Light of the World

Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Upon first reading these verses may look familiar and obvious, leading us to gloss right over them, but in fact these are profound words and their implications are weighty.

Light is a prominent theme throughout scripture. In Revelation 22 we are told there will be no need for a sun because God will be our illuminating source. Elsewhere we are called sons of light. God’s word is a light unto our path. John 8 refers to Jesus as the Light of the world. Since verse 14 declares that we are the light it brings us back to the reality that we share everything with Jesus, we are in Him and He is in us.

In verse 14 we see a declaration from Jesus “You are the light of the world.” He is telling us who and what we are and then follows with another declaration, “a city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Before moving on Jesus explains this declaration in effect saying, “you are the city on a city and God has given you this gift of faith. Because of it you will stand out, be different, and He didn’t cloak you or veil you but instead set you on a lamp stand for all to see.”

We often read verse 15 as though this were our responsibility. “Don’t put your lamp under a basket,” I can hear Sunday school teachers telling me. Jesus is merely explaining why we are in the world and integrated into society and not in some little garden of Eden with all other believers. So instead we should read verse 16 in light (no pun intended) of what God has done, and where He has put us, in verse 15.

Verse 16 describes both the means and the end of life, our purpose for being here. We are to use this gift of faith and all that the Father has given us to glorify Him. We are exhorted to regularly live in such a way that others may see our good works are a result of our faith in the one true risen and ascended Lord and praise Him alone. We see may examples of this in the Old Testament and in effect this is one reason why many people followed Jesus during His earthly ministry. This is now our ministry.