Yesterday, Peter kindly allowed me to come on his blog and query the very words of Jesus. ‘What if Jesus had been on the Earth today?’ I wondered, ‘Would he still have called us the salt of the Earth, or would milk perhaps be a better analogy?’ Having not been struck by a bolt of lightning, Peter has kindly let me conclude my ponderings today. It might be worth reading yesterday’s first, so if you haven’t, follow this link to rectify that now, otherwise, read on…

Share this post

The third reason why I think being the genuine ‘milk of the Earth’ makes more sense than being its salt is that artificial milk is nasty, in a way and to an extent that artificial salt isn’t.

One of the things that got me thinking along these lines, before the other morning’s excessive lacticity (is that a word? If not, it should be!) tipped me over the edge, was a recent visit from a friend. She only drinks black tea. This dates from the time she and I were missionaries together, when the only milk available was powdered, and horrible. It was thick, yellowy, and very sweet. I managed to survive with just a tiny drop in my tea, she cut it out altogether, and has never been able to stomach it since. That was over fifteen years ago!

It is possible for people to look, sound and act a lot like Christians, but for the fruit of their lives (if you’ll excuse the shift in metaphors!) to be extremely bitter. People coming into contact with them can be put off Christianity – and God – for life. We need to be aware of that, as Christians. Often people will judge us by the actions of the ‘powdered milk’ they have tasted before. Having been scared off, they will have got used to the flavour of life without God and will be happier staying as they are than risking the thing which – they think – was so painful to them before. It may, however, be possible to wean them onto the real thing, slowly, a drop at a time, through showing genuine Christian love and grace. It was a long, slow process for me, but I am now finally back to a more normal milk level in my tea, so there is hope!

Finally, milk is good for you! Again, we now know that salt, though necessary in small quantities to keep the body hydrated, is harmful in too high a quantity. I know some people are lactose-intolerant, but for most of us, it is good to have milk in our diets to strengthen teeth and bones.

What a wonderful analogy that is for society! Whereas in Jesus’ time salt was packed around meat to prevent it from going off, milk needs to get inside the body – the society – and work its way all through the system in order to strengthen it and enable it to move and grow. Christians need to be in work places, schools, universities, clubs, teams and other groups to build a strong framework to the very extremities of our communities.

A friend of mine is a computer programmer and for the past year or so has worked for an online gambling company. At first he hesitated over whether to take the job or not. It is exactly the kind of work he had been wanting to do, using all his skills, yet stretching him at the same time… but he didn’t like the idea of helping people to gamble. In the end he took it, partly because part of his role is developing the safeguards and checks-and-balances that are designed to make it harder for people to get sucked into gambling to excess, which he felt was a good thing. The other reason he took it was because if all the Christians refuse to work in that industry, how will those workers ever hear the gospel or see faith lived out in real life?

[Caveat number three – I don’t recommend that you rush out to find a job as a prostitute, a drug dealer or a gangster on the grounds that those people need to hear the gospel too. Yes, they do, but we need to find other ways of reaching them than by participating in illegal or immoral activities. I think the above ‘case study’ is a very specific one that requires wisdom and guidance from God as to whether to take it or not, but I think in his case taking milk into that bitter, black coffee world was what God wanted of him.]

So what does it mean to be the milk of the world?

1. Bring subtle, sweet flavour into bitter lives and situations.
2. Retain your milkiness by spending plenty of time in the ‘refrigerator’ of God’s presence.
3. Be real milk, not the fake stuff. People will be able to tell.
4. Bring strength and structure to a society that is floundering and flailing without it.

Can you think of any more? Or maybe you can think of a different analogy. What does God want our presence in the world to be like? Trey Morgan, if you can come up with a convincing argument for ‘bacon’ I’ll be seriously impressed…