Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
2 Kings 2:19-22 (NIV)
Healing of the Water
19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.” 20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” 22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
When Jesus told his disciples “you are the salt of the earth”, he was describing the nature and purpose of their new lives as Christians. In Bible times, salt was significant for many things. Here is a whimsical story from the life of the prophet Elisha, where salt brings healing. This prefigures how God will bring healing to the world by mixing “salty” Christians into a world which was formerly doomed to death.