"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?" (v. 50a)

The theme "Total Commitment" arouses deep questions within us. How committed a person am I concerning the ideals I hold dear? How much do I really stand up for the truths I have learned? Am I really convinced about my "religious convictions"? What are my commitments in life anyway?

A chicken and a pig were having a conversation one day. They were discussing how each of them provided for their master’s daily breakfast. The chicken merely laid her egg every morning, and that was a fairly easy contribution. But the pig, giving life and limb for the bacon, made vastly more than a contribution; it was more like total conimitment!

That’s what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel reading. Let’s not shrink from hearing his call. He says,

So if your hand makes you lose your faith, cut if off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand than to keep both hands and go off to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot than to keep both feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out! It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell. (verses 43-47)

Salt is good; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? (verse 5Oa)

Obviously these appeals by Jesus are exaggerated. But they’re not meant to be entirely discarded. Their initial shock value is designed to force us to review where we stand in the matter of making and keeping the serious commitments of life.

As we talk about this, remember that Jesus Christ can give us the power to do anything worthwhile and good. Today our faithful Lord promises us just the power we need to keep our commitments. With Christ at our side, we can even dare to talk about total commitment.

I

Many social observers today correctly refer to our age as the time of a loss of commitment. All around us the evidence points to such lack of commitment.

1. People borrow money. But they don’t always follow through and pay it back. One of the fastest emerging industries of the Eighties is made up of bill-collecting agencies. Each week the public notices section of our daily newspaper contains the names of scores of private individuals who declare bankruptcy. Previously these notices were largely confined to business ventures. With our nagging recession, some of this failure is understandable. But it also points to the fact of a growing loss of commitment by people who promise to do something and do not follow through.

2. Many employees today suffer from a lack of commitment to their jobs. They sign agreements or contracts, or do it through labor unions, but then fail to give fair labor for their wages. An amazing number of television commercials down-play the commitment and dignity of work, as though a job is to be tolerated only for what follows, usually "Miller Time" or some other diversion. The concept of diligence and carefulness in doing our work frequently suffers from a basic lack of commitment.

3. A loss of commitment towards marriage is so widespread today that divorce is no longer perceived as being out of the the ordinary. Many couples of every age group live together as though married, with no announced commitment to the bonds of wedded life.

4. Obviously there is a shortage of commitment toward the church and worship by many Christians today. Pastors are overjoyed if they can count even half their members in church on a given Sunday. Instead of following through when they sing, "Take my life and let it he, consecrated, Lord, to thee," many Christians are practicing a shorter version: "Take my life, and let it be." Period!

The list could go on. The fact is already plain. We are suffering from a loss of commitment at many levels of modern living.

II

Jesus knows our human failure to follow through on many of our promises and commitments. In this Bible reading he says two things that are unnerving, even mind-boggling. First he tells us to throw out of our life that which is keeping us from being totally committed. The language here is stark and fierce. "If your hand makes you lose your faith, cut it off!" And if your foot or your eye is the culprit, get rid of it as well, Jesus says.

Jesus is trying to shock us into realizing that some things get in the way of allowing us to keep our commitments. And many times they are little things or common things that bar us from the faithfulness we originally promised or possessed.

How true. The common drive toward making money and "succeeding" financially has made many a father a stranger in his own home. The complusion to be tops in the field has turned many a parent into a workaholic, making them strangers to their own children. Jesus says, "Cut off the hand that does such things. Amputate the foot that’s leading you in that direction. Pluck out the eye that only sees your success in career and job and professional attainment." You probably had your wife before your job, and you have your job for the sake of your family. Your job isn’t just for the sake of making a living, but to allow you to live with those to whom you gave your primary commitment - your spouse and family.

In yet another way Jesus here tells how we must get rid of those things that stand in the way of our commitments. He uses the image of salt, and he says, "Salt is good; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?" The implied answer is, "You can’t! When salt loses its saltiness, there’s only one thing to do: throw it out." In strong language Jesus twice says that there is usually something standing between us and our commitments, and we ought to discard that "something."

What stands between you and your commitments today friend? What is it that’s ruining your fondest dreams? What’s that one discardable item that’s barring you from attaining your highest aspirations? In this Gospel moment of decision and divine support, cast it off, and make your promises come true once again.

III

Jesus adds one more challenging thought: salt is good, Jesus claims. We’d say that too. Salt is good; it’s a great and flavorful gift we all appreciate. It makes an agreeable contribution to the taste of our food. Ask anyone on a salt-free diet about that! But another culinary secret Jesus knows is that unused salt gradually grows stale. It loses its saltiness. And then all is lost. You might as well throw it out.

Jesus is focusing on the gifts you possess as a person. You are a gifted person, and so am I. We have talents with which God has graced every one of us. But what you and I refuse to use we will surely lose. That’s a challenge, isn’t it?

What’s more tragic than love that goes unused, than generosity kept to oneself, than friendship unshared? What’s more wasted than a gifted person who has no commitment toward those gifts - who squanders them or doesn’t use them at all?

Ted Engstrom of World Vision fame tells how one day he was cleaning out an old desk drawer. He found a flashlight he hadn’t used in a year. He turned it on but there was no light. He shook it, and then he unscrewed one end to release what were probably dead batteries. The batteries wouldn’t come out, but finally, after some effort, he shook them loose. What a mess he found! Corroded batteries with liquid acid seeping all over the mechanism - all because he hadn’t used the flashlight regularly!

Batteries are designed to be turned on, to be used, not neglected or ignored. What you and I refuse to use we will surely lose. We’re meant to he turned on, too. Our gifts are to be used! Our lives are not meant to he "waited out" but to be lived up! Are you and I living up to the gifts and talents God has given us? What kind of commitment do we have to ourselves and to the graces within us?

Today all the gifts of God are stirring within you and me. Yes, Jesus Christ himself lives within us. He is present in a special way in the life of every committed Christian. That’s why he went to the cross for us. That’s why he rose on Easter day - to be alive, to be alive in you and me.

In your marriage, in your family, in your job, in your school, in your church - you can do it! What happens within you during this Holy Communion right now will he vastly more important than anything that will happen to you this week. Total commitment is the exciting, refreshing gift that awaits us now in this Meal of divine nourishment.