"For everyone will be salted with fire. 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."
Mark 9:49-50

It's hard to know exactly what Jesus is saying here. Salted with fire? Salt that's lost its saltiness? And how would one go about having salt in themselves?

I usually think of salt as something to try and avoid; in my mind, it's linked with high blood pressure and heart problems. So I sprinkle a little bit on my scrambled eggs, but try not to eat it too often. Apparently, Jesus thought of salt a little differently.

Salt was important in Jesus' day. Salt was one of the most common means of food preservation, and it was used to season most foods, too. Salt had a religious dimension; sacrifices offered in the temple were required to be salted. Salt carried with it the idea of permanence, and it was often eaten when agreements were reached and treaties signed. It was sometimes associated with curses and sometimes with blessings, but it was always associated with something important.

So.. what was Jesus saying in Mark's gospel?

I suspect that, for Jesus, 'salt' is used to talk about the core of who we are. It's the part of us that gives us our own spice, our own distinctiveness. It's the part of us that's at the center of who we are, that keeps the different pieces of our lives together. In other words, it's what holds us together, what preserves us. It's what shines through when we face times of struggle, confusion, grief. It's the part of us that It's the part of us that can be awfully hard to find, once it's lost.

In those moments of distraction when we have lost sight of who we truly are, we often find that have also lost sight of one another, and of God. The three go together. Jesus knew that.

Jesus knew that when we're able to hold on to the 'salt' that God has placed within each of us, we're able to live lives full of meaningful relationships, full of openness, full of grace. When we allow ourselves to get pulled in a thousand directions, and when can't recognized ourselves in a single one of them, it gets a lot harder to be the people that God calls us to be. And it's awfully hard to be at peace with one another.

What is the salt of your life? What gives your life its flavor; what preserves your life? "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."