Dear brothers and sisters,
dear friends,
Does someone could tell us what a symbol?
In the dictionaries I consulted, I found the following definitions: "what else is under an analogical correspondence" or "being, object, image contained an idea abstract. The lion is the symbol of courage. "
In our text this morning, Jesus uses symbols. Symbols, the Bible uses much for us to communicate a message, to wake us up by putting our minds alert. In his first sermon as reported in Matthew, Jesus will use three symbols to tell us who we are.
Réentendons this text:
13C'est You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes insipid with what its saltiness be restored there? He is good to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14C'est You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can not be hidden. 15On does not light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but put it on its stand, and it shines for all who are in the house. 16THE your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Three symbols here, so if it includes one of the city on a mountain. But the tip about Jesus focuses on two themes of the salt and light.
"Ye are the salt of the earth, that You are the light of the world." Premioère The thing that strikes me and is probably not obvious, is that uttering these words, Jesus is saying to us all that is precious to God. Valuable, because the salt and light are two precious things.
Light is necessary for life, essential in the dark, it also brings with it the heat. The salt was then something precious because it was used to store food and it was therefore essential.
By comparing these two elements to the faith if familliers and so fundamental, Jesus tells us that we value, we are important. There are many, those who suffer from a poor image of themselves. It can come from parents, the eyes of society. Many are those who believe they are good for nothing: too old, too young, too single, not dynamic enough to be a winner, too ugly, too "not Rolex 50."
Yes, there are many, too many who think they are negligible, who believe they are failures.
But God sends another message. A message of restoring our own image, in both our eyes and those of others. Message dignity. A message of hope. You are salt and light, you're something that has value, value.
"You are," Jesus does not say "you must be." He did not launch an appeal, it is not an exhortation.
Jesus does not ask us to become salt and light. It does not set a goal, a goal.
It does not require a special effort, a program, a drive to achieve a goal that some reach, others will have many difficulties to achieve. You are not required to be successful, to become a light unto other humans, as a politician, a celebrity, a star, a star, brilliant yes, but not necessarily so bright.
You do not, you do not, you do not get, you do not bring anything.
You are! You, yourself! You whole, you outwardly, inside you, deep within yourself.
All this puts us may feel uncomfortable, because it seems to put an enormous weight on our shoulders. For example, when Jesus said, "You are the light of the world," we do not really feel like, individually, essential to the progress of all humanity or the beauty of universe.
But at our level so limited, whenever we took the time to listen to someone who needed it, when we visited a sick, when we have show our solidarity by involving us in a local branch of the Restos du Coeur, the Red Cross or I do not know what, we were light in the world. This light has perhaps shone for one person, but as humanity is related, that shines for a man or a woman shines for the world. So do not be discouraged. Continue to shine: a single small light is visible from afar in the night in the deepest. Be light, and continue to enrich lives around you!
For if Jesus speaks of light, but also to show that darkness exists. Jesus is not an idealist. And that's probably why, before speaking of light, it evokes the salt:
You are the salt of the earth.
We can be light. But we must recognize that evil is present in the world where we live. It exists in nature, with its destructive hurricanes or earthquakes that destroy so many lives come and work with these diseases as well. It exists mainly in the heart of man, always quick to think more about their rights than his duties, always ready to exploit its next and all creation to gain fragile. If I became a Christian indeed, it is partly because the Bible makes us to face this reality of evil, not reduce it nor accept it.
The Word of God confronts the disturbing reality, and it is also why Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth."
Indeed, salt is known to add flavor but also for preserving food, that is to say that the salt reveals and retains the best food and that removes dirt would make them rot. It is thanks to the salt cheese is so good and it is conserved. Be the salt of the earth is being in the world, then develop and retain the best of reality. Even if there were only 5% good in the middle 95% bad, salt is found to be the good part and the highlight so bad that it dominates percent. That means be what keeps espoiur when you realize that everything does not go quite a spin.
