You are the Light of the World (Mt.

5:14)

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he
separated the light from the darkness. Genesis chapter 1, verses 3 and 4.

"You are the Light of the World" St. Matthew chapter 5, verse 14. Let me expand it to verses 14
to 16 for a detailed examination. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it
gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Here, Lord Jesus Christ describes our function, as God’s people - What we should be in the
world, or what is our mission as His people, and what should others see in us. He is not just
asking us to do something as our own; but He has made everything for us to do it - to light the
world. The statement of Jesus should cause us to rejoice about our situation in the world. As I
have mentioned in the beginning, God introduced light into a dark world, the first is in the
creation of physical light for the universe, and the second in the incarnation and revelation of the
only begotten Son, Christ Jesus. "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on
those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned". Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2. This
prophecy has come into reality when Jesus born in Bethlehem Ephratha. And this very same light
is asking us to be the light of the world. How?

Jesus declared in St. John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Please note, '...will have the light of life".
Exactly in the same choice of words, He states here that, we, as His people, are the light of the
world. Just follow Jesus and be the light.

Light is not the opposite of darkness, as many of us think. God never created darkness; He
created only light. When light comes, darkness disappears; or otherwise, when light withdraws,
darkness enters. When we study scientifically, we know, light is a form of energy, but darkness
not; it is the absence of light. If we put these words in a spiritual format, light represents good
things and darkness represents evil. The Holy Bible says God saw everything good that He
created; means, God created 'good' only. When we say evil, it is the absence of goodness. In this
context, we can sum up that we are the 'goodness' of the world. Here, it is worthy to note the
statement of St. Paul. He wrote to Ephesians, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord…” Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8. The apostle says, the Ephesians were darkness some
time ago, that is, evil; and now are light, means, out of the bondage of evil, that is, in Christ
Jesus. In Colossians 1: 13, St. Paul says, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and
conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." Both these statements convey the same
idea of a transformation, from darkness to light, and emphasis the pleasure and delight of, being
light in the world.

These words are not just describing our position only, but reminds our serious responsibility also.
It is a clear advice that, we have to work as reflectors of the light, that we have received from the
Gospel of Christ. Now, the question is, whether or not, we will allow our light to shine, or will
hide it. All of us will agree that, with no struggle, the light introduced in the darkness will be
noticed. When the society says or views the real Christian lifestyle, as different from others, it
means that the light is shining brighter, and this light is to be reflected by which the society also
gets lighted.

If we are lights, we are meant to shine, for sure. Now, how can we shine? I remember a story of
two birds. One was healthy; the other had a broken beak, and could not pick up the food. The
healthy bird fed the other bird, by picking the food by its beak. The author of the story comments
that, it would not be hard to imagine, that the bird with the broken beak would easily be
persuaded, to worship the God of his friend. That is how we to shine in the society.

We can read St. Matthew 6:22, in conjunction with our subject. Jesus says, "The eye is the lamp
of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light." I hope, the subject is
little more clear. Simply speaking, we can make everything dark with our eyes; just need to close
it. So the simple method to make our body lighting, we need to keep our eyes healthy. How it is
possible? "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for
you to lose one part of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." St. Matthew
5: 29. If we take this advice in a positive sense, our eyes should not stumble us, so that it need
not be gouged out. Means, the eyes are healthy, and the body lights, and we become the light of
the world.

The International Lighting Vocabulary defines light as: “Any radiation capable of causing a
visual sensation directly.” That is, Light is responsible for the sense of sight. And when we
become the light of the world, we fulfill our responsibility as the sense of sight for world, and the
world see God through us.

Let me conclude. The question is, are we the light of the world and shining in this dark world as
Jesus said, or not?   We are supposed to be the light of the world, this is our purpose.  That is
what we have discussed. 1Peter 2: 9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him, who called you
out of darkness into his wonderful light."