5th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A
February 6, 2011

Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16

 

These verses stand like gateposts at the entrance to Matthew’s great collection of teachings. Over the past weeks (see below) we have heard the call to make a profound change in our thinking and our attitudes in response to God’s initiative. We have glimpsed the qualities to be developed: poverty of spirit, gentle strength, compassion, and a hunger for justice. Ahead lie pages of examples ranging from the attitude to have towards the law to the attitudes required in friendship and business.


We are standing at the gate. On one gatepost we read: YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH. On the other: YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

This is a presentation that would impress any campaign manager who knows the value of a good slogan. Or someone developing an educational program, but I can’t see Jesus saying these things at this point. They have the feel of something an editor would use to introduce a new section of the narrative. This is not to say they are not the words of Jesus; only that they have the flavour of literature rather than of teaching in the open air. A demagogue might get away with it as he shouted loudly at his minions, but that is not the stage set by the ‘beatitudes’.

These slogans create vibes at many levels. When I read them as a young candidate preparing to commit myself to the life of a disciple of Jesus (in a religious community around 1950) I was excited by their bold affirmation.

 

Salt is that most necessary condiment in cooking, so hard to come by in some parts of the world that whole economies exist on the mining and transport of salt. In hot weather when we sweat a lot, without enough salt we wilt. Sometimes we need to take salt tablets. Jesus says, You, my disciples, are the salt of the earth!

The second is even more compelling. You are the light of the world.

Don't forget to read the small print! Salt can lose its saltiness. I wonder is this really true, chemically. But in the context, where people knew about these things, there could have been some situation in which a store of salt was good for nothing but building up the path - ‘to be trampled underfoot’. The unwritten sub-clause is that if you lose your saltiness and get chucked out, someone else will be found to take your place, so don’t imagine that being chosen is a guarantee of anything.

The light has another warning: it has to shine for everyone in the house, for them to see by. It is not just for you, to hide under a box (as we used to hide the torch under the bedclothes when we were reading late into the night as kids). You are the light, but don’t keep it to yourselves. Don’t look at yourselves as bright and beautiful: look for, search out, those lost in the dark. Bring the light to them so that they might see, and find their way home.

But, in practice, HOW are you the light for others? HOW am I a light for anyone else? This is a question for the individual as well as for the community called 'church'. In fact, first for each and every person, and again first, it must be in the order of knowledge. If some understanding has been given to me I am to share it, as well as live by it.

How? Not be preaching, issuing instructions or condemning people. By sharing. Light is the most subtle thing we know. Photographers know that light needs to be soft. It comes best when filtered by the clouds, for then it seeps into hidden depths more evenly. Softly sharing, gently reflecting, not afraid to blaze bright for a moment, but quickly subsiding to a warm glow, a soft radiance, a mere example. The ordinary way we share what we know is just by talking about it. Even that takes courage when there is the chance that someone will say: You can't say that! It is becoming common for people to discuss among themselves and in public forums (e.g., on the Net) even topics that authorities say are not open for discussion. Every time we speak the truth as we see it we share the light. Every time we confront embargoes and blankets of secrecy we share the light.

Some commentators say that the beatitudes and even the whole sermon on the mount were for the disciples and not for the people at large. “The beatitudes are not addressed to all people indiscriminately, but to the disciples, to those who have left all to follow Jesus.”   (See Reginald H Fuller, Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University, http://liturgy.slu.edu/4OrdA013011/theword_indepth.html)

This is an issue that has been canvassed at length lately in the question why has meditation not been taught in the church. Clearly any teacher knows that lessons have to be graded according to the age and capacity of the students, but it seems to me that in Christ all are called to contemplate the living depth of the mystery, and should be taught/illuminated  accordingly.

What we must remember is that there are many ways of experiencing the contemplative life. The fisherman sitting quietly in his boat on a tranquil sea at dawn will perceive the mystery without the need for scholarship or ritual practices, as will the busy parent caring for the little ones, the commuter locked in morning traffic, or the truckie on the open road.

Leaders of the christian people have as their first duty to provide the light of education and even illumination for the minds and hearts of the people. To lock up knowledge, or even some parts of the body of knowledge that is the heritage of the community, is surely among the greatest of crimes.

The light is not lit to be hidden under a box.

Inspired and admonished, we will prepare to get into the instructions next week.
 

If you would like to join a discussion on the above, you will find one on the website 'Catholica': www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=66550