Salt of the earth

Today I want to talk about salt. But first, let’s get some context to where Jesus incorporates salt into his teaching, in what’s come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount.

My King James Version (KJV) study Bible states that Jesus' teaching on a mountain signifies his position as the "new Moses". It points out that the phrase translated as "he went up into a mountain" occurs 3 times in the Old Testament, i.e.

Ex. 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain…

Ex. 24: 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

Ex. 34: 4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

So, here we are, way up on a mountain-top, away from the hustle and bustle of the everyday, listening to this new teacher and prophet, hanging on his every word.

Was Jesus in the mountain for some time before beginning this teaching? How many climbed the mountain with him? Were there women and children too? How long were they there? Did he go over certain points as he went along?

How did he prepare? Did he write down some thoughts in advance? Did he have notes in his pocket? Or did he speak extemporaneously and in response to his listeners?

We can only surmise the answers to these questions, but we do know that he used analogies that his listeners would understand. And here we come to the question of salt. Jesus gave a promise and a warning:

Matt. 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (KJV)

If you are a “salt of the earth” type of person today – not that I’ve seen or heard the phrase lately – you would be reliable, trustworthy, generous, selfless, honest, transparent, genuine, wholly good, and decent. Jesus  undoubtedly fitted that description.

Salt has been mined from at least 5000-6000BCE! It was vital for the preservation of foods, while also valuable in bringing out individual flavours.

ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE

A Boston Herald report, excerpted in the Christian Science Sentinel dated 25 July 1901 states that “Salt is one of the essentials of life, and the beneficial effects of its various uses are being better appreciated every year….Perhaps the world's most interesting salt mine is that of Wieliczka, near Cracow, in Galicia [now Poland].” The report describes “dazzling columns [of salt]”. It continues: “The Wieliczka salt mines are reached by means of several shafts, some for pumping up water, some for the exit of salt, others for workmen, horses, fodder, etc. Many of these shafts are in the form of spiral staircases. There are five stories in the mine, tunnelling through the salt, and each story is separated from the next by an interval of about one hundred feet. Where the descending shaft passes through clay or loose soil, walls of rock salt are built into the sides of the shaft to support them. Blocks of salt are superimposed in the usual manner and afterward water is poured over the wall thus formed. The water dissolves some of the salt, which fills the crevices and interspaces, and, as the water evaporates, this salt forms a cement which binds the blocks into a solid mass.”

So, we learn that salt can be as “bright and glittering as crystal” and that it can be as solid as cement.

ESSENTIAL FOR PEACE

More research in the indispensable JSH-online repository of articles from the Christian Science periodicals brings us to James K. Westover’s January 1952 CS Journal article “Have Salt in Yourselves”. Mr. Westover reminds readers of Jesus’ “valuable recipe for harmonious living” in Mark 9: 50, i.e. “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” His disciples would have been used to Levitical law which required every offering to God to include salt. Westover explains that “salt came to be regarded as a symbol of durability and purity and when eaten with bread betokened a motive and intent of utmost integrity.”

Fast forward to the Christian Science Sentinel dated January 19, 2026 where Isaac Otieno testifies to being healed of thinking he had enemies. Isaac shares this: ”The realization that we are all beloved children of God and the expression of divine Love enables us to forgive and to pray for those who seem to be against us. The reality is that when we feel and display this type of love to others, we are showing them the nature of God. And to me, this is what it means to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13, 14). 

May that loving flavour be present in all our relationships.

Julie Swannell