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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Jesus calls obvious people

Jesus calls his Church to stand out and be noticed (Matthew 5:16)

Context

• The past week has seen some half-a-million people take industrial action on a single day, from teachers and lecturers to civil servants and train drivers. The coming week will almost certainly see nurses, ambulance staff, paramedics, emergency call handlers and other workers taking similar action.
• Many of these groups have stated very clearly that the strikes are not only about the real-terms pay cuts they are suffering in the face of soaring inflation, but also about their current inability to provide adequate services to their passengers, patients and other clients.
• A recent poll indicates that public support for them is growing; but whether or not we think their actions are justified, they are undeniably making their positions obvious to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

In this week’s Gospel reading, Matthew presents Jesus issuing a call to his followers to make ourselves obvious. Comparing us with light, which is useless if no one can actually see it, he tells us in no uncertain terms that to have any impact on the problems and challenges facing God’s world, we must make ourselves noticed for our good works.

Two things stand out here:

• First, this is a call to collective action. Although Jesus is addressing a large crowd of his followers, the word ‘light’ is singular. We are called as a body to be one big light, rather than lots of little individual lights. This is underlined by the image of the city on a hill (Matthew 5:14b), which is a large group of people visible to everyone for miles around, as opposed to lots of individual huts on their own little hills. Our city is the city of God, and we must always keep in mind that we are acting as parts of a greater whole (1 Corinthians 12:27), and not to have our own individual roles praised (Matthew 6:1-6). The light we shed is not for our own glory, but for the glory of God-in-Christ.
• Second, we must be prepared to face opposition. If we are shining as Jesus would have us do, then our light will reveal much that those responsible for society’s problems would rather remain hidden. This will, as Jesus has just warned (Matthew 5:10-11), almost inevitably bring us into confrontation with those who hold power but are reluctant to use it for the general good (Matthew 10:16-20). At the same time, we must recognise our own collective shortcomings, and seek continually to purge the Church of anything that fails to reflect God’s unconditional love for all people.

 

Questions for discussion

• How does our own Church – the community, rather than the building – shine as light in the world, making us obvious to those around us?
• Within any Church community, we are likely to find a range of opinions. How do we identify social issues on which we can agree to take a common stand?
• What experiences of confronting the misuse of power has our Church had?

Robert Beard is an NHS worker, freelance writer and Church of England priest.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

The ROOTS resources this week invite us to explore the call to revitalise our communities.

You only have to turn on the news, scan the newspaper headlines or spend five minutes on social media to be reminded just how dark the world can be. In many communities, young people experience this ‘darkness’ for themselves: financial pressures on families, redundancies, long waits for needed medical intervention, covid-impact, refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

At the end of a long winter, it can feel hard to hold on to hope. But that is exactly what Jesus says into this context, speaking directly to people living under occupation and oppression: ‘You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.’ And no matter how dark the world may feel right now, no matter how dark our communities may feel, and how insignificant we may worry that our light is, the darkness cannot extinguish even the smallest flame.

If you feel too small to make a difference, find comfort in these words that God sees things differently. In God’s strength, let us pray that we can bring that light to the dark places and shine for all to see.

Becky May is Founder of The Resources Cupboard

 

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