Reflection on the Readings at Mass for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray.
In the Liturgy, we Consume the Light of the World, thereby Becoming the Light of the World
There are just a few keywords that the Holy Spirit inspired man to write so that He might create a seamless quilt out the written word. In the absence of recognizing these keywords, the sacred Scriptures could appear at times to be just a patchwork of different fabrics of conflicting colors that was haphazardly put together in a poorly managed sweatshop. One such keyword that relates to today’s readings for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary of Year A is ‘light’, which, in the sacred texts, represents, symbolizes, and serves as a central and governing motif throughout the Catholic Bible.
For example, in Genesis 1:3 we read “Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” The light that God creates here is אוֹר (Heb. ‘owr), which means simply ‘light’. This light of day one is different from the light He created on day five, which is מָאוֹר (Heb. ma’owr), which means illumination. There are three essential things to take note about ‘owr for our purposes here. The first is that God created ‘owr in the beginning for the well-being of creation. The second is that ‘owr was taken away from the world when the Lord struck down Egypt with the Ninth Plague. Exodus 10:21-23 says that there was dense darkness throughout the land of Egypt; “Men could not see one another, nor could they move from where they were, for three days, while all the Israelites had ‘owr where they dwelt.” The final thing to note is that the Ninth Plague was the only plague that God set for a specific number of days. The three days that Egypt was without ‘owr corresponds to the three days between Christ Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
For John, now transitioning to the Greek φῶς (phōs) for light, Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness cannot overcome (Cf. Jn. 1:5). Also, according to Christ Jesus’ self-testimony about Himself, He is the light that entered the world (Cf. Jn. 8:12). Here, John uses the motif of light to play off Genesis 1:3-5 where God separates ‘owr’ from the darkness, and to play off the ‘owr’ that dwelt among the Israelites while the Egyptians were groping around in darkness for three days. This is why John’s writes, “He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (v. 10-11). Now, the true light, which was taken away from the world, because Pharaoh would not accept Moses’ testimony and stop persecuting the Israelites, has now come back into the world to “enlighten everyone”.
While the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew will make it clear that today’s First Reading from the Deutero-Isaiah 58:7-10 was a prophetic finger pointing to the coming Messiah, in context, there was already an idea within the Israelite way that we could become like God by serving other, and it was the opposite of the way by which Eve tried to be like God. The reading begins, “Thus says the LORD: 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. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!” Again, if you do these things, then your light shall break forth like the dawn. There is no mistake that the Hebrew word here for ‘light’ is ‘owr’; the same light from the creation event. So there is an early understanding in the prophets that serving the lowly connected us to God most intimately and that our service even gave us access to favor from God. Later in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus would add to Deutero-Isaiah’s positive news saying, those who feed the hungry, shelter the oppressed and homeless, and clothe the naked, are actually feeding, sheltering, and clothing Him, and will be blessed with the eternal inheritance, but He goes even further than Deutero-Isaiah to add a curse to those who do not serve those who were created in the image of God, saying, “And these will go off to eternal punishment . . .”
In Today’s Gospel Reading from Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus reinforces this teaching from the prophets that we have the potential to be like God; saying, “You are the light of the world.” Of course, this relationship between the human nature and the divine nature is made more abundantly clear, again, in John’s Gospel when Christ Jesus calls Himself the Light of the World, because He is the glory of Man, the transfigured man, the light that came into the world as man. Yet, for now, the point being made in the Sermon on the Mount is that we were created to be like God; to be His light in the world, so that through us others might find God and see God, even in the darkness of the world. So, let “your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” And to be clear, the way by which the light shines upon us is through our service – good deeds – to those who are hurt and lost.
Such a man as this was the Apostle Paul, who the light of God had shined upon so brightly that many came to follow Christ through his good deeds, and many came to persecute him for that very same reason. It is easy to get lost in the Apostle Paul’s writings, especially like those in today’s Second Reading from First Corinthians 2:1-5. There goes Paul again with all those “I” statements and being all self-deprecating, but in saying things like, “I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom,” and “I resolved to know nothing . . . except Christ crucified,” and “I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,” the Apostle is telling us the most important thing about the light of Christ that we need to know. That is, we cannot control the light; we do not shine upon the light, rather, the light shines upon us; the light doesn’t need us, rather, we need the light, and we were created for the light, because we are children of the light.
Truly, the works of self-indulgence are many and easy to fall into and there is no light in them. We even have those in our company who never cease to turn the liturgy into something that shines a false light upon human effort and vanity. This legacy of dark liturgy is falling upon the wrath of God today, but that is not how it was intended. How jealous would the prophets be of us Catholics who have the opportunity to actually consume the Light of the World into our bodies; thereby making us literally the light of the world instantly upon worthy reception of Him, and then we are dismissed by the Priest, who has come in the person of the Light of the World, to go into the darkness to do good deed in His name and power – to be the Light we have just received? In His mercy, God made this too easy for us to get to Heaven. The light comes into the world at every valid liturgy of the Catholic Mass throughout the world on every day of the year, except on Good Friday; yet the world continues to choose darkness. We could mourn that reality, which is worthy of mourning, or we could choose to serve even more deeply in the dark areas, so that the light of God might shine even more brightly upon us. For, if the world is the going to go dark, it should not be because they did not see the light of Christ shine upon us. It should only be because they saw the light and turned away.
This is just one way how the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world what you have received through the liturgy.
