Dry Rub

During Epiphany, the Church spends time hearing who Jesus is—His baptism, His glory, His light shining into the world. But on this Fifth Sunday of Epiphany, the focus shifts. Jesus turns from revealing Himself to revealing His people. He looks at His disciples and tells them who they are before they have done anything at all: “You are the salt of the earth.”

That timing is important. Jesus says this at the very beginning of His ministry and at the very beginning of theirs. These men have not yet been sent out. They have not preached, healed, or suffered. Still, Jesus declares their identity. He speaks before they act. This is how God always works. God the Father declares Jesus to be His beloved Son at His baptism—before Jesus begins His public ministry. In the same way, Jesus declares His disciples to be salt before they are sent into the world. In God’s kingdom, identity comes before effort. We are named first, and then we grow into what has been spoken over us.

Salt may seem ordinary, but it carries deep meaning. Salt preserves what would otherwise rot. It cleans wounds. It seals promises. In Israel’s worship, every sacrifice had to be seasoned with salt as a sign of covenant faithfulness. Salt meant, “This belongs to God.” When Jesus calls His disciples “the salt of the earth,” He is saying they belong to God and have been placed in the world for a purpose.

Here is where the image of a dry rub helps us understand what Jesus means. A dry rub is salt worked into meat before it ever touches the fire. It prepares what is being cooked for transformation. It brings out flavor. It penetrates deeply. And it does its work quietly, over time. In the same way, the Church is worked into the world before the world is fully transformed. We are the dry rub of the Kingdom, pressed into the earth, preparing it for what God is making it to be.

Jesus does not say the Church is salt for herself. He says we are the salt of the earth. Salt does nothing if it stays in the shaker. A dry rub does nothing if it never touches the meat. The Church is meant to be present—living among neighbors, working honestly, forgiving freely, speaking truth, praying faithfully. This is how the world is prepared for the Kingdom of God. The Church seasons the earth so that it can become something good, something healed, something ready.

But Jesus also gives a serious warning. Salt can lose its taste. Tasteless salt is useless. It gets thrown out and trampled underfoot. A dry rub that has no salt does nothing—it cannot preserve, cannot prepare, cannot transform. Jesus is saying there is no neutral ground. A church is either seasoning the world for the Kingdom or becoming part of the ground itself. When the Church forgets who she is and starts blending in, she loses her purpose.

This teaching also helps us understand how God works in us from the beginning. God does not wait for us to prove ourselves before He claims us. He speaks first. That is why the Church declares faith before it can be fully shown and baptizes children before they can understand it. God names His people, marks them as His own, and then patiently works that identity into them over time. Faith is given before it is demonstrated. Like a dry rub, the work begins long before the fire.

The good news is that our saltiness does not come from ourselves. Jesus Himself is the true salt of the covenant. In worship, we receive Him—His Word, His forgiveness, His life. United to Christ, the Church becomes what He has already declared her to be. God has placed this church here, in this place, to be the dry rub of the Kingdom—to quietly, faithfully prepare this community for the reign of God.

Christ names us. Christ sends us. And over time, by His grace, He works us into the world so that the world itself may be transformed.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Bruce