Jesus is speaking to the disciples and to us. Saying 'you are the salt of the Earth. You are the light of the world'. This is not a commandment to do something. It is a reminder that we are something already. It is a call to be who and what we are. Light to the world. Salt to the earth. If you are what you are made to be, this is what will happen. This is where you will go. This is what you will do. This is a call to be.
This truth has been somewhat obfuscated (confused) over the last 55 or 60 years by cultural and social developments. We need to free it. Recover it. Redeem it. So that we can answer the invitation, the opportunity and the challenge that Jesus gives.
Let us reflect upon the obfuscations (confusions) that emerge from our culture. In 1968, that was a tumultuous year. Symptomatic of the times. The Prague spring occurred. This rpovoked the Soviet Union to invade Czechoslovakia. Assassinations occurred such as Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy. The anti-Vietnam War protests intensified. there were upheavals on university campuses throughout the world. These high profile events were channeled into our dinning rooms and lounge rooms and our lives nightly. There were very obvious. We could not escape.
What was not so very obvious was the advent of two songs. On Broadway was a show 'The Golden Rainbow'. Featuring a song called 'I've got to be me'. The year ended with 'I did it my way'. These songs were saying what Jesus was saying 'Be what you are...'. But in fact I do not think they are saying what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying 'you are made in the image likeness of God'. Our tradition reminds us we are baptised into Christ. We are one with him. We are instruments of God's love in the world. Called to be.
