Light of the world

 This is my homily for today, the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A.  The readings for the day are here.

“You are the light of the world”.  

That's pretty cool, isn't it: we’re the light of the world.  Hearing that is a feel-good moment for us.  But isn’t it interesting that, elsewhere, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world”.  You might remember Jesus saying that in the story of the Man Born Blind, a story we tell most years here, and we’ll hear again in a few weeks.  In that story, he says, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world [Jn 9:4b-5].”  

But here today, in Matthew’s Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, “You are the light of the world.”  So, which is it?  Who really is the light of the world?  Is it him, or is it us?

Well, that’s easy: it’s both of us.  But really, it isn’t both of us: it’s really him.  It all tracks back to Jesus.  If any of us manages to be a light shining in the darkness in today’s world, it’s not because we’re awesome, or because of anything we did; it’s all because of Jesus.  He is the source of light in our lives. 

In just a few minutes, we’ll recite in the Creed:

God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.

Jesus is the Light, who bestows his light upon us.  If this was the solar system, he’d be the sun, and we’d be the planets.  He’s the source of spiritual light in us and in our world.  If we’re fortunate enough to be satellites in his gravitational field, then whenever we light up the night sky, it’s because we’re reflecting his light.  

You may wonder: how is it that we receive this light from Jesus?   How does this light get to us, or get inside us, or shine through us?  The traditional Christian answer is: at our baptisms we receive the Light of Christ.  You might recall that, at a baptism, the person being baptized is given a lit candle, with the words, “Receive the light of Christ.”  That lit candle symbolizes the light of Christ coming into our lives.  The light of Christ pierces our darkness for the first time.  

If you’d like to see, with your own eyes, what it looks like to see the light of Christ piercing the darkness, then I have an invitation for you: come to St. Edna Church on Saturday, April 8th.  But make sure you get here before 7 pm, because at 7 that evening, the festivities kick off.  That night, Saturday, April 8th, is the holiest night of the year.  It’s the Easter Vigil.  And we always begin the Vigil cloaked in darkness.  All the lights in church are turned off, and as evening deepens, it gets darker and darker in here.  But then the Easter Candle is lit, and then smaller candles are lit throughout the church from the Easter Candle.   Everyone in the church holds one of those little candles with their tiny, flickering flames.  The only illumination in the church comes from us, holding those lit candles, while the Exsultet, the great hymn of joyful anticipation and praise is sung, of Jesus rising from the dead.  The devil tried to win; death tried to extinguish the Light of the World.  But it failed.  Jesus was stronger than the devil, stronger than death.  He rose from the dead, and his light has continued to illuminate us ever since.  If you come to our Easter Vigil celebration on April 8th, you can see the light of the world, driving back the darkness, right in this space.  It will take your breath away.

So it’s all from Jesus.  When Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that we’re the light of the world, it’s because Jesus is present, sacramentally and spiritually, at work in us and in our lives.  Through his love and forgiveness for us, we’re able to be vessels of his light.

Let me just say: tI think his is marvelous.  I get excited thinking about this and talking about this: Jesus is at work in us, illuminating us from the inside out.  The light of Christ, within us, shining outward: fo you know what that is?  That's our superpower.  We don’t have to be bitten by a radioactive spider, or travel here from the planet Krypton.  Nor, thankfully, do we need to dash around in a unitard and cape.  Our superpower is that Jesus is with us, right inside us, and his light is shining out through us.  We get to have this superpower without needing to be fabulously wealthy like Bruce Wayne or a celebrity like Tony Stark.  Regular, everyday people like us can have this superpower.  We’re the poor in spirit, and the meek, sitting on the mountain, listening to the Sermon on the Mount.  And yet we’re the ones Jesus has chosen to be vessels of his light.

So here’s a suggestion: we’ve been given this superpower, so let's put it to work to make the world a better place.  Jesus is inside us.  Let him do his thing!  As Jesus put it, don’t put his light under a bushel basket; set it on a lampstand.  Let the light of Christ shine forth from us.

We let Jesus’s light shine through us when we love others.  The prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading practically gives a homily on today’s Gospel passage.  Isaiah tells us exactly how to let our light shine: by sharing our bread with the hungry; by sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; by clothing the naked; by not turning our backs on our own families and friends and neighbors, or even complete strangers, in need.  

This is where St. Edna Parish comes in.  We provide many ways for you to donate, - or even better, get personally involved - in feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, and caring for those in need.  Our alms this week support St. Edna Outreach; feeding the hungry is the heart of what we do in that ministry.  

So unleash your superpower!  let’s let the light of Christ shine through us.