Mark 4.21,
Matthew 5.14-16,
Luke 8.16,
11.33,
John 8.12.
In
Matthew 5.14 KWL - “You’re the world’s light.
- A city can’t be hidden when it lies on a hill.”
John 8.12 KWL - So Jesus spoke again, saying, “I’m the world’s light.
- My followers should never walk in the dark,
- but will have light and life.”
So which is it? Both, obviously.
It’s not a contradiction. Jesus is the true light who entered the world;
Yep, this light metaphor is all over the bible. Wouldn’t hurt us to read up on it, and see all the different ways God wants us to carry his light.
Starting with the city-on-a-hill idea. Nowadays we don’t create cities on hills. When developers create a town, they place them somewhere convenient: Outside bigger cities, near main roads, a place easy to access. Hills aren’t so easy, plus there’s all the hassle of building on a hill. Put a city on a hill, and it’ll nearly always be an expensive city. But back in ancient times, rulers worried about invasion, and figured a hill was easier to defend than a plain. Plus they could see their enemies coming. The downside was their cities were very visible-especially at night, with all their torches burning.
That’s the trait Jesus wants his followers to have: We oughta be nice and obvious. (True, it makes us more visible to enemies, but let’s not hang up on the negative.) If Christianity is a city on a hill, we Christians need to be visible. No hiding our faith. No concealing who it is we follow.
You don’t put it under a basket.
Much as Christians might knock ’em nowadays,
Christians don’t always dress in a distinctively Christian way. Conservative Christians might dress conservatively, but anyone can do that; for all we can tell they might be Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, or Mormon.
If you look atop a hill in the daytime and see no city there, it doesn’t mean the city’s invisible, or is hiding its light really well. It means there’s no city there at all. And the same is true of Christians. If you look at a person and see no light, it makes it plain they’re not Christian. Oh, they may be
It’s been argued, and Christians have taught, that whenever one an ancient hill cities wanted to hide from their foes, they could just douse all their torches and oil lamps. Or put something over them, like a basket.
And of course they could. But ancient armies didn’t scout their targets in the dark. They’d check you out in the daytime, and learn exactly where you were. They might move into position and attack in the dark, and you could try to make it difficult for them by putting out your lights. Wouldn’t do any good. You can’t hide a hill city. Putting your lamp under a basket was ultimately a waste of time… and would set your basket on fire.
Now, if you intended to hide an open flame, you used a jar,
Mark 4.21 KWL - Jesus told them, “Does the light come in
- so it might be put under a basket or under the couch?
- Not so it can be put on the lampstand?”
Matthew 5.15 KWL - “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket,
- but on the lampstand,
- and it shines on everything in the house.”
Luke 8.16 KWL - “Nobody who grabs a light covers it with a jar,
- nor puts it under the couch,
- but puts it on a lampstand
- so those who enter can see the light.”
Luke 11.33 KWL - “Nobody who grabs a light puts a cover on it,
- {nor under a basket,}
- but on the lampstand
- so those who enter can see the light.”
The
Lamps in Jesus’s day were basically small dishes of olive oil with a wick in it. They had a handle so you could hold it without burning your hand. Often there’d be a separate hole to put the wick through. It lit the room as much as a candle, so lampstands would hold multiple lamps. Like Jesus said, you don’t light a lamp, or bring it into a room, just to put it where it does no good. You stick it on the lampstand. Same with us Christians. You don’t go to all the trouble of learning to be light, like Jesus is light, like God is light… then conceal it, and pretend to be dark. The Christian lifestyle isn’t purely academic or ideal. It’s practiced.
Unfortunately there are such people as
Shine your light… but don’t act in public. Wait, what?
Wanna freak out your fellow Christians? Quote these verses together, then watch ’em go bonkers over the contradiction.
Matthew 5.16 KWL - “So shine your light before the people
- so they could see your good works,
- and think well of your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 6.1 KWL - “Watch out to not do your righteous acts before the people
- to be seen by them.
- Otherwise you won’t earn wages from your heavenly Father.”
Do your good works in front of people… but don’t do your righteous acts in front of people? Wait, which instruction does Jesus want us to follow?
Both. The difference between the instructions has to do with motive—as is made clear by where we find these verses. Jesus taught about being the world’s light right after he talked about
Still, we get Christians who read
But among those Christians whose religion is “private,” do they otherwise reveal good fruit? Are they kind, patient, gracious, compassionate, empathetic? If not, it tips you off their religion isn’t private; it’s non-existent. These are the people, when they tell people they’re Christian, regularly get the response, “You’re Christian?” None of the clues were there. They don’t act like Jesus; they’re as pagan as anyone.
True Christians might keep our acts of devotion personal. But when we truly follow Jesus, people are usually gonna figure us out. They may not recognize we’re Christian; they’ll deduce we have some kind of religion. (This is why when we preach the gospel “without words,”
When we’re doing it wrong, they’ll see nothing. When we’re doing it right, it’ll point to Jesus. ’Cause it’s his light.
