You are the light of the world
You are the light of the world
Matthew 5:14-16 A call to followers of Jesus to glorify God through their lives.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 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.”
Matthew 5:14-16 NASB1995
Today’s verses come from Jesus, as recorded by the apostle Matthew in his gospel. These verses come just after the Beatitudes (the “Blessed Are” verses from the Sermon on the Mount), so they’re somewhat overshadowed by those words. Yet the message is just as powerful and a call to followers of Jesus to glorify God through their lives.
Jesus gave his followers both a compliment and a challenge by telling them “You are the light of the world.” As captured in several places in the Gospel of John (John 8:12 and John 9:5), Jesus referred to Himself as the light of the world, so He is telling the crowd that they are not only receiving His light, but are also to be light-givers to the rest of the world.
By that, He meant that His followers must not focus on themselves, but on others and they must do so with love. In the very next phrase, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden”, Jesus says that He wants the people of His kingdom to be as visible as a city on the top of a hill, attracting attention to God’s work in the world. A city on a hill draws our eyes upward to the beauty of that city — it cannot be ignored.
“Mont St Michel, Normandy” (between 1857 and 1866) by James Webb (1835–1895), public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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I’ll interrupt this devotional with one quick question for you, readers: What do you do each day to shine the light of Jesus on others, or attract others to His love? That is a question that we should ask ourselves at least daily and should be able to answer in a positive sense without a moment of hesitation.
Moving on, Jesus says “nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” This points out that we should show intention in making our light shine, just as we’d place a lamp in a high place to make its light reach further.
C.H. Spurgeon said:
“The venerable Bede [Author’s note: Bede was an Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar from the 7th-8th centuries AD], when he was interpreting this text, said that Christ Jesus brought the light of Deity into the poor lantern of our humanity, and then set it upon the candlestick of his church that the whole house of the world might be lit up thereby. So indeed it is.”1
Finally, we get to the last verse, where Jesus says “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.” It’s interesting to note that this is the first time in the New Testament where God is called our Father! Spurgeon says of this verse:
“The object of our shining is not that men may see how good we are, nor even see us at all, but that they may see grace in us and God in us, and cry, ‘What a Father these people must have.’ Is not this the first time in the New Testament that God is called our Father? Is it not singular that the first time it peeps out should be when men are seeing the good works of his children?”2
By shining our light on others through our works, we can help expand God’s kingdom to glorify Him, not ourselves.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I pray that my light may shine through good works in such a way that others recognize Your power and strength in those works, and glorify You. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "Commentary on Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom" (London: Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, 1893)
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)