A Certain Kind of Difference--February 10, 2026

A Certain Kind of Difference--February 10, 2026

[Jesus said:]“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

It's not about power, and it's not about putting ourselves in charge. It's about giving ourselves away with such compelling love that the world around us catches a glimpse of the light of God's goodness.

Let's be clear about that from the outset here. Over the centuries, plenty of folks have latched onto Jesus' words calling us "the light of the world" and took it to mean that only Christians should be in charge of things, or that only Christians should wield political power or make decisions, or that Christians--by sheer virtue of believing in Jesus--are less susceptible to temptation and therefore inherently immune from abusing positions of authority and power.  That's a lot of meaning to cram into a single phrase, "you are the light of the world," and it certainly doesn't seem to be what Jesus had in mind.  Similarly, you can't just call yourself or your group "the city on the hill" and take it as carte blanche permission to do whatever you want.  The temptation is very powerful for us to take these words of Jesus and let them inflate our egos into thinking that Jesus is saying we (Christians) are better than everybody else and should therefore be in charge of everybody else.

But that's not really how Jesus' imagery works.  From Jesus' vantage point, light serves a purpose other than itself.  Light, like from the flame of an oil lamp, is what makes it possible to see enough in a dark room to find the thing you were looking for, or to do the household chore.  A source of light will stand out to our eyes, but typically the point is to illuminate the rest of the room, or the region, or the whole world (if we are talking about the sun, for example) so that everything else can be what it is meant to be.  The sun's light makes it possible for plants to grow and therefore for animals and humans to live.  The light in your kitchen allows you to cook dinner without cutting your thumb because you couldn't see where your hand was in relation to the knife.  The light in your workplace allows you to do your work.  Light doesn't function as a form of domination--it gives itself away for the sake of other things and people, so that all of us can thrive.  I have to believe that Jesus has something like that in mind when he looks at a hillside of people who have come to hear him and says, "You are the light of the world."  He's not deputizing us to take over the world--he is sending us out spend ourselves in love, like God does, in order to serve and bless people other than ourselves.

In that sense, the imagery of light is actually pretty similar to the word-picture we looked at yesterday (and also this past Sunday) of salt.  The way salt "works" is to give itself away in preserving something else, flavoring something else, or melting something else.  It isn't there for its own interests or advantage--just the opposite. The salt gives itself away in order improve or help the stuff you sprinkle it onto.  And that's the common thread with being the light, too.  To be a light in a dark place is certainly to stand out, but not for our own benefit, glory, or self-interest.  We're to make a difference and to be different--but it's a certain kind of different, you could say.

Maybe it's like this: I'll bet you have noticed how the world looks especially lovely in that "golden hour" light of early morning just around sunrise and just approaching sunset.  It's the same sun, of course, but as the sun's light is nearing the horizon, its light is bent differently through the atmosphere and it really does change the coloring of the sun's light to our eyes.  Things really do look more "golden" in the golden hour, because the warmer hues are being brought out.  And that golden hour coloring certainly looks more beautiful to our eyes than the sickly green-gray tint of old-fashioned fluorescent lights.  Well, let me suggest this: to be a light for the world in Jesus' sense isn't just to be bright and intimidating or gaudy and obnoxious, but to have the particular color of God's character.  We aren't gigantic roadside billboard lights or flashing neon signs meant to attract eyeballs to ourselves, but we are meant to be means through which the particular color of God's light is spread all around.  We aren't supposed to dominate the landscape by being so blindingly bright that nobody can see anything else, but we are supposed to let everything be colored in the hue and character of God's goodness, like the "golden hour" light falling on the faces and places around us.  The world will be different because of our presence in it, but in a way that brings out its beauty and blessedness.  And once we see that as our role in the world, we no longer have to fuss with being "in power" or "dominating" anybody or anything else around us.  We can see our role of being a light as a way of casting everything in the glow of God's kind of love, rather than the severe shine of office fluorescent bulbs or the ego-centric allure of a neon sign.  Like Madeleine L'Engle put it, "We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."  That's it.  That's precisely it.

In the Sermon on the Mount, you don't hear Jesus saying, "Once you guys seize the reins of power and take control of government and culture, THEN you'll be able to be a powerful enough light to fix the world." He says we already ARE the light the world needs, because we have been given already the presence of God who shines through us--without needing to be "in charge" or "in power" to do that. We will stand out and be a distinctive presence in the world, to be sure, but not as bullies or blowhards.  The certain kind of difference we bring is the character of God's love that will refract through us into the world.

Lord Jesus, let your light shine in us that the whole world will be illuminated with your own beauty and love.