1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Matthew 5:13-16
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Remember a few weeks ago when Isaiah was to call Israel back to God, but it was too little, Israel was to be a light to the nations? Today we have Jesus echoing that call. Jesus is calling us to be a light to the world.
Our kitchen and dining room face south, so on clear days a lot of sunshine comes in the windows. The kids will play right there in the light and they get that sunshine glow. You know that beautiful glow of the sun on hair. They look just like angels. I think that’s the kind of light that Jesus is talking about. It’s a light that doesn’t originate with us, but when we are in it, we glow. We become breathtaking. It’s not us that has changed, it’s only where we stand. When we stand with Jesus, when we stand in Jesus’ light, we glow. We glow so strongly that it lights the whole world. I can think of some people who glow with the power of the Spirit, people who touch a holy part of me and fill me with energy.
Archbishop Oscar Romero is one. He was assassinated at the moment of consecration for his work for justice. At first I heard about the way he stood up for the poor of El Salvador, but it was only later when I learned his story that I realized he didn’t start with loving justice, he started with loving his friends. His justice work didn’t begin until a close friend was murdered. Then he changed. It shows me that it’s easier to do great deeds for justice when it is people who you love who are being stepped on. Social justice isn’t about ideas, it’s about people.
Dorothy Day is another. She was filled with convictions, but lost in the world. It wasn’t until she took her God-given gift for writing and called the Catholic Church to walk the talk that everything changed for her. When she published the first Catholic Worker newspaper in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, she called on every parish to open up a House of Hospitality. And then people showed up on her doorstep asking for hospitality. It was real people looking her in the eye that changed her, and the Catholic Worker movement was born. But she struggled with maintaining balance between her work with the homeless, her writing, and her own family life. I struggle with a similar balance. Her struggle inspires me in dealing with mine.
Henry Krewer here in Boise is another person who inspires me. I met Henry about 15 years ago at a meeting of people thinking about starting a Catholic Worker community. We were reading a book about the Catholic Worker movement and discussing it. I remember Henry with reading glasses all crooked and his hair all tousled, but he spoke a wisdom that was deeper than anything I had ever heard. His ease with loving the homeless and his persistent sense of calling were awe-inspiring to me. He made me look at the homeless in a new way. He made me look at my own calling with greater respect.
All of these people are lights in a world of darkness. But you know, all of them have a shadow side. Last Sunday Fr. Hugh described humility as fully knowing two things — that we are good because God made us a good, and that we are sinners and broken. Archbishop Oscar Romero only got on the justice band-wagon when his friend was killed, but not before when people he didn’t know were killed. Dorothy Day spoke out against a lot of injustice, but not sexism, one that I care a lot about. Even Henry has his shadow. Once we were demonstrating against the death penalty and a guy came up to argue with us. He clearly just wanted to pick a fight. Well, not only did Henry not refuse to fight, I swear he actually goaded the guy on. They almost came to blows. Now, I hesitate to tell a story on Henry because after 15 years he could easily stand here for hours telling stories on me. Probably so could most of you.
We all have a shadow side. Just because people do great things, shine great light, doesn’t mean they are perfect. All of us have a shadow side. All of us, except one.
Jesus! Jesus has no shadow. Jesus worked for justice and didn’t leave anybody out. Jesus reached out in charity and always pushed back to the broader questions of justice. Jesus’ pride never stopped him from living out his mission. Jesus felt fear but never let it drive him. Jesus’ love for people was genuine, and it was for all people — those on the very bottom of society all the way up to the powerful, women, men & children, his own people and foreigners. To me that is one of the most compelling things about Jesus. It what makes him more than a great teacher. He had no shadow; he was all light.
The rest of us have shadows because the light shines on us, not from us. And that’s normal, that’s the way we were created. God obviously approves of it because God made us that way. But Jesus has no shadow because Jesus is the source of the light. In today’s gospel as Jesus is telling us to be a light, he’s saying to get into that warm sunlight like my children do. Stand there, because when you do, you glow.
Being a light to the world isn’t about will power or changing ourselves, it’s about standing with Jesus, about witnessing for Jesus. We witness by expressing what Jesus means in our life. We witness by following those urgings in our hearts that pull us toward holiness and bring about good works. We witness by the honest sharing of our faith struggles. We witness by discerning our own callings and respecting those callings because they come from God.
Every day that you stand with Jesus, you are a glowing light to the world. You inspire people by merely standing in Christ’s light. Your faith inspires people the same way that others have inspired me.
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