We admire again Jesus, who in preaching about the Kingdom of God, points to the elements with which his audience was most familiar in order to teach them the things that were unfamiliar, the things about God and His Kingdom. In the second reading, Paul follows the step of Jesus when he says,” when I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or 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."
In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus reveals his salvific truth through elements around us: salt and light. This helps us to understand his message and so to let ourselves be pricked by the same message for our spiritual growth. The disciples of Jesus – that we are now- are compared to "salt". We all know the importance and function of salt in our life. Salt preserves food from purification, but most importantly, it makes it savory. Through our Baptism, we were granted to share in the kingship, priesthood, and prophethood of Jesus. Just as Jesus came on earth to restore the creation that was in chaos and to give savor to what had gone fade, He is the true Salt of the World. Jesus is calling us to participate in his mission. Around us are people who lost the savor of faith, the savor of God's grace in their midst, the savor of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. We are sent today by the Lord to preserve their God-given grace from getting rotten and to make them feel that they are still the beloved of God.
To be the salt of the earth is also to be living witnesses of God to our neighbors. In this sense, we are to love one another just as God loves unceasingly. This is expounded 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. (…)” While doing this, we also pray that as salt, we don’t lose our taste. Otherwise, we will be good for nothing in our Christian life.
We are the light of the world, says Jesus. We also know the importance of light in our lives. Without light, everything is darkened. As light, we are to enlighten those who are crouching in the darkness of death. Our light must break forth like the dawn, so as to reduce the darkness that covers our brothers and sisters, including us sometimes.
Whenever I reflect on this passage, I remember the Platonian allegory of the cave. Plato “likens people unenlightened to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see behind them.” They mistake appearance for reality. They think the things they see on the wall (the shadows) were real; they know nothing about the real causes of the shadows. Applying this to this world we live in, there are many people who are in their caves without them realizing it. They are not able to see the Light of God, because they are accustomed to their darkest acts. What they see is the shadow of the truth, the shadow of the love of God. They are ignorant. That’s why we are sent as light, to lift them from their misery and wretchedness. We are sent to shine with the light of Christ through our Christian way of doing, thinking, and speaking.
As the moon reflects light from the sun so as to shine, we are to reflect light from God so that we may be able to enlighten those in darkness. If we don't shine with the light of Christ, said mother Theresa of Calcutta, the darkness that reigns in the world will increase.
