"Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in
yourselves...." This passage is similar to Matthew 5:13, where Jesus tells his disciples --
and us -- to be "the salt of the earth." In Jesus' day, salt was valued highly. People didn't
try to avoid it, like so many of us must today. On the contrary, lacking refrigeration, they
salted most of their fish and meat heavily to preserve it. Salt which had lost its saltiness,
it's preservative power, became useless, good only to be put on a path or walkway to