When I was about seven, my granny took us to Saltcoats, the holiday Mecca of the west coast of Scotland. It was mid-summer and still an icy gale swept from the North Pole over the sunbathers who shivered behind their windbreakers! My first trip to the beach, I dashed towards the sea and ran straight into an underwater hole. I sank like a corpse and managed to swallow what felt like a gallon of water. I can still taste it to this day. Too much salt, too much salt.
Isaiah’s poetic prophecy in today’s first reading is beautiful but it lacked maturity as it only applied to people in the community. I have always thought that one of the marks of any genuine spirituality is the wideness of its embrace. I become suspicious the moment I hear the language of exclusion, whether that is of individuals or groups. Exclusions create control, heightened security and territory that needs to be defended.
The Divine Teacher, on the other hand, situates His disciples in another place. You are the salt of the earth! You are the light of the World! We are something and we may not know it. When this happens, people lose their flavour. There is nothing to savour. It gets trampled underfoot. Jesus seeks to convince us of our high value. He cuts through any sense of self that cripples and halts – I am a sinner – I am no good – I’m useless – I lack the skill etc. He fixes a new truth in the minds and hearts of His disciples. Hot on the heels of this compliment there is a warning which is meant to strengthen our freedom to be the salt that we are. We are here for the benefit of the earth. He calls us to bring zest, meaning and light to all.
Over the last few weeks, we have lost some wonderful members of our community. It was important to family members that they are remembered as people who made the world a better place. I guess we would all like people to say that when our own time comes. But what if people were to say, after we are gone, that the world has become a less interesting place! We were a shot of zest, adding just the right amount of salt to every bland situation. I wonder if something gets lost when we limit our understanding of salt and light to just good works. We seldom think of it as meaning creative engagement with a wily world. Yet the people of salt and light are called to be visionaries who are not afraid to try something new. If the experiment fails, we don’t retreat to our old ways but find even more creative energy to address the situation before us. Think Big. Think New. Think Creative.
Teilhard de Chardin once wrote that he was afraid that people would lose their zest and passion for the coming to be of the world. He noted that if we do not find this drive in ourselves, we have not yet searched the full depth of our heart and mind. Perhaps we are afraid of what we might find there. Jesus reminds us that we have no need to be afraid. No need to be afraid!
