생명의 양식
2012.10.16 06:13
소금이야기
49 Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 "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."
1.
Today is the
day of the feast of Thanksgiving. We cannot go to our hometown, but this
Service should be a heartwarming time as if we are there… I saw an internet
news article. Families and close relatives who have not met for a period of
time tried to overcome the awkwardness by talking, but this talk ended up to
discussions hurting other family members. So there is a list of discussion
topics that should be avoided if possible…
First,
something elders should not say to younger ones are: “You were nice then…” This
means that this particular person is not very nice now, “Are you employed?” is
not a good question to ask either. “Job in a large in an enterprise is the
best…” is another bad question. Also those in the age group of marriage should
not get a question such as: “when are you getting married?” or those who are
studying: “where are you hoping to go to university? If you are going to an
university that is not very popular, just learn a trade instead…” These
questions are all easy to hurt the other person who is listening, so they
should be avoided.
On the
other hand, the young ones should not say some things to elders, such as when
you are watching television with your parents and they ask about the name of
the celebrity you should not say: “you don’t have to know”, while preparing
meals you should not tell your mother to “just sit down and wait instead since
we will be taking care of everything.” Above all you should avoid discussions
about politics, since there is the election occurring in Korea this year it
would be much more intense than other years but about the candidates and their
pros and cons should not be discussed. This is because the entire family did
not meet to debate about politicians, the important part is that you dearly
love your family.
When I
read this article I felt that even if we contend, going to our hometown seemed
very happy… We would be seeing those family members we were unable to see, but
from this meeting stress might be provoked and some can get hurt, we should
think about the verses from today… Even if there is a feast with your family,
if the essential object is not there this meeting could start to hurt others…
likewise, there are some things that is essential in us. The title of the
sermon says it, in us should be ‘salt.’ That is why ‘Talk about salt’ is the
sermon title today, to elaborate a bit more, Mark 9:50 “Have salt in
yourselves, and be at peace with each other” can be restated as ‘A story about
a salt that makes peace.’ In other words, there must be a salt that can make us
peaceful, and we will be contemplating about this.
2.
Actually,
the verses from today are the most challenging verses to understand in the Book
of Mark. In verse 49 and 50, it is difficult to interpret, Mark 9: 49 “Everyone
will be salted with fire,” the meaning is unclear. Also is the ‘salt’ used in
both verses 49 and 50 the same word, or is it different, this is not certain
either. Reading in context from verse 48 and linking it to verses 49 and 50 is
not easy. There are many things to be understood and many views, so this is
very hard…
First,
Mark 9:49 “Everyone will be salted with fire”, the fire is the same as the word
in mark 9:48 “where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
Also the ‘fire’ can be connected to the ‘hell’ that is mentioned in verses 43,
45, 47, this is because Mark 9:43 “…hell, where the fire never goes out.” In
other words, ‘God’s country, Heaven’ is the direct opposite of ‘hell,’ and what
best describes ‘hell’ and its pains is ‘fire.’ So ‘salted with fire’ is similar
to the fact that ‘the cabbage being pickled by salt’ and that there will be
perfect condemnation by fire.
3.
In this light, it seems that verse 49 isn’t that hard to
understand; however, the issue comes with verse 50. Previously, we’ve been
talking about fire and judgment but suddenly the gears change and it talks
about the goodness of salt and how to be at peace with one another. The
progression, clearly, is unnatural.
As a result, some interpret verses 49 and 50 independently and
take ‘salt’ in verse 50 to connote God’s promise. Leviticus chapter 2 verse 13
says, “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the
covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your
offerings” and in Numbers chapter 18 verse 19 it says, “Whatever is set aside
from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and
your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of
salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.” The reason why yeast and
honey are banned from offerings is because they quicken the pace of decomposing
of food. But salt, not only maintains flavours, but also prevents rotting – connoting
an everlasting covenant.
Thus, the ‘salt’ mentioned in both verses 49 and 50 refer to
God’s promise and when it says, “Everyone will be salted by fire,” it means
that we must be cleaned with fire than salted by God’s covenant. The KJV bible
explains this further as it states, “For everyone shall be salted with fire,
and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” When the things that soil us
are burnt by the fire, this is the act of God’s covenant.
4.
In this sense, fire and salt mentioned in verses 49 and 50
connote the final judgment but also act as the tool for carrying out God’s
everlasting promise. However, since today’s topic is about salt, I’d like for us to
focus a little more on it. When we look at verse 50, we can see that there are
two kinds of salt – salt that has lost its saltiness and salt that needs to be
within us.
When we think of salt, we tend to think of salt coming from the
sea and thus, it’s hard for us to imagine salt that has lost its saltiness.
However, salt mentioned in the bible is rock salt. Matthew chapter 5 verse 13
says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how
can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be
thrown out and trampled by men.” The rock salt used in Palestine was comprised
of salt and other elements and thus, had to be melted to extract salt from the
others. Simply put, salt that has lost its saltiness, then, would be these
elements that are thrown away.
5.
