LOVE AND SERVE AS SALT AND LIGHT

HOMILY FOR THE 5^TH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

 

A maid served in a household that was hostile to her. She does her work so perfectly well as to attract no punishments from the master and mistress. However, the more she made every effort to make them happy, the more they insulted her and mistreated her. She learnt to live with it and never gave up. Neighbours thought of her as stupid and worthless, for they kept saying within themselves that the girl has no home and so was unable to react by leaving the home because of their hostility to her. They even advised her to take an action, by allowing these childless couple to live on their own without anyone to assist them. The girl maintained a particular response: I derive joy in service, for I derive my worth from the service I render to others. When I stop serving, I stop living. It is in service that I show my greatest love to people. So even if my master and mistress show a disregard to the services I render, am pretty sure that am important to them. And my importance is rooted in my service.

Now, my dear, kindly scroll up once more and repeat the words of this young maid; but this time around do that as if you are making a pronouncement of the Christian faith. When you love to live, then you must live to love. Your love must be shown in your service. The Gospel (Mtt 5: 13-16) brings out this message by presenting two important elements to us: salt and light. He relates them to the Christian life and shows how his followers can combat the earthly challenges by becoming these elements to the people around.

Salt of the earth: Loving...

You are the salt of the earth. To understand how Christians should be the salt of the earth, we need to talk about the uses of salt, and why it should be applied to the Christian life. Salt has many usages.

The Salt purifies. It is an element for purity. In the rite of blessing of Holy Water, the salt is necessary. In the Old Testament, during the early days of the prophet Elisha, the prophet purified the waters of misfortune by the addition of salt (cf. 2Kings 2:19-22). The water was healed and purified. Salt is an agent of purification, and renders the impure water pure. The sea known as the Dead Sea has healing powers and in connection with this healing ability has the greatest content of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) which is salt. The Jewish sacrifice was also offered with salt to make sure that the sacrifice is purified of all impurity. Thus, the Christian as salt is a call to an example of purity.

Today, the world loves to lower standards and to trivialize morality at the excuse of human freedom. The world trivializes standards of honesty, sincerity, and truthfulness. The Christian must be the person to raise these standards and heal the world of this tendency. He/she must be ready to be an agent of purification in any place he/she finds him/herself, without being arrogant. No Christian should allow him/herself the joke of being present in a group that disregards godly virtues and moral standards. We must remain unstained from the world (James 1:27).

Salt is a preservative. It is used to keep things from decaying and undergoing putrefaction. It is used to keep things fresh; and thus preserves the matter (such as meat)from corruption. Hence, the Christian must work so hard to preserve humanity from decay and corruption. In life, the companies we keep matter a lot. Some companies prompt us easily towards goodness while some others prompt us easily towards evil. The Christian should not be so afraid to identify him/herself with those regarded as the corrupt people of the society, but must work to be the cleansing agent and must work to bring others out from corruption, thereby drawing them towards goodness.

Salt is a seasoning agent. Any food without salt is insipid. Christianity says Barclay, is to life what salt is to food. That means that Christianity must lend flavour to life. Think about a meal which has no salt. That is how life would have been if there is no Christianity. Therefore, as a Christian, the work is enormous for us to keep the world lively and flavoured. In situations where people express hopelessness, the Christian must be seen with a gleaming joy of life. He must console and comfort and become a source of joy to others in the society.

One word summarizes these qualities of the salt: love. The salt on its own may not be so important, but when added to the other, its importance manifests. Add salt to water, it becomes purified. Add salt to food, it becomes seasoned. Add salt to meat, it preserves it. So, a life for the other is the living out of our saltiness. No one can comfortably be the salt of the earth without living in love for the other person; and so, without helping to transform the society he/she lives. Can someone make an application of these to our country Nigeria? Yes, it is true that if Nigeria is getting darker and more corrupt, the blame may not actually be laid on the Government or the economy. Evil thrive when those who should speak are silent or are silenced. It is most probable that the Church is getting more worldly and corrupt that the centre can no longer hold water. In that case, one can then say that the salt has lost its taste. But, why? May we not be trampled upon.

The Light of the world: Serving..

Light illumines. Anything luminous is fashioned for visibility. No bother puts on the bulb light and thereupon covers it so that it does not give light. The only place in my history where I have experienced an apparent covering of light bulbs is in the seminary. During odd hours when the lights are expected to be put off, some seminarians who would like to study more makes their light bulbs in such a way that its visibility is concentrated at the particular space of their studies. But even at that, this is done not to block visibility totally, but to avert disturbance which the reflection may cause to the peace of the house when it is light-out. The point is that light dispels darkness. So, the Christian must be effortful to dispel the darkness in the world by the lights they manifest.

Light guides. Light makes clear the way. Think about a situation where you travel in your vehicle at night without putting on the head lamp. You will end up crashing. So, the Christian must with his life guide others, and show them the way towards heaven. It is the Christian that is meant to rise against bad governance, and take the lead in the streets for the emancipation of the people of God, rather than staying alone claiming that he is praying and fasting. There are many people who lack the courage to stand against evil. It is the duty of the Christian to stand and let others follow. We need to guide the people towards freedom, towards holiness and towards goodness whose sole source is God. The world needs us as guiding lights.

Light dazzles and burns. When combustion is needed, light is indispensable. The Christian must be ready to burn to ashes the devil and its cohorts. The Christian must dazzle the eyes of the world that glory in evil. They must make effort to destroy the plans of the devil and the dictates made by the advocates of the devil to lure people away from God. It is the Christian that must rise up against bad policies of the government, abuses against human right, and the denial of privileges.

All these features are meant for service to humanity. This is why the Christian as light of the world depicts a life of service. We must shine to dispel darkness. We must shine to guide. We must shine to dazzle and burn evil.

The emphasis on light is the emphasis on good works. To be salt and light of the world in love and service, let us go back to the First Reading (Isaiah 58:7-10). The Lord admonishes the Israelites to share their bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and homeless, clothe the naked. This is the life for anyone who wants to be just; and such a man is a light in darkness to the upright. When they do that, their light shall break forth like the dawn and their wounds are healed, their vindication shall be heard by God, the glory of the Lord becomes their rear guard, and the Lord will answer them. He will even make light to rise for them when they are overpowered by darkness. Listen, the benefits of being the light and salt of the earth is enormous. So, when as a Christian you make frantic effort to live out your identity, know you that the Lord can never leave you go unrewarded. With this in mind, join me and repeat the words of our first paragraph: I derive joy in service, for I derive my worth from the service I render to others. When I stop serving, I stop living. It is in service that I show my greatest love to people. So even if the world or my society (my master and mistress) show a disregard to the services I render, am pretty sure that am important to God (them). I wish you divine favours as we begin a New Week. God bless you.