Reflection on the Light
5 February 2017 Psalm 111 Matthew 5:13-16 “Being Light” What is the best thing anyone has ever said about you? Thoughtful, kind, generous, smart, beautiful…What about “You are the light of the world”? That would just about make your day, wouldn’t it? Jesus said it once, You are the light of the world. He just states it outright to the people gathered around a mountaintop, doesn’t even qualify it by saying they should let their “little” lights shine. He doesn’t force them to earn the designation, saying, “In order to be light, I’m going to need to see this from you.” No. Just this, “You are the light of the world.” Remember this text is set within Jesus’ sermon on the mount and follows the Beatitudes—remember those?—where Jesus is addressing the people from a specific vantage point—and not an exalted one—he is talking to the “poor in spirit, those who are grieving, the meek and simple, those who are hungry and thirsty, those who are being persecuted”—to these ones he speaks, not to the elite, not to the super-intelligent, not to the best and the beautiful, to these ones, imagine them there, and he says to them, “You are the light of the world.” I bet no one had ever called them that before. I bet they had been called all sorts of things but never that. What happens inside of you when you hear that directed at you? Some of us stand a little taller, thanks for noticing. Some of us shrink down into our seats, he’s not going to call on me is he? I don’t do anything good enough to warrant being called the light of the world…we shy away from our giftedness, our brightness, don’t we? We get embarrassed when someone points us out and comments on what we’ve done…We aren’t used to words like Jesus’ that are an honor, a commissioning, and sheer blessing. Absolute
grace. We’re used to falling short and having to fight for and earn just about everything in our culture. But Jesus doesn’t mince words, doesn’t even qualify them, they are a given. You are the light of the world. Which means what exactly? We have learned a lot about the phenomenon of light in the last 2,000 years since Jesus uttered that blessing. Did he really know what he was saying, calling these ordinary people the light of the world? What do we know about light? Enables us to see; it is energy; helps things grow; light is made up of color…In Jesus’ time, the predominant understanding of light came from the ancient Greeks who said light was a “ray” moving in a straight line from one point to another. Some Greeks thought the rays came out of the eye and others though light was emitted from objects. In the Middle Ages, Arab scholars developed an understanding of geometrical optics and discovered light bounced off of objects to the observer’s eye and created lenses, mirrors, and prisms. We learned that white light isn’t exactly white, but made up of all the colors mixing together. Eventually, scientists developed a theory of light as waves of electromagnetic energy while others say light is made up of particles, until Einstein proclaimed light both wave and particle, changing the entire way we view the universe. I am sure scientists are horrified by my summary, and let me be clear, I am not a scientist, and when it comes to physics, I am not “smarter than a fifth grader”! But as a theologian, it is important to understand at least a few things about the dynamics of light to know the power today of what Jesus was claiming. First, let us be clear about just how hard it is to grasp the significance of light in a world that never sees darkness, truly. Night is no longer dark, is it? We have street lights and marquees and night lights, we have lights in the visors of our cars, inside our clothes
dryers, and on our iPhone, which lights up even without the flashlight app. From space looking down to the half of our earth that is in night, and we glow, don’t we? To truly understand the power of light, you have to know darkness. So we go into metaphor. Light helps us see. We shed light on a matter to help us understand. Light encourages growth. We learn as children that order for the seed in the cup to reach its full potential as a marigold, it needs food, water, and light. Light shines on the false to bring out the truth. Light is inviting and warm. Light is color—it is diverse not monochrome. It is both wave and particle, expressing itself in different forms. So, this is what you are, ye lights of the world. Helping others to see, working toward understanding when matters are muddled, the light of the world is supposed to be warm & inviting, and diverse in its color and vibrancy, a rainbow of possibility and expression. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” And Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” When we hear about the light of the world, we should hear these kinds of things. This is what it means to be light. Mark Nepo, in his book Finding Inner Courage notes that chickens peck at each other when there isn’t enough light…At first it was thought pecking was just in their nature, that they were loners that couldn’t mingle without being nasty. But it was the lack of light. As humans, we know all about this. There is the sun-downing syndrome in the winter where we get crankier with fewer hours of sunshine; when people are negative and lacking the light of joy or hope, we start criticizing each other, blaming each other, pecking at each other so to speak. Nepo says that once the pecking begins, we are called to three forms of work: stop the pecking, heal the wounds, and seek out more light.
