Homily for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2020
Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-1
Introduction
What should a disciple of Jesus be like? In today's gospel Jesus answers this question using three everyday images with which we should be very familiar: salt, light and a city. And his message is that his followers must be like the salt of the earth, the light of the world and a city built on a hillside.
Scripture and Theology
And so, what does he mean when he says: "You are the salt of the earth"? Salt has three common uses: it is an antiseptic, a preservative and seasoning.
- In the absence of modern medicine, salt was the best antiseptic; for it kills germs. 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 in Uganda, my mother used it on me, for which I have since forgiven her, especially since now I gargle with salt to cure my sore-throat.
- Secondly, salt is a preservative. Again in the absence of refrigeration, 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, unless they add salt, the food is very insipid and bland, as anyone on a salt-free diet will tell you.
And so, like salt, Christians should therefore preserve what is good in society. They should flavour society with the teaching of Jesus which we read in the gospels. They should be the antiseptic in society that removes evil.
But to emphasize his message, Jesus 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. And so 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.
And so, like light, Christians should illuminate both the good and the bad in society. Our Scriptures help us to shed light on society's values, and so reveal what builds us up and what is truly dysfunctional, what is good and what is evil.
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 serves as point of navigation for boats and ships on the Mississippi river, especially at night, when they use the city lights to guide their movement.
And so, like the city on the hillside, Christians should be the GPS that helps navigate society, away from the boulders and rocks of evil, towards the safe shore of virtue. That is why Jesus says: "Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."
Christian Life
How can we Christians of today, we are who are attending Mass here right now, be the salt of the earth, the light of the world and a city built on a hilltop? How can we provide the flavour, vision, and direction of Jesus to others?
Speaking at the Last Supper Jesus suggests how we are to do this. After giving his disciples the new commandment of loving one another as he loved us, Jesus then said: "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:34-45).
In the centuries that followed the Christians took this instruction to heart and practiced love for one another. In the Acts of the Apostles we hear them sharing their material goods and taking care of the widows and orphans. Tertullian (ca. 160–220), one of the Early Church writers writes about Christians of his time as living a life of prayer, unity and love, saying that they took up a voluntary collection to be used "to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons . . ." And then he concluded that when the pagans saw the Christians doing these things, they would admiringly say: "See, how they love one another" (Apology, 39).
But as the saying goes, charity begins at home, but does not end there. The Early Christians loved not only their fellow Christians, but others as well. The pagan emperor Julian (ca. 331-363), who despite his extreme hatred of Christianity observed that while the pagan priests neglected to care for the poor, the Christians (whom he called impious) attended to them. Moreover, and this really surprised him: "They support, not only their poor, but ours as well." In fact he suggested that this was the reason Christianity was spreading so fast and he asked his own pagan priests to begin doing the same thing (To Arsacius, 69-70; cf. Fragment of a Letter to a Priest, 336-37).
But we don't need to learn this from a pagan emperor. In our first reading God enjoins us to do this saying: "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 only and only then will your light shine forth.
Even today Catholics throughout the world are known in part for our charitable work. Our public witness to Christian values in this country can be seen in the work of Catholic Charities, a charity department of every Catholic diocese in the USA. There is also the witness of Catholic Relief Services, an arm of the Church US that serves the needy abroad in the name of US Catholics. And like the Early Christians Julian spoke about, both organizations help, not only Catholics or fellow Americans, but also non-Catholics and foreigners. And so when a Syrian refugee girl in a refugee camp in Lebanon receives her meals from people driving a van with the words Catholic Relief Services, she begins to associate love and Catholic. And hopefully when she grows up she learns that about Jesus, the one who inspires these Catholics to feed her.
Conclusion
But the most effective witness to Christ is not offered by organizations, despite their good work, but the individual witness of Christians. It is what people see you and I do every day at work, at home, on the streets that is the salt of the earth, light of the world and a city built on a hillside, that preaches the gospel.
And the best way we do this is not by wearing religion on our sleeve, but like salt flavours the food without pointing to itself, we inspire others quietly by our actions. In fact, that is the quality that all three images of salt, light and a city have in common; they exist not for themselves but for others; salt flavours food, not itself; light illuminates the room, not itself; the city serves as a point of reference for others, not itself. "The just man is a light in darkness to the upright."
Similarly, the Christian religion, and the Christian, do not exist for themselves, but for others. When we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world and a city built on a hillside, we are working not only for our own salvation, but for others as well. For as Jesus says, when they see our good deeds, they will glorify God.
When people see us, what are they seeing? Are they seeing us or Christ in us?
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