At 11pm on April 25 2003 Aron Ralston parked his truck at the Horseshoe Canyon Trailhead in Utah and turned in for the night in his sleeping bag.  The next morning at 9.15 he cycled 15 miles along Maze-robbers Roost Road.  He then locked his bike to a tree and set out to walk to Bluejohn Canyon.  By 2.45 he had begun his descent into the deep narrow canyon.  Ralston was negotiating a 10-foot drop between two ledges when and 800-pound boulder shifted above him, crushing his right hand against the sandstone wall.

Ralston was an experienced hiker and after overcoming his nerves and pain he considered his options.  It was unlikely that anyone would happen upon him, so he started chipping away at the rock with his multitool, but this proved futile.  He tried hoisting the rock using his ropes.  This too failed.  After four days he contemplated his likely death.  And then, on day six after exhausting his water supply he came to reckon with his one final option – to sever his arm with his multitool.  I won’t go into the details but he did, then he climbed the 70 feet out of the cave and hiked three hours before being rescued by a helicopter.  He was awarded the first annual Shining Star of Perseverance Award by the Fortis Benefits Insurance Company.  You know how I like to start sermons with a light-hearted, jolly little story.

I wonder what you would do in the same situation.  Personally, I reckon death is looking a pretty good option when the only alternative is cutting your arm off.  Even then not being guaranteed safety because you happen to be in a very remote place, you may die of infection or shock or blood-loss.  But Mr Ralston is no doubt happy in the knowledge that he made the right decision.  And, as well as receiving that award from the insurance company he probably has the distinction of providing one of the best sermon illustrations in history of today’s Gospel reading.   Lose a limb, or keep it and die. Which choice would you make?

"If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire … If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell … If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-48)."

Now let me put your minds at rest.  Jesus was not talking literally.  Whew, aren’t you glad we’re Episcopalians and we understand that sometimes some of the sayings in the Bible aren’t to be taken literally.  Not every Christian in history has read this figuratively.  A famous and normally very sound early Christian named Origen did actually cut off parts of his body in order to avoid being tempted to commit certain sins.  He was nothing if not dedicated.  But we know that Jesus was not asking his followers to literally dismember themselves to remain free from temptation.  So, step away from the chain saw.

Jesus, obviously, is teaching his followers that we should be prepared to give up things if necessary in order to remain free form sin.  And, in fact, that is what we have done as Christians, isn’t it?  We daily make little decisions to avoid situations, places, even certain people that would lead us into unnecessary temptation.  There’s enough temptation out there that we NEED to face and can’t avoid, without putting ourselves in the way of temptation needlessly.  There are plenty of stumbling blocks out there without going looking for them.

Here then is a teaching about the cost of discipleship.  And the point Jesus is making is that we need occasionally to look at our lives and see if there is anything that causes us to stumble that we honestly can live without.  I have a friend who has done this and has got rid of the internet and his TV because he believes those things put unnecessary temptation in his way.  Instead he does a lot of reading and exercise and being with family and friends.  We might say, well that’s a bit drastic, it’s not something I feel I need to do, but that’s his honest sincere decision before God and who am I to say he’s got it wrong.  I commend him for taking Christ’s challenge seriously.  My friend has got the point – it is better to give up things that lead us into sin than to lose out on the big prize – life with God now and in eternity.  It is better to do an amputation than to be pinned down and die.

But spiritual amputations are not the only thing Jesus talks about in this passage.  He also talks about salt.  We are, he says, to be salt in the world.  Now that is an interesting challenge, full of meaning.  For us salt has two main uses.  It brings out the flavour of food. And it melts the ice in our driveways.  But in our modern, hi-tech lives we have largely lost touch with a couple of other things that Jesus could have been driving at with this image of salt.  A few decades ago people would have had a much better idea.  Salt, they’d have told us preserves things, especially meat – we have fridges and freezers and have lost the ancient skills of keeping meat fresh.  We’ve also lost the art of healing with salt.  Mercifully, and this is a god thing, we don’t rub salt into wounds to clean them anymore.  But they did in the time if Jesus.  Salt was an extremely valuable and important commodity in the ancient world.  In ancient Greece, salt was medium of exchange – people traded things using salt.  Incidentally, slaves were bought and sold with salt which is the origin of the phrase “he is worth his salt."  The salt rations that were given to Roman soldiers had the Latin name "Salary."  Thousands of Napoleon’s troops died during his retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal from lack of salt. Without enough of it, muscles won’t contract, blood won’t circulate, food won’t digest and the heart won’t beat.  Too much of it, of course, and you can kiss goodbye to your arteries, but without a doubt, salt is essential for life.  And Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth..."