Verse 50 has told us that salt is good and that it must be kept
within us, but what does salt symbolize? This is today’s core question. In order to understand this, we need to look at from chapter 9
verse 30 of Mark to verse 50 entirely. In verses 30 to 32, Jesus foreshadows
his death and his resurrection and yet in verse 33 to 37, we see the disciples
arguing about who is the greatest among them. At the end, Jesus tells them,
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.”
Afterwards, verses 38 to 40 is a conversation with John where he
says that he had stopped a man deriving demons out in Jesus’ name, because he
wasn’t one of them. Jesus in response said, “for whoever is not against us is
for us.” Verses 41 to 48 then, talk about how it is better to be thrown
into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck than cause one of the
little ones who believe in Jesus to sin. Then at last, in verse 50, he tells us
to keep salt within us. Thus, it seems that salt is the conclusion to discipleship that
Jesus had been preaching. It is the everlasting covenant of the cross (30-32),
the serving of the little ones, little in age or in stature, (33-37) and the
accepting of disciples outside the twelve (38-40). In other words, it is the carrying out of Jesus’ mission without
excluding anyone else; it is serving and helping those in need; and the path to
the cross. And if we were to lose this salt, we would not be able to avoid
being thrown into hell.
6.
How are you accepting what I told you? “Those who
welcome children will go to heaven, and those who cause even one child to
stumble will go to hell…” This statement is difficult because it should be
understood in soteriological point of view, not an ethical one.
How do you think God decides whether you go to heaven
or hell?
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3)
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Bible is saying that salvation is only found by knowing Jesus
God and there is no other way to be saved. But today it seems like the Bible is
saying one needs to act ethically to be saved.
Here, we need to understand who the “little children”
are. As I mentioned earlier, when Jesus was on his way to the Cross, he foretold
to his disciples about death and resurrection. At the time, Jesus was walking
on the path of the weak. But the disciples were arguing each other about who
was greater because they wanted to be the winner… That is why Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name
welcomes me.” He was saying that welcoming Jesus who was walking on the path of
the weak is like welcoming a little child.
Many of the disciples believed that their privileged
statuses were more important than the ministry work that Jesus was doing. That
is why they tried to have Jesus to themselves and they tried to prohibit others
from chasing away the demons in Jesus’s name. However, Jesus said that for whoever
is not against is for us… This is because no one can have the truth to himself…
What was the direct reason for Jesus’ death? It was because the Pharisees were
trying to have Jesus to themselves. That is why they
tried to exclude Jesus from others so other people won’t able to have him… In
the end, this made them try to kill Jesus. Just like the Pharisees, the
disciples were trying to exclude other people. Jesus is saying that by
excluding those people, you are also excluding Jesus.
Also, Jesus is also saying that it is better to fall
into the sea with a millstone fastened to your waist than to make even one
child stumble. In Matthew 16, when Simon Peter tells Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus says, “On this rock I will build my church” and continues by
talking about the Passion.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
"Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" Jesus turned and said to Peter," Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling
block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of
men." (Matthew 16:22-23)
Here, while causing the weak to stumble can
mean bullying the weak, but it also means getting in the way of the Christ who
is on his way to the cross.
These are all the core concepts of ‘salt’ and they
form the basic meaning of the sentence, ‘Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.’ If we do not have salt in
ourselves, we will all try to be greater and we will try not to lose our
privileged positions. We will lose our thoughts on the cross and that is being
a stumbling block to Jesus Christ. That is why it is not just about a moral
statement of taking care of the weak. It is relevant to the issue of whether we
will be saved and go to heaven.
Jesus came to us not as a strong person, but as a
weak person. He did not wear a crown of victory but a crown of thorns, that of
sacrifice. Instead of excluding himself to others, he was completely dissolved
in order to save the world… just as salt that can only have a salty taste when
they are dismantled and disassembled. Without it, salt becomes useless and
would only be discarded.
7.
Let’s make a conclusion. I like Beef Bone Soup
with no salt but, my family members don’t. So I am always arguing with them about
how harmful salt is to our body. Anyhow, I am sure that salt is indispensable
in our life. What I mean is that ‘the covenant of salt’ keeps us cleaned from
corruption. In order to live as Jesus who has almightiness and has showed His
ability through the cross of death, we must all have the salt in ourselves.
There is a song called “A Salt Doll” that Shihwa
Ryu wrote and Chihwan Ahn sings. The lyrics of the song are as below;
Like the salt doll/ that entered into the water/
to measure the depth of the sea
I/ who fell/ into your blood/ melt instantly,/ like
the salt doll
The lyrics of the song are actually from the writing
work of Saint Ramakrishna (19C, India). I think Christians are like the salt dolls
that melt instantly and loss their individual existence. (Ramakrisha wrote ‘If one drops a salt doll, a cloth
doll, and a stone doll in the ocean, the salt doll melts instantly and loses
its individual existence.’)
Beloved church members, the Lord says, “Have salt
in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” I wish we live the life of
salt, as Jesus did, being lowered rather than being raised, serving others rather
than being served, and embracing rather than excluding… This is so that we can
live the heavenly life…
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