5th Sunday of Ordinary Time – A
Jesus uses the examples of salt and light to help us understand how vital it is for us to be faithful to who we are: you are salt-be tasty; you are light-shine forth. We also know that eaten by itself, salt is bitter; it is meant to be in relation to something else: for example, Fried Chicken is not as good without salt sprinkled on it. This image of being light, to describe Christian people is beautiful! Over the past 2000 years, Christians have rippled out from ancient Palestine to the ends of the earth, becoming the largest of the world religions! If the world is blessed by that much “salt” and “light,” how come it’s so tasteless and dark sometimes?
Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist monk from here in Kentucky, said it best once when he reflected on a moment he stood on a street in downtown Louisville: “I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved those people. . .It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race. God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. . . .if only everyone could realize this! There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”
Perhaps that’s our problem. Many of us are so busy, so caught up in the “things” of this world, and in our own little world, that we aren’t even aware that we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Called not just to live in the world, but to transform it!
Many of us do not know who we are. We have either gotten the wrong impression about what it means to be a Christian or we were not instructed properly in the first place. “Looking out for yourself. Not being concerned for our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate than ourselves” does not define a Christian. That is salt that has gone flat! That’s a lamp under a bushel basket! The world is in trouble, not because there is a shortage of people who claim to be Christian, but because they don’t know who they are! Lord Acton, a British Baron in the 19th century put it best when he said: “All that’s necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good people to do nothing.”
As Christian people, we are the light of the world! So, how do we go about transforming the world, how can we be “salt” and “light?” Many of us sit and think: “I can’t do anything, I’m just one person.” Christianity has always been most powerful when it has had no worldly power or clout but has been simply lived! Do you realize how attractive “light” is? Do you realize how valuable “salt” is? The most effective way for Christians to have an impact on this world is to be “light” and “salt.” As one of my theology professors put it: “Christianity is a matter of shut up and put up!”
Jesus could have stayed in Nazareth and refused to get involved in a messy world. Jesus could have gone the “magic fixer” route. He would have been a good king or president or emperor and fixed the world for us. The devil suggested it to him when he was in the desert. It was tempting even to Jesus. But he rejected that too. Throughout the gospel, we see Jesus sniffing out goodness for affirmation, however weak, and struggling for life, he found it. If we focus on being “salt” and “light” we will attract people to the faith where they can be transformed and thereby change the world!
How do we transform ourselves? How do we become “light” to the world? Lent begins in three weeks. Let’s see just how much, as a parish, we can become transformed during Lent. Let’s challenge ourselves to be “light” to all we meet. Let’s open ourselves up to the power of Christ and watch as He invites us to become His Light in the world!
But we must begin by opening ourselves up to the transformation that God has in store for us.
Isaiah 58:7-10
1 Cor 2:1-5
Matthew 5:13-16