Sunday Sermon

 

Sunday Sermon-

I love reading scripture through different lenses. This week I saw Lot’s wife differently.

Maybe she was not turned to salt as some grave punishment from God for looking back. Maybe she was literally overcome by the salt residue left by her own tears of grief and trauma.

One terrible night, messengers warned that Sodom would be destroyed.

“Do not look back.”
“Escape for your life.”

Imagine it.

Fire in the distance.
Smoke rising.
Shouting in the streets.
No time to gather belongings.
No time to explain.
No time to say goodbye.

Because of my work with refugees, I know women who have lived this moment.

They ran — Lot and his wife.

Behind her was the only home she had ever known. The courtyard she swept. The oven where she baked bread. The women she drew water with. The marketplace smells and voices she recognized.

Genesis tells us Lot had sons-in-law in the city, which suggests married daughters may have remained behind. If so, she may have fled knowing children and grandchildren she loved were staying in the path of destruction.

The command was clear: Do not look back.

But what if her heart broke?

What if her tears were not longing for wickedness — but grief for the people she loved?

The Hebrew word for “looked back” can imply more than a glance. It can suggest looking with regard or deep consideration. Scripture does not tell us her motive. It leaves it open.

Perhaps she grieved:

The loss of home.
The loss of daughters.
The loss of grandchildren.
The loss of identity.
The loss of everything familiar.

Somewhere between faith and heartbreak, she turned.

“She looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Salt is what remains when water evaporates.
Grief brings tears.
Tears are salty.

Some have imagined the salt as grief crystallized — sorrow that could not move forward.

I have cried with refugee women in their challenges and their unfathomable loss.

I could easily be Lot’s wife if placed in the same circumstances.

Who in my family might be left behind? How might I respond in the same situation?

Later, Jesus would say, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

He did not say, “Condemn her.”
He said, “Remember.”

Remember how hard it is to leave what shaped you.
Remember that obedience sometimes costs more than we expected.
Remember that grief and faith can live in the same heart.

And as we move forward in faith, may we extend compassion to those who are still learning how.

Source: Amy Dott Egan Harmer on Facebook