The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (5:14-19)
In today’s gospel reading our Lord Jesus Christ sits as the new Moses giving the new law to His people in the context of the famous “sermon on the mount”. These are the words He gives to them:
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
He says to all of those who were following him, “you are the light of the world”! If we are men and women who follow the teachings and the example of our Lord Jesus Christ then these words apply to us, my brothers and sisters. You are the light of the world. I am also called to be the light of the world. That is our mutual calling. This calling makes sense because Christ says that He is the light of the world and St. Paul tells us that when we were baptized we put on Christ! The hymn that is sung immediately after baptism is “bestow on me a robe of light, O Thou who was clothed in light as with a garment.” Christ is the light of the world and He grants us to also be light. He is like the Sun and we are like the stars.
Our Lord tells us what we have to do in order to shine our light, in order that our light might burn brightly and be seen by others. He says “that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” You may not realize this but your whole life is a demonstration of who you are. After all, Our Lord says that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and likewise a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Our life, is like the sum total of our works and our choices and our habits and our fixations. This life shows whether we really love and serve God or whether we love and serve something or someone else, maybe even ourselves. If someone looks at our life, what will they see? What message does our life send to our family members, our children, our siblings, our neighbors, our coworkers and our classmates?
In the book of Genesis, God said let their be light. Light came forth out of nothingness, out of darkness. Likewise, when each of was called to enter into Christian life through baptism, we were called out of nothingness, out of spiritual darkness. But what does our life say about us? Does it demonstrate that we are living in the light of Christ, that we are reflecting Christ’s light, that we are becoming His light on earth? Or does our life reflect something else? If our life doesn’t reflect the teachings and the works of godliness, then we can say that perhaps we are not the light of the world but the darkness. What we offer the world, if it is not rooted in Christian life and the teaching of the Church, might be nothingness. You have been granted the great grace of adoption as children of God and bearers of light, but my dear friends, if we squander that grace, woe to us. If we lead people to darkness instead of to Christ, we should tremble.
How will you know? St. John Chrysostom says,
“The person characterized by humility, gentleness, mercy and righteousness does not build a fence around good deeds. Rather, that one ensures that these good fountains overflow for the benefit of others. One who is pure in heart and a peacemaker, even when persecuted for the sake of truth, orders his way of life for the common good.” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 15.7. [PG 57:231; NPNF 1 10:97**.]
St. John tells us that the person who is full of light will be overflowing in characteristics such as humility, gentleness, mercy and righteousness.” These remind us of the fruits of the spirit found in St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he writes first about the works of the flesh, the way of darkness and then juxtaposes it with the way of light and life. He says,
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who doe such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Gal 5:19-24
These are these two paths. One that is full of light and one that is full of darkness. One that brings us to Christ and one that obscures the image of Christ within us and hides Christ from those around us. This path ends in complete darkness. And my friends, there is a great distance and gulf between those two ways of life.
The ways of the Church and her disciplines, following the example of her Lord Jesus, are given to us as a guard rail and a way to stay on the path of light. The Church heals us through her life of devotion to Christ in asceticism, fasting, vigils, and prayers. Through her sacraments, and sacred worship. Through her sacred art and music. All of these work together for our benefit and for our healing. All of these allow us to be purified in mind and soul and to radiate the Lord’s light as we embrace Christ’s teaching and we strive to do His will daily. This is how saints are made. This is your purpose in life, to become one of the saints! This our path as the people of God, called to become the light of the world.
I leave you with this well known story from the desert fathers,
“Abba Lot went to Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.” — “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers”
May we likewise become flame and light to the glory of God AMEN!
Source: Sermons