Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can it season?  Have salt in yourselves, and keep peace in one another.  That’s one of my favorite lines in the Gospel of Mark.  Have salt in yourselves, Jesus said.  I can think of at least seven reasons (a good biblical number) that salt would be a good thing to have in ourselves.  I don’t know if Jesus was thinking of one or all of these.  But listen to what I could come up with.

1. Salt was used as currency – as a form of money, an element of transactional value.
2. Salt has medicinal qualities – it’s used in healing.
3. Salt has preservative qualities.  Without refrigeration, salt is a good way to preserve food.
4. Salt has seasoning qualities – it enhances flavor.
5. Salt has cleansing or purifying qualities.
6. Salt was considered to be a portent against evil forces.  People still throw salt over their left shoulder to keep the devil at bay.
7. Salt was a sign of permanence – eating salt with someone in Biblical times meant you were bound to them in loyalty – in a covenant of friendship.

Whether Jesus was thinking of just one or several or all of these reasons, what he was saying was have value in yourselves.  And keep peace with one another.  Both. 

In Mark’s story, you might recall, the disciples have just been arguing amongst themselves about who is greater.  Jesus has said, whoever wants to be first must be the servant of all.  Now random person has been casting out demons in Jesus’ name and the disciples come to Jesus to put a stop to it.  Isn’t it ironic that they are trying to prevent someone from doing what they themselves have just failed to do?  Remember in the part of the story we heard two weeks ago, the disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a boy, and Jesus stepped in to do it.  Now someone who isn’t even one of Jesus’ followers, isn’t one of the “in” group, is casting out demons in his name – and they think, that’s gotta stop.  John tells Jesus, “you can’t let just anybody use your good name as their authority.  You’ve got to have some standards Jesus!” 

And Jesus’ response?  He says, don’t stop him – whoever is not against us is for us.  Once again, it’s opposite day with Jesus.  The saying usually goes, whoever is not for us is against us.  But with Jesus, it’s whoever is not against us is for us!  With Jesus, it’s not about tests of identification or of membership.  The disciples may still not get it, but Jesus has actually learned something from his encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman.  He has learned that God’s healing grace is bigger and deeper and wider than you thought – don’t try to place restrictions on it, or on people who are delivering it.   

And then right away – without missing a beat, Jesus reminds his disciples that they need others – they depend on those with whom they minister for the basic necessities of life.  Boy, that’s a hard one isn’t it?  “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you carry the name of the Anointed, I swear to you, such a person certainly won’t go unrewarded!”  Whoever assists you will be honored in God’s name.  Here’s a lesson for any of you who’d prefer to not be on the receiving end of help from people who you are trying to help!  The ministry that Jesus is trying to teach here is mutual ministry.

Then Jesus admonishes them by saying, “Don’t you put stumbling blocks in the way of beginner seekers.” (That’s what “little ones” means in the Gospels.  It could be a reference to the one casting out demons or a reference to the ones offering water – that’s not clear.)  “Don’t scandalize people who are doing good deeds even if they are not following Jesus the way you are or you think they should.  Don’t try to stop someone who is offering to care for you when you think you don’t need their help.”  One of the things that people who like to give often forget is that giving and receiving are as connected as breathing in and breathing out.  It’s quite deadly to do one without the other for very long.

I got chided last week for “preaching to the choir” (by a choir member even though my back was toward the choir for the entire sermon!) and it probably sounds like I’m doing it again.  I do know that when I preach about radical welcome or about faithful living not being about tests of church membership, I am joining a chorus of voices of lay and ordained people that have echoed inside the walls of 15 Newbury Street for a very long time.  I also know that nearly every single week, at least one person is hearing that message for the first time.  And last week, as it turned out, it was more like 15 or 20 people who told me that they were hearing that message for the first time.  However, it’s never my intent to be parish-congratulatory from the pulpit.  Encouraging, yes.  Supportive, yes.  Provocative and challenging, definitely.  The old line is “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”  That’s the preaching goal.

So where are the places that we have grown comfortable or complacent (or self-congratulatory or parish-congratulatory) in our ministry?  Where can we be challenged to grow?  Where has our saltiness gotten so watered down that it’s not much good to us or to anyone else?  Is jealousy or rivalry tripping us up anywhere?  What are we doing with our hands or feet or eyes that causes us to offend others?  What are we doing that keeps people from deeper knowledge of the love of God?

This reading from Mark suggests just how highly we should regard a relationship with the Holy One.  Jesus uses pretty strong language to say that if any part of us gets in the way of a relationship with the Divine, get rid of it – it’s not worth it.  Whatever gets in the way of a relationship with God, let it go.  It would be better to live into the realm of God without some part of ourselves, than to live in the burning trash heap outside of the city walls, a garbage dump place called Gehenna, here translated as hell.  By the way, you might think, based on the pop culture  notions of Christianity, that hell is a pretty big issue for Jesus or a pretty big issue in the New Testament.  But it’s not.  There’s really not that much talk about the place where rubbish was gathered and burned as a metaphor for separation from God.  Most of the talk of hell comes after the New Testament, in the imaginations of later Christians.  In fact, the Apostle Paul, argues eloquently that nothing can separate us from the love of God (presumably, not even being thrown into the trash heap).

So back to where I began, which is where our Gospel narrative ends today:  Have salt in yourselves, and keep peace with one another.  Notice that Jesus is saying to the group – have value in yourselves – plural.  You are all valuable, he is reminding them – those of you in the “in” group, those outside the group, all.  Remember that. Hold on to it.  Have value in yourselves, have healing and preservative qualities, have the spice of life in yourselves, have cleansing and protective qualities -- have distinctive character, Jesus is saying, and keep peace with one another.  Keeping peace means more than just keeping one’s mouth shut.  Keeping peace – shalom – is much deeper, much more profound than keeping quiet.  To be clear, it’s not keeping peace at the expense of valuing oneself or one’s community.  And it’s not valuing oneself or one’s community so much that peace cannot be kept.  It’s “both/and” as they taught us in seminary.  It’s carrying the tension of knowing that each one is so valuable – this community is so valuable – that conflicts can and must be resolved.  Each one is so valuable – this community is so valuable – that conflict resolution is always worth the work.  So I think what Jesus is saying, translated into our vernacular, is “hold the salt and pass the peace.”