WwtW: Be what you are -- a window! (OT A 5)

Wednesdays with the Word Bible Study continues with some thoughts on this week's coming gospel.

Liturgical Context.  Our continuous reading of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ earthly ministry began two weeks ago, with the calling of the disciples (Week 3 of OT).  Last week, we would have read the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the famous beatitudes passage.  However, the Feast of the Presentation ‘bumped’ the 4^th Sunday of OT, so we read that gospel reading (from Luke) instead.  This week, we ‘continue’ with the Sermon on the Mount.  As we skipped its beginning, we’ll look at that in these notes briefly, as it grounds the whole Sermon.

Literary Context.          Matthew’s gospel is divided into five sections, corresponding to the five books of the Torah, each consisting on Narrative and Discourse, surrounded by an Introduction (Nativity) and Climax (Passion, Death and Resurrection).  The Sermon on the Mount was preceded by an account of Jesus’ healing and preaching ministry and his call of the first disciples.  The beatitudes begin the Sermon and proclaim blessing for the persecuted Church.  Blessing comes before demand.  The beatitudes are not ethical requirements (those will come later).  The beatitudes also reveal Jesus as the anointed bearer of the Spirit (see Isa 61:1-3).  The setting reveals him as the new law-giving, like God on Sinai (not merely the new Moses, who simply received the Law).  Today’s reading moves us from indicative to imperative (be what you are!), but does so in very general terms.  The remainder of the Sermon will give much more specificity.

Interpretation. I commented above on the beatitudes as declarations of happiness for those who live self-sacrificial lives as followers of Christ.  Jesus lived all of these.  The beatitudes declare that all who live such a life, even when it seems foolish, are blessed for they will in the end be vindicated by God.  The passives are ‘divine passives’ throughout, and the future tense is to be taken seriously.  They are, technically, not ‘blessings’ (benedictions, as found in Jewish and Christian worship) but declarations of (future) happiness (beatitudes, as found in Wisdom literature).

Salt is a polyvalent image.  One resonance I think is especially powerful is the scene in 2 Kings 2 where Elisha uses salt to miraculously purify bad water (a story which influence the Church’s baptism rite for centuries).  The pure in heart purify the world.  But, there are many other resonances: salt is a preservative, it is necessary, it adds flavor, it was a by-word for table fellowship.  Common to all these analogies is this: salt is not salt for itself, it exists to help what surrounds it.  Salt can only lose its saltiness by being adulterated.  This is the tension within which Matthew’s vision of Church lives: it must remain pure, unadulterated, but it must be active in the world.  Christians must live their life

Saints are “windows through which light enters” (St. John of the Cross) and that’s the idea of being a lamp.  It’s God’s light we give the world access to.  Like salt, a light gives light to those around it.  The function of light is not to be seen, but to allow something else to be seen.  This is a demanding view of the Church’s role in the world!  Cicero describes Rome as the light of the world.

Questions

1.      The beatitudes should give both comfort (God will vindicate us!) and worry (there’s a lot for Him to vindicate us from!).  How do they strike you?  Do any in particular resonate with you?

2.      What do you think of when you think of salt?  In what ways is the Church like salt?  How could we do that more fully?

3.      Same question, but for light/lamp?

4.      How do we struggle to stay pure as a Church?  How does God help us?

5.      How do we struggle to stay present to the world?  How does God help us?