So what does it mean for us, this light and the charges to share it? An old rabbi once asked his students: “How is it that you know when the night has ended and the day has begun?” And one student said, “Is it when you can tell a dog from a goat at a distance of 20 paces?” “No,” says the rabbi. “Sir,” says another student, “is it when you can tell an elm tree from a birch at 50 paces?” “No,” says the rabbi. “Well, then, tell us, please,” they said. “Ah,” says the rabbi, “it is when you can look on the face of any man or woman, and see that it is your sister or brother. If you cannot see this, it is still night.” But we need a word of caution, lest we make the same mistake as the ancient Greeks who thought humans were the source of the light. We are not the Source, are we? We do not generate light based on our own goodness, perfection, status, and giftedness. The Source of our light is divine, the origin of our blessing is in God, to whom we ought give thanks rather than hide such a gift under a basket, as Jesus says. Our job is simple. Ours isn’t to create the light, nor to generate its brilliance. Ours is this: to share it. For the followers of Jesus, this is our job description: You are the light of the world. You don’t create it, you don’t earn it, you just are. Sacred and perpetual hope, for all people. Two thousand years later, listen carefully, and you can find yourself sitting in a crowd on a mountaintop. Listen again to words of blessing and beatitude, honor and commissioning, and ready yourself one more time to receive and to be bearers of light, to join in the rendering and the holy calling of bringing peace, compassion, kindness and justice, healing and hope, to all the earth.
grace. We’re used to falling short and having to fight for and earn just about everything in our culture. But Jesus doesn’t mince words, doesn’t even qualify them, they are a given. You are the light of the world. Which means what exactly? We have learned a lot about the phenomenon of light in the last 2,000 years since Jesus uttered that blessing. Did he really know what he was saying, calling these ordinary people the light of the world? What do we know about light? Enables us to see; it is energy; helps things grow; light is made up of color…In Jesus’ time, the predominant understanding of light came from the ancient Greeks who said light was a “ray” moving in a straight line from one point to another. Some Greeks thought the rays came out of the eye and others though light was emitted from objects. In the Middle Ages, Arab scholars developed an understanding of geometrical optics and discovered light bounced off of objects to the observer’s eye and created lenses, mirrors, and prisms. We learned that white light isn’t exactly white, but made up of all the colors mixing together. Eventually, scientists developed a theory of light as waves of electromagnetic energy while others say light is made up of particles, until Einstein proclaimed light both wave and particle, changing the entire way we view the universe. I am sure scientists are horrified by my summary, and let me be clear, I am not a scientist, and when it comes to physics, I am not “smarter than a fifth grader”! But as a theologian, it is important to understand at least a few things about the dynamics of light to know the power today of what Jesus was claiming. First, let us be clear about just how hard it is to grasp the significance of light in a world that never sees darkness, truly. Night is no longer dark, is it? We have street lights and marquees and night lights, we have lights in the visors of our cars, inside our clothes
dryers, and on our iPhone, which lights up even without the flashlight app. From space looking down to the half of our earth that is in night, and we glow, don’t we? To truly understand the power of light, you have to know darkness. So we go into metaphor. Light helps us see. We shed light on a matter to help us understand. Light encourages growth. We learn as children that order for the seed in the cup to reach its full potential as a marigold, it needs food, water, and light. Light shines on the false to bring out the truth. Light is inviting and warm. Light is color—it is diverse not monochrome. It is both wave and particle, expressing itself in different forms. So, this is what you are, ye lights of the world. Helping others to see, working toward understanding when matters are muddled, the light of the world is supposed to be warm & inviting, and diverse in its color and vibrancy, a rainbow of possibility and expression. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” And Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” When we hear about the light of the world, we should hear these kinds of things. This is what it means to be light. Mark Nepo, in his book Finding Inner Courage notes that chickens peck at each other when there isn’t enough light…At first it was thought pecking was just in their nature, that they were loners that couldn’t mingle without being nasty. But it was the lack of light. As humans, we know all about this. There is the sun-downing syndrome in the winter where we get crankier with fewer hours of sunshine; when people are negative and lacking the light of joy or hope, we start criticizing each other, blaming each other, pecking at each other so to speak. Nepo says that once the pecking begins, we are called to three forms of work: stop the pecking, heal the wounds, and seek out more light.
So what does it mean for us, this light and the charges to share it? An old rabbi once asked his students: “How is it that you know when the night has ended and the day has begun?” And one student said, “Is it when you can tell a dog from a goat at a distance of 20 paces?” “No,” says the rabbi. “Sir,” says another student, “is it when you can tell an elm tree from a birch at 50 paces?” “No,” says the rabbi. “Well, then, tell us, please,” they said. “Ah,” says the rabbi, “it is when you can look on the face of any man or woman, and see that it is your sister or brother. If you cannot see this, it is still night.” But we need a word of caution, lest we make the same mistake as the ancient Greeks who thought humans were the source of the light. We are not the Source, are we? We do not generate light based on our own goodness, perfection, status, and giftedness. The Source of our light is divine, the origin of our blessing is in God, to whom we ought give thanks rather than hide such a gift under a basket, as Jesus says. Our job is simple. Ours isn’t to create the light, nor to generate its brilliance. Ours is this: to share it. For the followers of Jesus, this is our job description: You are the light of the world. You don’t create it, you don’t earn it, you just are. Sacred and perpetual hope, for all people. Two thousand years later, listen carefully, and you can find yourself sitting in a crowd on a mountaintop. Listen again to words of blessing and beatitude, honor and commissioning, and ready yourself one more time to receive and to be bearers of light, to join in the rendering and the holy calling of bringing peace, compassion, kindness and justice, healing and hope, to all the earth.
