Salt...

I have been reading through Mark in preparation for Easter. While reading chapter 9, the end was striking to me. Almost everyone has heard about the notion of saltiness. It's in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Colossians. Being "salty" can sound like a pleasant way of being seasoned...and it is used that way in Colossians 4:6. It seems that is what Jesus had in mind primarily in Matt 5:13 and Luke 14:34 as well...but not in Mark 9:49-50.

In Mark 9, Jesus adds an unusual teaching to saltiness. It really sticks out from the others. Whereas in other passages, saltiness is tied to flavor, it does not appear to be the meaning in Mark. The union of salt and fire metaphors wouldn't seem to gel if that were the case. Further, the word for salt becoming "unsalty" in v50 is not related to flavor...it is the salt losing what makes it what it is. What is salt? Well, it does something...namely, it preserves. Shifting the metaphor from flavor to preservation, it appears Jesus is adding a paradoxical twist:

Mark 9:49-50
49"For everyone will be salted with fire.
50"Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Keep in mind, this statement follows Jesus' teaching that if your hand, foot, or eye makes you sin...get rid of them because it's better to enter life missing body parts than to enter hell fire with all your body parts in tact. So on the one hand, you don't want to get burned....but on the other, you're gonna get burned. Everyone will...and being salted with fire is a good thing...so good, we are to have it within ourselves.

• Everyone will be salted with fire.
• Have salt in yourselves.

Salt preserves what is already there. Fire eliminates what is there.

You will be salted with fire.