EmmDev 2025-08-15 [Moments with Mark] Salt

Salt

Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other. (Mark9:49-50)

The chapter ends with three statements Jesus made about salt. He may not have said them all at once, and He probably repeated them on different occasions. Mark seems to place them here as a fitting conclusion to this challenging section on discipleship, which began when the disciples argued about greatness.

It's helpful to consider the symbolism of salt in Biblical times:
- Salt was a preservative and purifier.
- Salt was a flavour enhancer.
- Salt was included in many of the Old Testament sacrifices.

Let's consider the three sayings:

1. "Everyone will be salted with fire."
   OT meat and grain sacrifices had to be sprinkled with salt before being burnt on the altar.
   But in the New Covenant we offer ourselves as "Living Sacrifices" and instead of being sprinkled with salt, we are sprinkled with fire. Fire is a symbol of trial and purification or refining. Those who follow Jesus as disciples will go through hardship and purification as we offer ourselves to Him. As Peter says our faith is like gold refined by fire.
2. "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?"
   Notice that Jesus doesn't say "How can it be made salty again," He says "How can you (2nd person plural) make it salty again." Christians are purifiers, preservers and flavouring agents in society. We are meant to be thermostats... not thermometers. We don't go with the flow, we change the flow. We are meant to be portrayals of the abundant life that Jesus promises in John 10:10. But we can lose our saltiness and Jesus' question indicates that it can be almost impossible to make us "salty" again. So it's better not to lose it in the first place.
3. "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other."
   Christians sometimes say: "We're under grace and not law..."
   And this becomes a license to let sin in the back door.
   Having salt in ourselves means that we keep our communities pure, but that we do so graciously.
   Paul flips the order around in Colossians 4:6 but is saying the same thing: "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

So, this concludes this chapter which has contained a challenging call to leadership through discipleship.

• Sometimes disciple leaders will be salted with refining fire so that we can be good living sacrifices.
• We need to ensure that in the light of the world's corruption and lacklustre values, we are bringing flavour and purity, recognising that when we lose that ground, it is hard to regain.
• We need to balance grace and purity in our communities

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