Be Salt

Jesus did not get into trouble with the powers of his day simply by challenging his individual hearers. He challenged the very systems of his society--the cornerstones. Just as the values of Madison Avenue, Wall Street, and the Pentagon conflict with the gospel, so too with Jesus and the institutions of his time: he took on the power structures of his own day, religious and civil alike.

Confrontation was not popular in first-century Palestine. It is not popular anywhere in the twenty-first. To bring gospel values to bear on labor practices, governmental decisions, and even religious traditions and policies is no more popular for a follower of Jesus than it was for him. He was told that they had their laws. Those who dare to bring his values to today’s world are told the same thing.

Yes, discipleship does have its cost--anyone who has dared to bring the gospel to bear on his or her own life knows that. Whether we feel it may be a good litmus test for discerning if we are truly following on his path, or pursuing a false trail.

--Jeanne de Celles