Reading Francis

I seem to have taught the Facebook algorithm that I like t-shirts with faith-based slogans (which is fine by me). One popular one says “Be salty; Stay lit”, cheekily translating Matthew 5:13-14, in which Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, as part of the Sermon on the Mount. This passage is part of Sunday’s Gospel. 

At some point growing up, I remember learning “Light of the World” from Godspell, so this verse goes back a-ways for me. But my recollection is that, for the most part, when people I grew up with expounded on what it means to be “the light of the world”, they tended to focus on the evangelical mission to tell people about Jesus.

The other readings Sunday add some important context to this image of being light for the world that stretches beyond simple evangelism. The first reading is from Isaiah 58: 7-10, and it’s one of those passages that uses the rhetoric of repetition to emphasize a point. Here’s how it starts:

“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 (my emphasis) your light shall break forth like the dawn…”

Here’s how it closes:

“If you remove from your midst

Oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;

If you bestow your bread on the hungry

And satisfy the afflicted;

Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,

And the gloom shall become for you like midday.”

Isaiah connects light-bearing to some specific behaviors of mercy and justice, like care for the powerless, restraint of power, and honest speech.

The Psalm (112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9) reinforces this. The Psalm response the Catholic Church chooses for the congregation to use is 

“The just man is a light in darkness to the upright.”

The first stanza used is:

“Light shines through the darkness for the upright;

He is gracious and merciful and just.

Well for the man who is gracious and lends,

Who conducts his affairs with justice.”

So, again, to be light for the world is to be gracious, merciful, and generous, and to act with justice.

That seems like a message that would not test very well in focus groups today. Many of us seem more interested in total conquest, domination, and vengeance, even if it means lying and labeling. The brash and confrontational get better engagement on social, after all, and they seem to have more success as well.

We should take comfort in knowing that these messages didn’t necessarily test any better in the 1st Century. In the other passage used this week, I Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul tells the community that the Gospel wasn’t full of hype then, either, saying:

“I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom … I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

Paul probably didn’t have many viral videos on TikTok, in other words.

Mother Teresa claimed to have said that we are called not to be successful, but to be faithful, and perhaps that’s worth remembering when the call to light the world with generosity, kindness and mercy seems improbable. There may never be a time when the exercise of these gentle virtues get more press than flexes and confrontation. That is no less what we are called to do.

So stay lit.