S is for Salt
This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, July 7 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Genesis 19:15-17, 24-26.
S is for salt! This is the first sermon in a series called "The Good Book: Meeting Our Ancestors in Faith, One Story At A Time." We will be concentrating on God’s interaction with some lesser known characters of scripture. We are looking at some Old Testament characters this month and some from the New Testament next month. Each story is assigned a letter of the alphabet, as in the book, A is for Alabaster by Anna Carter Florence.
You are likely familiar with the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God made a way of escape for Lot and his family so they would not be destroyed with the people of that city. In the process, Lot’s wife turned back to look while this was happening and was turned to a pillar of salt, hence S is for salt.
Interestingly, there is a 65-foot-high pillar of salt at the southern end of the Dead Sea, which from various angles, resembles a woman. It appeared suddenly around 4,000 years ago, generating the explanation that it was Lot’s wife.
Bible scholars and theologians throughout the centuries have looked at Lot’s wife harshly. She was told by the men (angels in disguise) not to look back at Sodom as it was being destroyed, yet she did. So, many have seen this as a sign of her unbelief and disobedience to God, resulting in her punishment. Even Jesus said, 31” On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away, and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife .33 Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it” (Luke 17:31-33). This was in the context of warning the disciples of difficult future times. Lot’s wife was used as an example of what not to do.
This flattens her, making her seem less human, if she’s just held up as an example. However, Martin Luther had a much more charitable view of this lady. He commends her as “a believing and saintly woman” because she initially followed Lot away from their home (Lectures on Genesis 1538–42; Luther: 43:88).
The Hebrew word for “looked” regarding Lot’s wife, means not a mere glance, but that “she looked back longingly as the Hebrew verb means “to look intently; to gaze.”Lot’s wife apparently identified with the doomed city and thereby showed lack of respect for God’s provision of salvation. She, like her daughters later, had allowed her thinking to be influenced by the culture of Sodom,” (netbible.com).
That may be, but why would she look back longingly? Yes, she was a daughter of that city, but there may be more. Lot was told to bring with him his “two daughters who are here,” which doesn’t exclude the possibility of there being other daughters. Could Lot’s wife have been longingly looking back because she had more daughters there in the midst of the destruction?
Now, let’s talk about what God is doing in this passage. Some of it we find difficult, maybe inconceivable, to hear. How can a loving God obliterate a place and people? However, what precedes destruction is Abraham praying for the cities, resulting in God deciding to save the righteous. Lot and his family were the only ones who fit the bill.
On the very day of destruction, God’s angels urged Lot to leave, but he was dragging his feet. In essence, the angels carried the family out of the city. We see God at work for God’s people in spite of themselves, in spite of ourselves. Lot’s wife, as well, was delivered from the destruction of Sodom. But her heart was torn between what she was leaving behind and going forward with Lot, in obedience to God. So, Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt. Whether or not it was an actual pillar of salt, such as the one by the Dead Sea, doesn’t matter.
We’ve made a lot of assumptions about [Lot’s wife], without stopping to ask why she may have looked back. And that’s something we can all relate to: a time when we made assumptions about others, without taking the time to dig deeper. But what if we did? We might find we have a lot in common with one another and with characters in Scripture, too. Why did Lot’s wife look back? Maybe for the same reasons we do–and maybe her story can be an invitation to move forward. (© Church Anew)
We have been invited to engage the people we are tempted to judge harshly, so sure we understand their stories, their reasons for acting the way they do. A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with a man who shared his story of things that happened to him at various churches. No wonder he doesn’t go to church! But I think I’m making progress with him. Who do you know like that? Can you heal their pain and carry them to God’s future for them?
Let us pray.
O God of all, with wonderful diversity of languages and cultures you created all people in your image. Free us from prejudice and fear, that we may see your face in the faces of people around the world; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
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