You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, 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 who is in heaven. — Matthew 5.14-16

As Matthew records the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in 4.12-17, he references Isaiah 9.1-2:

The land of Zebulun and the land of Napthali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.

Matthew understands the ministry of Jesus as the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy, a light-shining proclamation of repentance for the world. Immediately after this reference, Matthew gives his readers this framing sentence: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ (4.17)” This is the message Christ proclaimed in a dark and dying world.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commissions his followers to participate in this light-shining life. It seems that we do this first and foremost by living repentance, by living the topsy-turvy alternative life imagined in the Beatitudes. Jesus also says the Kingdom life by its very nature exudes light; it cannot NOT shine. New Testament scholar Clarence Jordan puts it this way:

Jesus isn’t saying here that you shouldn’t hide your light. He says that nobody ever does that. Now if people don’t ever light a lamp and hide it, neither does God. The Christian community is God’s light which he has lit up with the glory of his own Son, and he has no intention of hiding it. When we come into the fellowship, we become a part of that light. While we can determine the intensity of it, we cannot escape the fact that we are part of the witness, for better or for worse. It is not a matter of whether or not we will shine, but how.

Too often, we refer to light-shining as if it were some kind of human work. “This little light of mine,” our children sing, “I’m gonna let it shine.” But perhaps we would be better served to understand God — not ourselves — as the source of this Kingdom light. Shining the Kingdom light is less a matter of my effort and more a matter of God’s reign intersecting the present sphere through my imperfect attempts at discipleship.