So let’s quickly look at these four qualities of salt and see if we can’t get some important things to apply to our lives.

1.         Salt preserves things.  Someone who understands chemistry can explain why salt acts as a preservative, but for the rest of us, we just need to take it on trust.  So Jesus is calling his followers to preserve the worlds we find ourselves in.  You may have seen pictures of “The last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci.  It’s that famous painting with the twelve disciples sitting around the table with Jesus in the middle.  And the artist obviously wanted to give a message about the power of salt because he has painted in front if Judas on the table an overturned salt cellar.  It’s as if Judas had the power to preserve the life of Jesus but, of course, didn’t.  The fellowship of the group was overturned, the life of the Son of God was taken.  That’s what happens when the salt is overturned.  The preserving quality of the salt is destroyed.

2.         Salt adds flavour.  It’s as if you have a bland food that actually has some flavour but it needs a bit of help to bring it out.  And that’s what salt does.  Compare that with sugar.  As we know a spoonful of sugar makes …. (I promise that is the only time you’ll ever hear me quoting Mary Poppins).  But that’s what sugar does – it masks the true taste of something.  It covers it up so that something nasty can taste OK – like coffee.  But salt does the opposite – it brings out the best in food.  It enhances the flavour.  The good stuff is there, but it needs a bit of help.

So when Jesus says you and I are the salt of the earth he means that we are to be involved in the world, bringing out the best in it.  Everyone has good in them, and you can usually spot it if you look hard enough.  And our job is to encourage the good, urge people on to do the right thing.  The same is true in our workplaces and the circles we socialise in.  Saying the encouraging thing, suggesting the virtuous act, or the merciful gesture, being a gracious presence.  Bringing out the goodness that is there, but can easily be lost in the normal humdrum of life.

3. Salt heals wounds.  Again I don’t know why this should be.  If you’ve learned nothing else this morning you will at least go home knowing that I am lousy at science.  We all carry wounds from life.  Each of us has experienced the pain of loss and bereavement, the sting of rejection and betrayal, the humiliation of being told we’re out of a job, or our faces don’t fit, or we’re too this or too that.  And this gives us something in common with every other human being on earth.  No one gets out of here without emotional injuries.  But if Jesus calls us to be salt then it means we can be part of other people’s healing.  Where someone has received rejection we can show acceptance and help them heal.  When someone is aching because of bereavement we can comfort and be the instruments with which God heals that person.  When someone is hurting through defeat and failure, we can help them heal by lifting their eyes to God and silently showing our compassion.

4. Salt melts ice, although this is not what Jesus would have meant, because he wasn’t familiar with ice.  His hearers did not have to sprinkle salt on their parking areas.  But I hope I’m not taking liberties with what Jesus meant when I say that our job, as salt is to melt things – thaw the hearts of the people we come into contact with.  Our love and warmth can change people.  As we act with kindness and generosity so the situations around us can thaw, the ice can melt and good things can come to life.  Sometimes all it takes is for one Christian to make a difference.  Just one voice that will forgive or will defend the falsely accused or speak out for what is right.  Icy atmospheres can gently melt when you and I take the love of Christ with us into a situation of conflict or hurt.

So, friends, you are the salt of the earth.  That what Jesus says to us this morning.  We have the task of going out into our little worlds this week to do four things.  1. To Preserve society, to prevent it from decaying, to keep it fresh and alive.  2. To season the places where we go with truth, to bring out the best in other people and to allow the good to flourish and grow in arid places.  3. To help heal the wounds of those around us.  Sometimes, of course, like salt the healing can sting, but our job in the name of Christ is to say the healing word and perform the healing act.  And 4. To melt the ice of frozen relationships and cold atmospheres, to breathe warmth into hearts that have become cold.  Friends, we have a great job, let’s go and be salt and change things in the name of Christ.