Homily 5th Ordinary Sunday A: Providing a Christian flavor, vision and direction

Homily for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2017 

Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-1

Introduction 

Jesus uses three images in today's gospel, images with which we should be very familiar: Salt, Light, City.  And his message is that his followers must be like the salt of the earth, light of the world and a city built on a hillside. 

Scripture and Theology 

Jesus says to his disciples: "You are the salt of the earth."  Salt has three common uses, as an antiseptic, a preservative and seasoning. 

• In the absence of modern medicine, salt is the best antiseptic; for it kills germs.  In ancient times, people cleaned chicken with salt to prevent salmonella.  Salt was also the only thing available to clean a wound; in fact even when I was growing up, my mother used it on me, despite my loud screams.  But today I gargle with salt to cure my sore-throat. 
• Secondly, salt is a preservative.  Again in the absence of fridges and freezers, the only way to preserve meat or fish was to salt or smoke them.  Salt draws out the moisture and decomposition does not take place. 
• The third use of salt is as seasoning.  Salt brings out the flavour in food.  For people without the wealth of spices that we have here in New Orleans, unless they add salt, the food is very insipid and bland, as anyone on a salt-free diet would testify.

But Jesus is not satisfied just with the image of salt; he also uses the image of light, telling his followers: “You are the light of the world.”  At the time of Jesus having light, especially at night could not be taken for granted.  Homes in ancient Palestine, like homes in most pre-industrial societies, generally had one room with no windows and only a door.  When the door was closed, the house would be pitch black.  The only light source was a small oil lamp.  The only way the lamp would illuminate the whole room was if it was placed on a stand or ledge above everybody’s head, to avoid anybody blocking the light.  Without light, nobody could do anything productive: no guests, no reading, no socialising, no work, perhaps only sleeping.  Light brought illumination. 

The third image of the city, serves a similar purpose to that of a lamp.  In that part of the world, most cities were built on hillsides for protection, but also to serve as points of navigation.  Even our own city of New Orleans, although it is not built on a hillside sometimes serves as point of navigation for boats and ships on the Mississippi river, especially at night can use the city lights to guide its movement. 

And so, Christians are called upon to be like all three things, salt, light and a city. 

• Like salt, Christians should therefore preserve what is best in society; Christians should flavour society with some of the best teaching of Jesus like the Beatitudes which we heard last Sunday; Christians should be an antiseptic in society, removing evil that damages human life. 
• Like light, Christians should illuminate both the good and the bad in society.  When with our Scriptures shed light on society's values, we shall reveal what builds us up and what is truly dysfunctional. 
• Like the city on the hillside, Christians should help navigate society, away from the boulders and rocks, towards the safe shore.  Christians should be the GPS that directs society towards the good and away from evil. 

And besides the individual qualities of these three images of salt, light and a city, the one common element is that they exist not for themselves but for others.  The point of Jesus then is that the Christian religion, does not exist for itself, but for others.  When we are the salt of the earth, light of the world and a city built on a hillside, we are winning salvation, not only for ourselves, but for others as well.  Jesus puts it best when he says: "Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." 

Christian Life 

Unfortunately, without vibrant Christians the world is a really bad place; no flavour, no vision, no GPS.  In the past century for example, the weakness or absence of Christian witness has allowed some of the worst elements in society to flourish and some of the best to be lost. 

• Otherwise how could you explain the rise of Nazism right in the middle Catholic Europe, not just in Germany but throughout Europe?  How could explain the wanton murder of 6 million Jews and others?  Apart from the few Christian heroes like St. Maximilian Kolbe, where was the light of Christians? 

• Similarly it was the absence of the flavouring power of Christians that allowed communism to rise in Russia, allowing Stalin permitted to kill millions of people.  Again, many Christians either didn’t care enough or they actively supported these movements. 
• There are still many evils today that raise questions about how well we are doing in salting, lighting and guiding society: gun violence, abortion, death penalty, euthanasia.  When generations in the future will look back on our lack of witness, will they perhaps judge us in the same way we just our ancestors who allowed Nazism, Communism and Slavery to flourish? 

And yet not all hope is lost.  Many Christians today continue to their bit in being the salt of the earth, the light of the world and the city built on a hillside. 

1. A little over a week ago, about half a million people, many of them young people, travelled to Washington DC, for the annual March for Life.  With their attendance they were standing up to be counted among those who support a baby's right to life, even when that baby is still in the mother's womb.  If ever there was a city for life, built on a hillside directing people to promote and preserve life, the March for Life was it. 

2. There was also another pro-life event, one that did not receive as much attention.  Three Catholic bishops in Georgia and several thousand petitioners asked the District Attorney to remove the death penalty as one of the penal options against a man who killed a priest last year.  With their actions, they were being the antiseptic that salt is, in removing this attitude of vengeance and an-eye-for-eye that has so entered our society. 

3. A third example of public witness to Christian values is the work of Catholic Charities, a charity department of every Catholic diocese in the USA.  Catholic Charities does exactly what God instructed in the first reading: "Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own."  And they offer this help, not only to their own, but also to immigrants and refugees.  And like the early Christians, who were known to help not only their own poor but the non-Christian poor, Catholic Charities helps all the poor, regardless of their nationality or religion. 

Conclusion 

And so, each of us has to ask himself or herself. 

• In what ways am I the salt of the earth to the people around me? 
• In what ways am I the light of the world to my family, my co-workers, or even perfect strangers? 
• In what ways am I that city built on a hillside, that people look to and get direction on how to proceed with their own lives?