Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
February 9, 2020
Matthew 5:13-16
Reading carefully, we may wonder, “Is it possible if the salt loses it, saltiness?” In everyday experience, we never experience tasteless salt. However, when we go back to the time of Jesus, we will be surprised that a salt losing its taste is a daily reality. In ancient Israel, the people would go to the Dead Sea, the saltiest body of water on earth, and gathered the “pillar of salt” formed surrounding the lake. Then, they would put inside a small bag, like a teabag”, and when it was needed for seasoning, the bag would be dipped into the water or soup. After some repeated use, the salt would lose its saltiness due to the chemical impurities. It turned to be nothing but an ordinary pebble, and shall be thrown away and trampled underfoot.
Salt is potent seasoning, but because of its small quantity, we hardly notice it. When I was still in the minor seminary, one of our Lenten observances was to eat our meals cooked without salt. The taste was totally awful. I forced myself to swallow the food, but it just made me feel terrible and feel like vomiting. I never thought that food without salt could hardly be edible.
For many of us, salt is just nothing but seasoning that we can add if lacking, or we only complain to the cooks if the menu is too salty. Yet, for some people, salt literally means life and death. From time to time, we have experienced diarrhea or a loose bowel movement. The sickness itself is easily treatable, but if left untreated, it can be deadly as it causes people to severe dehydration. One of the traditional ways to treat it is “oralit” or oral rehydration solution. It involves drinking the right quantity of water with added sugar and salt. How tiny salt saves people’s lives!
Yet, salt is seasoning and not the real menu. One cannot survive just salt alone. Too much salt in our body will lead to higher blood pressure, and high blood pressure can be fatal to many human organs. Jesus calls us “salt” because we are called to give an excellent flavor to the Bread of Life. When I was still studying in Manila, I was introduced to one of the favorite breakfasts of the Filipinos, “pan de sal.” It is Spanish for the bread of salt because a small amount of salt was added into the final phase of making the dough. The shape of the bread is simple, yet tasty, and make people crave more.
Like salt in Pan de Sal, our mission as Christians is to bring Jesus to others and to make people to long for Jesus more. It is a tough job because our lives and actions shall be right, not too salty, and not to bland. The more we draw attention to ourselves, the more people will just feel “too salty.” Yet, without making our effort, Christ will appear as rather “bland.”
Every time we go to the Mass, we receive the Body of Christ in the form of white, small, and tasteless bread, a host. Why is it flavorless? Because as we go home, we need to become the taste of this Bread of life. So, it is no longer we, but Christ who lives in us (see Gal 2:20).
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
Membaca dengan teliti, kita mungkin bertanya-tanya, “Apakah mungkin jika garam kehilangan rasa asinnya?” Dalam pengalaman sehari-hari, kita tidak pernah menemukan garam yang hambar. Namun, ketika kita kembali ke zaman Yesus, kita akan terkejut bahwa garam yang kehilangan rasanya adalah kenyataan sehari-hari. Di Israel kuno, orang-orang akan pergi ke Laut Mati, laut yang memiliki kadar garam paling tinggi di bumi, dan mengambil bongkahan-bongkahan garam yang terbentuk di sekitar danau. Kemudian, mereka akan dimasukkan ke dalam kantong kecil, seperti kantong teh, dan ketika dibutuhkan untuk bumbu, kantong itu akan dicelupkan ke dalam air atau sup. Setelah digunakan berulang-ulang, garam akan kehilangan rasa asinnya karena kandungan kimia yang tidak sempurna. Bongkahan garam pun berubah menjadi batu biasa, dan akan dibuang dan diinjak-injak.
If we are given a chance to choose our parents, what kind of parents will be our choice? Perhaps, some will prefer billionaire parents so that we can sing like Bruno Mars, “I wanna be a billionaire… Buy all of the things I never had… I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine, and Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen.” Perhaps some of us want to become the children of a king. So, royal blood is flowing through our vein, and people call us as a prince, princess, or royal highness. Perhaps, we want to be born from Korean megastars, because we want to become the prettiest or the most handsome.
Jika kita diberi kesempatan untuk memilih orang tua kita sendiri, orang tua ideal seperti apa yang akan menjadi pilihan kita? Mungkin, beberapa akan lebih suka orang tua miliarder, supaya hidup terjamin, mendapatkan Pendidikan terbaik, dan masa depan cerah. Mungkin sebagian dari kita ingin menjadi anak-anak raja. Jadi, memiliki darah ningrat, dan orang-orang memanggil kita sebagai pangeran, puteri atau bangsawan. Mungkin kita ingin dilahirkan dari megabintang Korea, karena kita ingin menjadi yang tercantik atau paling tampan.
After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus begins His public ministry. Jesus left Nazareth, His hometown, and moved to a more crowded and bigger town, Capernaum. Crudely speaking, Jesus did urbanization. This strategic move of Jesus was to support His mission. With a dense population and with better access to neighboring towns, Jesus could minister to more people in a more efficient way.
Setelah penangkapan Yohanes Pembaptis, Yesus memulai pelayanan publik-Nya. Yesus meninggalkan Nazaret, kampung halamannya, dan pindah ke kota yang lebih ramai dan lebih besar, Kapernaum. Sebenarnya, Yesus melakukan urbanisasi. Langkah strategis Yesus ini tentu saja untuk mendukung misi-Nya. Dengan populasi yang padat dan dengan akses yang lebih baik ke kota-kota lain, Yesus dapat melayani lebih banyak orang dengan cara yang lebih efisien.
We begin the ordinary time of the liturgical year. In the Church, we have three cycles of the liturgical year: A, B, and C. every year, we have a different set of readings. In year A, the Gospel readings are mainly from the Gospel of Matthew, meanwhile, year B is from Mark and year C is from Luke. The Gospel of John does not have its separate year, but the readings from John are scattered through the years, especially in the Easter season.
Kita memulai masa biasa pada tahun liturgi ini. Di Gereja Katolik, kita memiliki tiga siklus tahun liturgi: A, B, dan C. Di setiap tahun, kita memiliki serangkaian bacaan yang berbeda. Pada tahun A, bacaan Injil terutama dari Injil Matius, sementara tahun B dari Markus dan tahun C dari Lukas. Injil Yohanes tidak memiliki tahun yang khusus, tetapi bacaan dari Yohanes tersebar di sepanjang tahun, terutama di masa Paskah.
One question that always baffles attentive readers of the Scriptures is that why should Jesus be baptized by John the Baptist? John himself proclaimed that his baptism is a sign of repentance. Those who are baptized by John must first acknowledge their sinfulness and unworthiness, and baptism of water becomes the visible token of turning away from sins and promise of a new and better life. Yet, we all know that Jesus is sinless [Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22]. Does it mean Jesus is sinful? Is John the Baptist greater than Jesus?
Satu pertanyaan yang selalu membingungkan para pembaca Kitab Suci adalah mengapa Yesus harus dibaptiskan oleh Yohanes Pembaptis? Yohanes sendiri menyatakan bahwa baptisannya adalah tanda pertobatan. Mereka yang dibaptiskan oleh Yohanes harus terlebih dahulu mengakui keberdosaan dan ketidaklayakan mereka, dan baptisan air menjadi tanda nyata berpaling dari dosa dan memulai kehidupan yang baru dan lebih baik. Namun, kita semua tahu bahwa Yesus tidak berdosa [lih. Ibr 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22]. Apakah ini berarti Yesus berdosa? Apakah Yohanes Pembaptis lebih besar dari Yesus?
In Medio Ecclesiae 