This Little Light of Mine
To All,
In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-16). Jesus makes some bold statements to the crowd who came to listen to Him: “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” As I thought about what that really means, it came to me that we are to make a difference in the world. We are to give a different kind of flavor, or to shed some light in our world. We are called to witness to something greater than the chaos and the fear and the hate. We are called to witness to something wiser than the greed and the thirst for conquest. We are to witness something stronger than despair or indifference. This “something” is the love God has for us in Jesus Christ.
How are we to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world?” If we listen to the words of Isaiah in our first reading (Isaiah 58:7-10), we get a pretty good idea:
“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 later on, he says: “If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.” We are to love and care for each other, especially those who are in distress.
There is one exhortation from Isaiah which I would like to explore further with you. Isaiah says, “and do not turn your back on your own.” It is natural, I suppose, for us to see “our own” as the members of our family, or the ones who share our faith, or the ones who share our view of the world, or our political party, or our country. But what if we were to see “our own” as simply each other? When Jesus answers the question, “Who is my neighbor?” with the parable of the Good Samaritan, or gives another parable about people separated into two groups at the last judgment– those who did for the “least of these” and those who did not, Jesus is calling us to look beyond a common understanding of who constitutes “our own.”
To be called “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” is not about receiving a pat on the back. It’s about answering a call to bring healing and to work for justice.
It’s about bringing the hurting and the grieving and the searching to the God who loves them. And as we answer the call, we, too, shall be healed, as Isaiah says: “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed.” And as Jesus says, “Just so, your light must shine before others, that they might see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
We cannot fulfill this mission under our own power. In our second reading (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) St. Paul writes: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” We can see that Paul is not talking about his power, but the power of God working through him by the Holy Spirit.
Maybe the words of the hymn we teach the children to sing say it best: “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine…Everywhere I go, I’m going to let it shine…Jesus gave it to me, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”
I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for your time.
In Christ,
Phil, CP
