Lukas 14:34

14:34 “Salt ¹  is good, but if salt loses its flavor, ²  how can its flavor be restored?

Lukas 22:39

On the Mount of Olives

22:39 Then ³  Jesus ⁴  went out and made his way, ⁵  as he customarily did, to the Mount of Olives, ⁶  and the disciples followed him.

Lukas 23:35

23:35 The people also stood there watching, but the rulers ridiculed ⁷  him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save ⁸  himself if ⁹  he is the Christ ¹⁰  of God, his chosen one!”

[14:34]  ¹ tn Grk “Now salt…”; here οὖν has not been translated.

[14:34]  sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[14:34]  ² sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens: Under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be, both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

[22:39]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:39]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:39]  ⁵ tn Grk “went.”

[22:39]  ⁶ sn See the note on the Mount of Olives in Luke 19:29.

[23:35]  ⁷ tn A figurative extension of the literal meaning “to turn one’s nose up at someone”; here “ridicule, sneer at, show contempt for” (L&N 33.409).

[23:35]  ⁸ sn The irony in the statement Let him save himself is that salvation did come, but later, not while on the cross.

[23:35]  ⁹ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[23:35]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[23:35]  sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.