The Gospel for Sunday 8 February (5th Sunday in Ordinary Time) is one that will be familiar to most. It is part of the Sermon on the Mount, a long section of Matthew’s Gospel that begins with the Beatitudes and continues throughout chapters 5,6 and 7. Matthew’s predominantly Jewish audience would have recognised the symbolism of Jesus preaching on the mountain side as it mirrored the account of Moses going to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. One of the motifs of Matthew’s Gospel is to present Jesus as the ‘new Moses’ and the fulfilment of the Covenant given on Mount Sinai.
Jesus uses metaphors of salt and light as a call to action. It is pointless to hide away one’s gifts when they could be so well deployed to transform the world. The images are starkly familiar, salt, so essential for the preservation of food before the advent of refrigeration, is of absolutely no use when it has become tarnished. To light a lamp and then conceal its light is absurd, an utter folly.
The call to action is central to the Gospel texts, Jesus’ ministry inaugurates the coming Kingdom of God and the lives of those who follow him ought to follow in this path. Surely this is what Cardijn meant when he said ‘your life is the fifth Gospel’.
The Gospel Text: Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.’
See
What is the significance of Jesus’ preaching on the mountain?
How would the metaphors of salt and light been relevant to Matthew’s audience in the first century?
What is the significance of putting the lamp on a lamp-stand?
Judge
What aspects of my circumstances might risk tarnishing the ‘salt’ in my own life?
Where are the spheres of influence that my ‘light’ my reach?
How does the metaphor of the ‘lamp-stand’ apply to my circumstances?
Act
What are the ‘good works’ that I am called to undertake?
Who can I collaborate with to help these ‘good works’ come to fruition?
How can I learn more about the people / situations involved in these ‘good works’?
Image https://allenbrowne.blog/2017/02/13/distinctively-gods-kingdom/
Gospel Text https://www.universalis.com/Australia/1100/mass.htm
Further Reading:
Really good and challenging questions, Paul. Thank you. I remember a time when I was working as a RE consultant and reviewing my situation with the YCS workers. They challenged me to look at whether my gifts were being used better in the CEO or in the classroom. Some months later, I found myself in an interview for the Head of RE position in a school. Your questions about salt and light were relevant then and they are still relevant today. Thank you.