“You are the light of the World,” says Jesus. He also says, “I AM the light of the world.” Our light is not our own. It is the light of Christ in us.
The love of Jesus is the cause of the light that we are to become. It is the love of Christ that sets us on fire and makes us a light to the world. Our light is the love of Jesus living and acting in us.
Jesus is the true light and we are light insofar as Jesus lives and loves in us and through us. We become light because we belong to Christ and are filled so completely with him, with his love, and with his light that we become a light to the world.
We are called by Jesus to be light. We are called to let the whole of our life, the whole of our being, be illumined by his love to make the Father known to the world just as he did and will do through us.
We shine for the sake of the Father’s glory. Our good deeds are to be seen so that they may attract the world to Christ and to the Father. We shine to draw attention to the Father and not to ourselves.
So how do we become light?
The program to become light is laid out for us in the Sermon on the Mount, from which our gospel is taken this morning. The sayings about salt and light put the matter in a nutshell. We become light when we are poor, merciful, meek, pure of heart, hungry for justice, agents of peace, and joyful in hard times. The rest of the Sermon covers all aspects of life as a disciple of Christ. It spells out the practical good deeds of a disciple of Christ.
When Christ’s love takes over our heart, life, and all that we have and are, we become a fitting lamp for the love and the light of Christ to be seen by the others and inspire them to praise and glorify our heavenly Father.
So, now what?
We can read the Gospel, especially the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5, 6, & 7 of Matthew’s gospel. We read to become familiar with what Jesus is telling us about light and discipleship. We read to fix Jesus’ teaching in our minds.
We can practice what he tells us. Pick out one of his sayings and see if we can do it. For example, the saying about measuring out love and mercy to others. Because God will use the same measure for us that we use for our neighbor. We practice to fix Jesus’ teaching in our actions.
And of course, we can pray. We pray for light, understanding, and strength to live as Jesus is teaching us. We cannot live Jesus’ teaching on our own, so we need to pray. We pray to fix Jesus’ teaching in our hearts.
Read, Practice, Pray.
Doesn’t sound that hard, does it?