5th Sunday Year A

Fifth Sunday Year A – Light and Salt

What would you prefer to be known as or called if you like? Salt or light? Which of these appeals to you and your inner senses of who you are?

Jesus tells his disciples in today’s gospel reading that they are both. He first calls them “the salt of the earth”. Salt because their job going forward was to preserve everything that He has taught them. In the olden days, before all things electrical – and yes there was such a time – in these olden days people couldn’t use fridges or freezers to preserve and save food.

No – they had to salt it. Meat and fish that would ordinarily go off and turn foul very quickly in desert heat, in fact in just ordinary everyday heat, had to be salted to allow and enable it to be transported across any sort of distance and to be kept edible. Salt was worth its weight in gold. It was invaluable in the everyday life of people across the world.

The disciples’ role then and ours today, was to preserve the Word of God; to save it so that it would stay true to that which Jesus taught. Our job today is to be as salt in that preservation. To allow the Word to come to us and to pass on with us and through us to others in such a way as to still be recognisable; to still be true to its origins. We must be the champions of that Word by what we say and do and by what we challenge and check in others.

But salt was also used in another way in those olden far -off days and still today in some countries. In times of war and conflict, the invading army would destroy towns and villages and then would salt the earth where they had been. This was to make the ground dead and useless and poisoned. And so back to the disciples. Their job was to intercept and challenge any and all false teachings and to poison the ground and stop them from growing. Their job was to act as preachers and teachers of the word and to stop anything that might cause any sort of barrier to its growth and spread. So slat had the meaning of both the preservation of the Word and the cancellation of any challenge or thwarting of it.

Jesus then tells His disciples that they are “the light of the world.” They are to be lights that shine out through all forms of darkness and doubt. They are to be beacons that will attract others to them to hear the word, to listen to it and through them, to understand it better and more fully. They are to be lights of the world that will shine into every darkness and dispel every shadow and challenge every shade. They are to live lives that will glow, that will shine out, so that even the early Romans will be able to say without doubt or uncertainty, “See those Christians. See how they love one another.”

They will be able to see with their own eyes exactly what Jesus Himself could see, that they were full of the light of Christ, waiting for that chance to go out into the world to shine brightly.

And so back to us here today. What are we – Salt or Light? Well, even in this day of every electrical fandangle in every household, we need to be both. We need to be aware that our job or role as Christians is not passive or dormant. No – it is one that is very active and alive and awake.

 In this day in which we live. In this world in which we live. In this society in which we live. We have to be both salt and light. We have to preserve our faith by our words and by our actions. We have to have the courage and determination to check and challenge those who would try to cut us down and box us off and make us feel irrelevant and out of touch. And we have to shine our light of example for all to see so that people today, in our parish and neighbourhood can say with wonder and awe, See those Christians. See how they love one another. Salt and Light. Amen

Bidding Prayers

1.      That we might be as salt and preserve your word and live it as an example of truth, of hope and of love in our everyday lives. Lord in your mercy

2.      That we might be courageous and let your light shine through everything that we do and say. Lord in your mercy

3.      That our world is filled with your word and that peoples can come together to live in peace and harmony. Lord in your mercy

4.       That the sick of our parish grow in health, happiness and confidence through our prayers and loving actions. Lord in your mercy

5.      That those who have died recently may find eternal rest with the Lord and that their families are comforted in this knowledge. Lord in your mercy

6.      That the light of the Lord shines upon all of the children of our parish guiding them to what is right and true. Lord in your mercy

7.      That Mary might join her prayers with ours as we now pray together, Hail Mary