Breaking Open the Word

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A 2020

 

Isaiah 58:7-10

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Matthew 5:13-16

 

After taking a short detour last week to The Presentation of the Lord, an important feast for the church and a reminder that the Holy Family followed the prescribed laws of their faith, that Mary might be purified according to the Jewish laws after giving birth and that the first born male be consecrated to the Lord, we come back to Isaiah, 1^st Corinthians and Matthew.

 

As we have mentioned in the past, this section of Isaiah, chapters 56-66, were not written by Isaiah himself, but by someone who wrote in the same prophetic style as Isaiah had. While our verses today begin with 7, I think you get a fuller understanding of the context if you start with verse 3. This is a teaching moment for the writer to explain to the people who are returning from exile, returning from captivity in Babylon, what the Lord expects of them.

 

Not only is he letting them know what is expected, he goes on later to tell them just how much the Lord will do for them when they follow His commands. This is not the first time we hear that the Lord is asking His people to take care of His creations, it goes all the way back to Leviticus where they are instructed in the offerings they are to make to the Lord.

 

These themes of feeding the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked and not turning your back on your own are themes we hear in both the Old and New Testament in many places. These are the very core concepts that our Catholic Social Justice is based on, to helping those who cannot help themselves.

 

After Paul makes his opening introductions to the community at Corinth, and gives the basic reasons for him writing to them, he moves on to paint a picture of himself as a servant of the Lord, revealing his own weaknesses to the people. He lets them know that he was not a great orator, like many of the Greeks were, who used fancy words and their human wisdom to win over the people. These were things that they were taught, went to school for, but for the most part, they were not coming from the heart.

 

Paul, on the other hand, was speaking only what he had received, that which Jesus had given to him in their encounter. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirt and Paul giving up control, does the words he proclaims comes through him to reach the people.

 

Paul is laying the foundation of the things he will continue to write to them about, especially that of Christ crucified. He wants them to believe in faith, not in the mere fancy words or the cleverness the well-educated would be using. He continues to tell them of his own faults and failings so that they understand that one who is weak, the one who has no eloquent style, the one who relies on the Spirit of God to lead them, will be the one whom they should listen to and follow as a model.

 

Matthew has just finished describing the Beatitude’s in the opening verses of chapter 5, teaching his disciples and the people what are good Christian values they should be following. He then goes on to explain specifically to the disciples they roles they are to fulfill. The parallel of these verses are Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34-35.

 

Jesus uses the images of salt and light. He tells them that just as salt is used to preserves food and makes it taste better, so they need to be salt to the people they come in contact with, the people they are called to teach. They are reminded to take care of those who are in their care and to protect them.

 

The image of light for the disciples is for them to become beacons of light to the world around them, to let the things they do for the kingdom shine forth and to cast way darkness, the evil that is the world.

 

When the disciples shine forth with the light of God in their hearts, then they are that example for the rest of the world to follow.

 

We too are called to be beacons of light, to draw people closer to God’s kingdom. They should be able to see in our actions and in our words, especially those things that we are called to be doing that we read about in Isaiah today, that they need to be imitators of us so they can be follows of Jesus.