Be the light

14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  (Matt. 5:14-16)

Doesn’t it seem that light always seems brighter in an otherwise dark place?  Try it some time.  Light a little birthday candle and go outside in full sunlight.  Can’t hardly see the flame, and it certainly doesn’t add anything to the ambient light.  Now take that same candle into a small room in your house, say that half-bath that has no outside windows.  Leave the lights off and shut the door.  That little candle really lights up the room, doesn’t it?

That’s the point Jesus was making in this wonderful little section of his sermon on the mount, and recently I saw an excellent example of this.  My mother recently died.  She and Dad had known each other for 70 years, and had been married for all but 3 of them.  He was just past his 19th birthday when they met and he is nearly 89 now.  He can barely remember what life was like without her in it.  How do you handle that?  Dad handled it by holding on the comfort of the gospel.  He knows that his dearly loved wife is in heaven and is happy.  He’s glad about that, even as he is sad that they can’t be together for now.  During the visitation at the funeral home, Dad sat on one of their breakfast bar stool we had brought for home.  He sat right next to Mom’s casket so that he could greet people as they came to offer their sympathy and pay their last respects. A long line of friends, neighbors and family made their way to him throughout the evening.  Over and over again, they would offer their sympathy and over and over again he would speak of his comfort in knowing that she was home with her Savior in heaven, forever beyond the reach of pain and weakness.  The lamp of faith that God had created in him many, many years ago and that God had fueled with Word and Sacrament ever since not only comforted him, but also comforted those with whom he shared it. 

In what would have been a very dark place in his life, there was light shining.  He was coping with this extraordinarily painful loss because of the promises of his God, and people knew it.  They could see it.  He has not lost her; he knows exactly where she is.  He kept saying so.  God was getting the glory for both his faith and comfort and Mom’s deliverance from pain and death.  In the somber setting of a funeral home, under circumstances anyone would admit were dark, his light was shining – just as Jesus said it would.

But it wasn’t just there.  The next day was her funeral service.  The pastor delivered a wonderful sermon based on the sure promise that eternal life is found in Jesus.  Anyone there saw that light that he held aloft for them to see. We sang hymns of a Savior whose grace is so big that we sinners can come before him with no other plea than Jesus’ blood.  We sang hymns of praise.  We sang an Easter hymn about the resurrection Jesus had and Mom will have.  A church full of human candles – and every one of them shining out the faith God had planted in them.

Then it was out to little Nelson Cemetery, just a few miles from the family farm.  I acted as one of Mom’s pallbearers that day.  As we carried her casket to the gravesite, all was still and quiet, crisply cold.  The only sound was that of our feet crunching on the newly fallen snow.  I looked around at those gathered there – family, friends, and farmers who had tilled the soil in nearby farms.  Now Mom’s mortal remains would be laid in that soil to await Jesus’ return in glory.  Tears flowed, but so did hope and comfort in the Scriptures read at her grave.  Light was shining there, too.

All that light shining, and none of it was for show.  None of it was about impressing anyone else with shows of personal piety.  Those Christians were just doing what came natural to those who follow Jesus.  They were standing as close to him and to his Word as they could get so that he could hold them up, dry their tears, and help them see correctly what was happening.  This wasn’t about loss, but rather gain.  This wasn’t a knuckling under to death, but a victory in the face of death.  People saw the light of faith that each held on to, and that light drew them all closer to the Savior and to each other. 

Jesus described perfectly what I saw over those few days:  “People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 1 In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Is your world dark right now?  Stand closer to someone who knows Jesus well – that’s what they are there for.