This verse is one of the most familiar sayings of Jesus. The context of this saying is that

Jesus goes up on a mountain, sits down and begins to teach those gathered around him.

Jesus begins with beatitudes (blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit, etc.) and

then he continues on with many other teachings. This verse is one of the first parts of

Jesus’ teachings after the beatitudes.

Notice the teaching—he states—YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Most

people tend to think of Jesus as the light of the world—the light that the darkness cannot

overcome. Yet, he is not talking about himself; he is proclaiming that YOU are the light

of the world. He is telling those gathered that they are to be a light that shines before

others so that they may see your good works and give glory to the heavenly Father.

Also, Jesus is not telling the people that they CAN be the light of the world—but that

they are ALREADY the light of the world. He is commissioning his followers to go and

seek to transform the world by bringing light to where there is darkness.

This not only applies to those who were gathered around Jesus when he taught on that

mountain, but that it is also applicable for us today as followers of Jesus. He is telling us

today that we also are the light of the world.

We proclaim the same thing every time that we have a baptism. Part of the baptismal

service comprises giving a lit candle to either a parent or one of the sponsors and saying

one of the verses that follows—‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see

your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’ This announces that this

newly baptized person is now the light of the world and that their role is to go and allow

their light to shine within our community and our world.

The question for us now really becomes—how will we be the light of the world? In what

ways will we seek to live our lives so that the light of Christ shines out from us?

This is quite a daunting task. Imagine the confidence that God must have in all of us that

He calls us to be the light of the world. He uses us in spite of our failings and brokenness

to be the ones that bring light to the chaos and darkness of our world.