The Hebrew Scriptures are full of images that link God with light—pillars of fire, burning lamps, consuming fire. Such images are often associated with God’s nearness or his presence. According to Jewish tradition, one of the names for the Messiah is “Light.” How fitting, then, that Jesus refers to himself as the “light of the world” and also uses this phrase to describe his followers, who are to reflect his light.
The phrase “light of the world”—to phos tou kosmou—appears three times in the New Testament (Matthew 5:14; John 8:12; 9:5). John’s Gospel portrays Jesus as the light that vanquishes the darkness brought on by sin—a darkness that ends in death. Though Satan tries to disguise himself as an angel of light, he is light’s opposite—the prince of darkness.
Just as natural light is essential to life on earth, Christ’s light is essential to unending life with God. Whoever believes in his light becomes like him, reflecting his brightness by walking in his light and obeying his commands. We who believe in him have moved from darkness to light, from death to life.
Praying to the Light of the World
Take a moment to look around you. What do you see? A desk, a tree, a patch of sky, the face of someone you love? Look again, because you aren’t really seeing any such thing. I’m not trying to be contentious but am simply stating the facts. None of us see the things we think we do.
How can that be? I’m not much of a scientist, but I know what most school children do and that is that we don’t see the objects we think we do but only the light that leaves the objects and bounces back to our eyes, giving shape and color to our world.
Take the trees that are growing strong and tall in your yard. Imagine them in springtime. Would you be surprised if I were to tell you that all those glorious green leaves that have emerged after winter’s darkness aren’t really green? In a way, they are anything but green because they are absorbing other colors of the electromagnetic spectrum and allowing the green to escape. We see the light that is bouncing off them.
Maybe this sounds like splitting hairs, a matter of semantics. Despite my explanation, we will continue to describe objects as blue, green, red or whatever, as we always have done. I make the point simply to emphasize something significant about light’s reflective properties.
The phrase “light of the world” is a distinctive phrase spoken only by Jesus, who uses it twice to refer to himself. But he goes further, extending the metaphor to his followers, saying: you are the light of the world. What a powerful image of Christ and of us. He is the light traveling through the dark atmosphere of our world. As his light reaches us and intermingles with our essence, touching and transforming us, we reflect back that light to those around us.
May it be so today—the light of Christ reflected in us, penetrating our sin-darkened world so that all eyes might be open to the truth of the gospel.
