Jesus Only Saves Losers

September 30, 2018

Rev. Jake Allstaedt

Jesus has hard words for us, but they are words that we need to hear. His words reveal the truth of our sinful condition and our utter and desperate need to be saved. After these hard words, Jesus told His Disciples, "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?" To quote Robert Capon: "But does the church preach that salty message? Not as I hear it, it doesn’t. It preaches the nutra-sweet religion of test-passing, which is the only thing the world is ready to buy and which isn’t even real sugar let alone salt. In spite of all our fakery, though, Jesus’ program remains firm. He saves losers and only losers. He raises the dead and only the dead. And he rejoices more over the last, the least, and the little than over all the winners in the world. That alone is what this losing race of ours needs to hear, even though it can’t stand the thought of it. That alone is the salt that can take our perishing insipidity and give it life and flavor forever."