The image of salt implies more the image of the preservation, protection against danger.
It useful "to have salt in ourselves" as we recommend Jesus (Mark 9:50) is an ability to see light from human without being contaminated by what may be from negative to him. Jesus tells us that man has this ability to be salt. Since we were born of the grace of God we have within us the capacity to love and in turn, for it is love that it is through this image of the salt so useful for making life more beautiful.
Jesus tells us that today we are the salt of the earth and the light the world. The gospel opens our eyes to these donations we have, he says, because it's reality, but also hoping that we will want to act like a little salt and a light around us.
Jesus does not require us to cure and to shine, but he said it would be really, really bad for the world if we did not. . God does not love us less if we did not, but it would be a mess, and there's nothing sadder than to see such a waste, non-outbreak of something that could be beautiful .. . So to enter fully into the plan God, Christ offers us his help.
To explain what God has done to us in this area, Jesus uses two images.
Be like a city on a hill
The Bible mentions the mountains seeking God through praise. Everyone is like a city of multiple dwellings, each is a complex made of 100 dimensions that compose a whole. We are a body that lives, a loving heart, a mind that thinks, a person who works and who plays or who plays music ... We are thus like a city of many living spaces. Jesus tells us that this is a good idea to build this city in height with the help of God. He does not ask us to pray or read the Bible all day, quite the contrary, our light is also useful to the world through all that constitutes the richness of our lives. But every aspect of our lives and deserve to be built on the mountain of our relationship with God.
Faith is thus not something that confines or limits us, but on the contrary, faith is meant to raise us, and beautify all dimensions of our existence.
This history of the mountain town on the services that we speak God intends us to, if we want:
A city on a mountain is a city safer because up there you can see farther and more clearly anything can happen. And so, by faith, God can enable us to see clearer, and better know how we decide. Have we not neededTo step back, height in relation to our own lives to better the living?
A city on a mountain is also a city that can be seen from afar. By faith, God gives us a better spread around us in our personal light, and improve the lives of those around us in a way that we will be very personal.
Coming here this morning, that's what we came for: God's help to build up our existence. It can really help us.
Be as a lamp on a stand
The second picture that we propose relates to Jesus more intimately. He compares our being deep to a lamp he proposes to raise the chandelier so that it shines on our loved ones. Jesus does not tell us to raise our lamp on a stand of any kind, but on "The Chandelier". In the context of the Hebrew people that saw Jesus, "the" candlestick is the menorah, the candelabrum that was at the heart of Jerusalem's temple, symbolizing God's presence among his people and the depths of each of us .
So this is to rest completely on God, on what he has done for us in Christ, to have a solid base and power (again) clearly seen.
But Jesus tells us that, unfortunately, something we can prevent shine. It does not extinguish our light, Jesus tells us, but there is just something that can hide our light is a bushel. Today, many people do not know what it is. A bushel is a pot that is used to measure the volume of a bag of wheat, for example. Which may hide our light, Jesus tells us, so this is the decision that can be worn on the human person. One can measure the size, strength of someone, perhaps his intelligence or culture, but one thing that we can not measure, we should not judge is his dignity, value in itself. Yet in the Bible, it is matter of trial is not it? Never does the Word of falling into relativism, which is that anything goes. In fact, I struggled to understand these words of Jesus:
1Does not judge, lest be judged. 2Car is with the ruling by which you judge that will judge you, and it is the extent to which you measure will be measured to you.
How can Christ say that God, while in others, it, judge? Well, the stakes just have to recognize that God is the only righteous judge. We do not juega ourselves. Our decision must be that of God and only God's. To do this, read the Bible to know the mind of the Father
To each of you, thank you for coming, thank you for this light that you shine here. Really, you are a blessing and you give us envy, as Jesus says, to "give glory to our Father in heaven".
Lord, your love is high,
you are the source of life,
in your light we recognized the light.
(Psalm 36:9).
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