Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
While I never really played basketball at any level, it’s always fun to watch a good middle school, high school, or college basketball game. Although, I have to admit that this year watching Michigan State men’s basketball may require me to get some ulcer medication. Thank God the Spartan women are doing better! But seriously, it’s especially exciting to see an athlete get a steal and take it down the court and slam-dunk. There’s something about a slam-dunk that is exciting and over the top. Of course, it’s sort of showing off, since the athlete could have, just as easily, made the easy lay-up.
We’re always told not to show off. It’s not good sportsmanship. It highlights the individual over the team. In fact, I’m told that in high school basketball, dunking in warm-ups can get one a technical. No matter what activity or what amazing skill we might have, we seem to have it ingrained in us that showing off is never a good thing.
Far be it from me to buck the trend, but I’m going to suggest that showing off is good, at least in one case. It is good to show off what we have and to let others see it. That one case is our faith, especially our faith in action.
Jesus today uses the metaphor of salt and light to describe how Christians should be in society. We are like salt because we’re supposed to preserve society and give it better flavor, just as salt preserved meat in the time of Jesus and gave that meat good flavor. It made no sense to use salt that wasn’t going to preserve meat or wasn’t going to add to the flavor of meat. It was a waste of a precious commodity. In fact, salt was so precious, that some believe that it was used as currency for Roman soldiers from time to time.
Or, in a time when there were no electric lamps to keep the darkness away, light was also precious. It allowed one to see more when there was not enough light for the eyes to work as well. You would never light a lamp, and then not let it do its job of helping you see! That would be stupid!
In other words, Jesus is telling us to show off Christianity!! Now, he’s not saying that we need to go around, saying, “I’m a Christian and you’re not, loser!” In fact, that would only really do harm to the message of the Gospel. But showing off that we’re Christians, that we’re Catholics, means letting our lives make a difference and letting others know how important our faith is to us in what we say and do.
Isaiah, in our first reading, gives us some good hints as to how to show off appropriately. Isaiah, speaking for God, tells us to “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.” He goes on to say that we need to “remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech.” These are the ways that we show off our faith appropriately. These are the ways that we are salt of the earth and light of the world.
There are other ways, too, in our parish life. If you are strong in your faith and want to pass on that faith to others, you can help Pete Ries in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the RCIA, helping to prepare those who desire to become a part of the Catholic faith. Or, if you love working with children and want to pass on the faith to them, you can volunteer at our parish school to help Rod Murphy, our principal, or religious education programs to help Annie Kitching. Or, if you want to work with those are looking for help in these rough economic times, you can work with our St. Vincent de Paul Society.
And, outside of the parish, there are countless ways to make your faith known to family members, friends, co-workers, and others, as a way of sharing the Gospel with them. The point is that we share it by both word and deed in a way that shows the joy of what it means to be Catholic: to have a God who loves us so much that he would send His only Son to die for us so that we could be eternally happy with Him in heaven! That’s good news that people want and need to hear! If we just keep it to ourselves, then it’s as foolish as salt that doesn’t preserve and doesn’t add taste, and a light that is kept under a basket where it does not help us to see.
We constantly hear about the evils of greed that led to the recession. We hear about violence on the roads, in schools, in the workplace, and around the world. We hear about injustice in the Middle East and in our own country. Those things won’t change if we do not promote the Gospel in the world. We cannot have the peace that only Christ brings if we do not have Christ preached. We cannot have the justice of the Kingdom of God if we do not act with that same justice to others.
Spreading the Gospel is not just for missionary priests and religious and lay people on some remote island or some jungle in South America or Africa. Spreading the Gospel is for us Catholics who have been called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world by our Master, Jesus. Let’s show off our Catholic faith, so that, just like a slam dunk motivates the crowd, it will motivate others to join the Body of Christ, the Church, and to proclaim His Gospel, His Good News, to every nation on earth. “‘You are the light of the world...your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.’”
