Daily Meditation: Monday, December 21, 2009

Jesus said, ‘For everyman shall be salted by fire’. What is …

12/21/2009

Jesus said, ‘For everyman shall be salted by fire’. What is the connection between salt and fire? Fire is a symbol for the spirit, as is salt. Salt, like fire, burns. But fire exists in different forms and therefore produces different sorts of burning. Fire is synonymous with life, but it is also synonymous with suffering and death. Fire sustains life but also has the power to destroy it, and it destroys it utterly. The same is true of salt: though it is strongly connected to the origins of life, it also has the power to destroy life. Salt, like fire, can therefore bring death as it can bring life. Thus, when Jesus says, ‘Everyman shall be salted by fire’, it means that no one can escape salt and fire. But those who have welcomed the spirit in and worked with it will be salted by the fire of life, whereas those who have rebelled against the spirit will be salted by the fire of suffering and death. No one can escape this law.