In our Gospel today we hear the Similes of Salt and Light used to describe some of our mission here on earth. In olden times, salt was used as a preservative, though in those days the sources of salt were often impure, and so the salt could become insipid. If this happened, there was no way to restore its usefulness and it simply needed to be thrown out. The reason that salt is being used in this simile is to describe the preserving influence we are called to take part in as followers of Christ. You could interpret this as the preservation of His teachings, but also as the preservation of the well-being of our brothers and sisters whom we are called to care for. Yet, when we do not help our brothers and sisters in this way, our own usefulness or discipleship as followers of Christ is called into question. Likewise, when we hear of the light, we are indeed called to be a light to the world, to be a source of illumination to others, like a lamp set upon a lampstand where it can be of use to all within the radius of the light that it casts forth. To allow others to see and hear God’s word and commands in our actions and in our conversations with them. In short, the call is to be an example to others, and a laborer for spreading God’s message to all.
In our first reading today, the prophet Isaiah pretty well paints the picture of what the Gospel calls us to do, and what that will look like in practical terms. The points are simple and common sensical, yet as we all know sense is often anything but common. If we see someone in need who is hungry, we are called to feed them, if they are without clothing, we are called to share some of our own – and most importantly, never simply turn our backs on them. Over the years I have spoken to many people in need, often those who were homeless, and the one thing that is consistently seen by them as far worse than being without even the necessities of life, is to be ignored. When they are passed by like they do not even exist, it is a poignant and incredibly painful statement as to their worth. This is incidentally not something confined to those who are homeless. If you walk into any assisted living facility in this town, or any other, you will see those who sit there day to day waiting for acknowledgement that they are still a person of worth, and who is seen by others as worth caring for. They await an acknowledgement by means of a simple visit, a touch of the hand, or perhaps a kind word. They wait for us to turn back around and to look them in the eye the way we did before they came to those places.
If we truly wish to see change affected in our world, to have our wounds healed, to have light break forth into times that often seem very dark these days, and to have the Lord really hear our cries, we need to start by loving those created in His image, and through them to love our Lord Himself. The most powerful testimony we can provide to our Lord that we hear and understand His message is to show Him through our actions. When we remove from our midst oppression, lies, and hatred toward others, the void left will naturally be filled with love.
The Deacons Bench 