FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

 

Last week we heard the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount, the eight Beatitudes. Today Jesus has a lot to say about salt and the importance of salt being salt and not something else, Well, what does that mean?

First, it’s important to remember that Jesus is talking to his disciples. Jesus has a vision in mind, a standard by which we disciples should be in the world. We are meant to be the salt of the earth, a sort of leaven or spice for the world. It’s interesting that Jesus uses this metaphor of salt.

In the time of Jesus salt was connected in people’s minds with three special qualities. (i) Salt was connected with purity. No doubt its glistening whiteness made the connection easy. (ii) In the ancient world salt was the commonest of all preservatives. It was used to keep things from going bad. (iii) But the greatest and the most obvious quality of salt is that salt lends flavour to things. Food without salt is a sadly insipid and even a sickening thing.

Salt, in a dish, is not just salty, but since it is such a fundamental flavour it highlights all the others. In a word, followers of Jesus are meant to draw out the flavours of all the world!

For too long Christians have been the people who want to quit the earth, to escape into an abstract spiritual existence or just be plain miserable. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.” Robert Louis Stevenson once entered in his diary, as if he was recording an extraordinary phenomenon, “I have been to Church to-day, and am not depressed.”

But here we see that Jesus would have his followers deeply engage with the world, to act as a spice that enlivens all the rest. With this spice, the world feels things more deeply. With this spice of Jesus’ disciples, the world feels, thinks, and acts more profoundly.

Now, before all this, Jesus says that we are the salt. The key word here is “are”. He doesn’t say, “You will someday be the salt of the earth,” or “Continue to work at becoming the salt of the earth,” no, “You are, the salt of the earth.” For Jesus, we are already the salt of the earth, this is a spiritual reality, we are already the salt of the earth, it is a state of being that is already in place.

So, with this reminder that Jesus has a clear idea of what we are to be in the world, and that we are that spice, we come face-to-face with the prospect of how we are doing in the light of Jesus’ statement. In other words: how are we doing in living with the standard that Jesus has laid out? Are you living as the salt of the earth? Are you enlivening the flavours of life, do you make a difference? He is pretty harsh too when considering the prospect of salt without saltiness: “If salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

It seems to me that a life of saltiness that Jesus is getting at here is one that, without fear, moves into the world in love and affection. We don’t allow ourselves to be bowled-over by the tragedies and disappointments of the world, but we also don’t allow ourselves to fall into quiet resignation over injustices. We followers of Jesus, walk a brave line of love into the deepest experiences of life, neither being swept away nor disengaged. This walk of course happens only because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit which, in my experience, is more about granting patience and tenacity more than anything.

At Baptism, the priest takes the baptismal candle and lights it from the Easter candle. Handing the lighted candle to the parents and godparents he tells them, “Receive the light of Christ . . . this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. She is to walk always as a child of the light.” From the very first moment we become Christian, we are told that, “we are the light of Christ.” Beautiful words but they bring with them a responsibility. “You,” Jesus exclaims; “You are the light of the world; you are my light.”

“You are the salt of the earth . . . you are light of the world.” We are salt and light, and our faith demands that we live public lives. As easy as it would be to keep our religious lives in a safe and sound compartment, tucked carefully out of the way, the truth is we must take a stand and we must act—that’s our edict from Christ; that’s our imperative from the Gospel.

Isaiah’s opening words from our Old Testament reading spell out the actions we are to take if we want to receive the blessings of the covenant These were not suggestions or encouragements they’re directives and mandates. They deal with our hands-on involvement in helping others meet their basic needs—not from a distance, but up close and personal.

Catholicism doesn’t permit us to stand apart from the world, but requires that we help shape it. Catholicism doesn’t mean that we can leave the difficult tasks and responsibilities to others, but requires that we take them on ourselves. We are teachers, students, nurses, doctors, corporate executives, bankers, investment counsellors, factory workers, and small business owners. Jesus challenges us, not to become something we are not, but to become who we really are; reflections of our identity, the one we received at our baptism, reflections of him, holding the candles we received so long ago—we are light of the world and salt of the earth.

[Archaeology cat]

Thank you, Father!

[Guest]

15 hours ago, cappie said:

It seems to me that a life of saltiness that Jesus is getting at here is one that, without fear, moves into the world in love and affection. We don’t allow ourselves to be bowled-over by the tragedies and disappointments of the world, but we also don’t allow ourselves to fall into quiet resignation over injustices. We followers of Jesus, walk a brave line of love into the deepest experiences of life, neither being swept away nor disengaged. This walk of course happens only because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit which, in my experience, is more about granting patience and tenacity more than anything.

Thank you once again cappie for your homily.  Particularly the above, which I have never been able to find the words to express with conciseness.  I really look forward every week to reading your homily.  Don't prop me please, cappie......... if I may make that request ........... keep the props for really good posts.

Edited February 5, 2017 by BarbaraTherese