also very instinctive. It is intuitive. We know the way somehow. Learning self-care is inherent, though it takes firm intention, self-awareness, some learning, and practice to separate self-care from self-indulgence. 

But - serving others, serving both the least and the powerful, loving my neighbours and my enemy, with wisdom, discernment and love, takes a path that may not necessarily be intuitive but even counter-intuitive. Sometimes it takes sacrifice. We need to value harmony. We need to appreciate unity, diversity, and the equal rights of others to live abundantly. For Christians, we need to open the Bible and learn the way of Jesus. Jesus believed in the power attained through embracing vulnerability and weakness – remember the way of the cross - .

So, back to ‘salt’. I have set my new motto for my ministry and life, recently, following my two month vacation in Korea. In other words, one dash of salt I have with me as I am invited to join in God’s new cooking class is, (remember, Jesus says, “have salt in yourselves”) that I will choose to be happier rather than just to be better. I choose to give less care and attention to who I am, my achievements, my success, status, power games, where I am ranked in life’s competition. I choose to develop a more keen awareness about how God engages with you and me and loves you and me and how we can all learn to be happier and enjoy the freedom of spirit that a genuine life of service brings. Jesus asks us to have a dash of salt with us. This week, I challenge you to find your salt that helps you follow the call to engage with the power of love and discipleship.