"Be Salt. Melt Ice."
Matthew 5:13-20
Rev. Emily Labrecque, Westmoreland UCC
Feb. 8, 2026
As some of you know, I am from the Midwest. I grew up in Illinois and Michigan, went to college in Illinois, and then lived in the Chicago suburbs for several years. I grew up with snowstorms and lake effect snow. School was rarely cancelled or delayed because we had the infrastructure to deal with the snow in real time. Though I didn’t much enjoy being outside in the cold, I did love going to the local golf course and sledding down the crystalline undulating hills.
So imagine my surprise when, two weeks ago, we got a major snow storm that turned into, what’d they call it, “snowcrete”?! Let’s call it what it really was, a whole ton of ice. When I saw the lectionary passage for today I laughed out loud. Salt. Of course.
What an interesting time to be reading about salt and light when we are inundated with salt on the roads, the sidewalks, our driveways. Purple salt, blue salt, white salt. Big salt, small salt. It’s everywhere. Our dogs paws are crying for a break! But what else are we to do when ice threatens our pathways and endangers our neighbors?
Our passage this morning comes to us immediately following the Beatitudes, found in Jesus’ sermon on the mount. He continues his teaching to the masses that had begun to gather around him to witness his teaching firsthand. “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world”, he proclaims.
“Jesus chose these two images on purpose.” As the preaching professor Barbara Lundblad reminds us, “to be salt and light means to be shaped by the ancient, life-giving law of God. Jesus said it plainly [in the verses that follow]: ‘Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.’ We can’t tear Jesus’ images from their roots in Hebrew scriptures.”
For our purposes today, I want to focus on just the image of salt.
Salt has so many uses. As we know, it melts ice, of course. But it also preserves food and enhances its flavor, softens water, makes chlorine, is used for agricultural and cleaning purposes, and is gargled to help soothe a sore throat. It’s a miracle mineral, in that way.
Salt also shows up in our holy scriptures over thirty times. And it’s no wonder. Salt has held a myriad of roles throughout history. “Mark Kurlansky writes in his book, Salt: A World History, ‘from the beginning of civilization until about one hundred years ago, salt was one of the most sought after commodities in human history.’ Salt held profound symbolic and practical value in the ancient world. It was believed to ward off evil spirits, seal religious covenants, and serve medicinal purposes. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt, giving us the word salary. Salt was also linked to fertility rituals, used to season vegetables as it is today, and even played a role in the early domestication of dogs. Long before refrigeration, it was essential for preserving food.
We could take this metaphor in any number of directions but what we hear from Jesus in the text today is: You are the salt of the earth. This is not something you have to earn or prove. You simply are. It’s part of your identity as a Jesus-follower. Calling his followers ‘the salt of the earth’ reminded them that they carried the capacity to draw goodness out of the world, just as salt draws out the flavor of food. However, just as salt can enhance, preserve, and heal, it can also be contaminated, lose its effectiveness, and ruin a dish. And, as anyone who has ever put salt on an icy sidewalk – or into an open wound – knows, salt does not work quietly or gently. As salt, we get to bring out what Eugene Peterson calls “the God-flavors of this earth.” Salt doesn’t lose its saltiness by being too strong – it loses it by being diluted, shelved, or kept safely out of the way. How we use our saltiness matters.
Jesus’ ministry showed us how to use our saltiness.
Disrupting the status quo.
Valuing those who are marginalized.
Caring for those who suffer loss.
Seeking justice.
Having mercy.
Being peacemakers.
Claiming the immigrant as a neighbor.
These are the actions that draw forth God’s goodness in the world. This is what we do to bring about the peaceable realm. These are the same acts called forth in the prophet Isaiah in our other lectionary text for today as well. Chapter 58 says:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the protests in Minneapolis, but specifically the clergy and people of faith that have been showing up. We live in a polarized society where so much of the political rhetoric about religion comes from a very narrow, evangelical, nationalistic perspective. It can be easy to shy away from those conversations, to hide our identity as Christians because we don’t want to be assumed to be ”that” kind of Christian. But what these protests are doing is showing the rest of the country that there is another view of Christianity. There are Jesus followers who actually believe in justice for the oppressed and caring for the disenfranchised. There are Christians who believe a different world is possible and who hold onto hope that earth can become heaven. There are Christians who seek to pour out their saltiness to draw out the goodness of God on earth.
Here, in Bethesda, where many of us live close to influence, education, and decision-makers, being salt may not cost us our lives – but it may cost us our comfort, our reputation, or our sense of being ‘reasonable.’ As progressive Christians we have an amazing opportunity right now to show the country that a more just, compassionate, and caring world, modeled after the love and ministry of Jesus is indeed possible. Every day is another opportunity to put our beliefs to work and show who we are and how we can create a better world for everyone.
Being salt will mean being misunderstood. It will mean being accused of going too far. It will mean that some would rather sweep us away than let us melt the ice beneath their feet. Be salt anyway. Not because we are fearless – but because God is faithful. Not because we will always get it right – but because theworld is frozen in too many places to leave the salt in the container.
Go and be the salt of the earth.
Amen.
