Near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus tells those listening, “You are the light of the world.” Then He encourages His listeners to make sure our “light” is placed where “it gives light to all who are in the house.” The point of all of that is not to gain attention for ourselves, but so that when people see our good works, they will glorify our Father who is in heaven.
The challenge of all of that is that we live in such a “spotlight on me” kind of world. I like the idea of recognizing the accomplishments of others. But when the spotlight is so focused on us and is turned up to be as bright as it can be, I get nervous. There is tension between that whole idea and what Jesus is actually saying. I think – feel free to correct me if I’m missing something – that this text isn’t shining a spotlight on us. Rather it is about “being light ourselves.” And doing that in a way that points not to ourselves, but to God!
Last Sunday, I preached in a church far on the north side of Atlanta. I live far on the south side of Atlanta. I left home literally before sunrise to get there in time for an 8:15 soundcheck and to be ready to preach at their 9:30 a.m. service, then their 11:00 a.m. service. I don’t want to sound like a martyr, but I could get up at 9:00 a.m. and still make it to the church I attend for the 10:00 service in time to get a cup of decaf coffee at the welcome center before worship begins. If you know anything about driving in metro Atlanta, you know driving 65 or so miles from the south side to the north side has potential traffic issues of all kinds – even on an early Sunday morning. Maybe I was being a martyr! (Said with great sarcasm.)
Driving back after church was over and I had visited and talked with people present was a little more challenging. I had to be at a meeting where I attend church by 2:30 p.m. Traffic was much worse after lunch than it was before breakfast. For about a ten-mile stretch on I-75 South, it was stop and go. My GPS was showing a solid yellow line that occasionally turned red for a bit and then back to yellow. I kept wondering what the problem was. I wasn’t close enough to Truist Park, where the Braves were playing that afternoon, for that to be the issue yet.
I finally discovered the problem. I saw bucket truck after bucket truck – the kind of vehicles used to repair electrical, telephone, and cable lines, which were owned by Xfinity. Their license plates were all from Illinois. You may be aware of the destruction caused by hurricane Helene as it moved from the Big Bend area of Florida, almost straight up I-75 through all of Georgia, stretching east into much of South Carolina, then into Tennessee and North Carolina, Kentucky, and finally, into the Midwest. Through much of that territory, despite being far inland, it still had hurricane strength, along with torrential rain fall. I have friends in Georgia, South Carolina, East Tennessee, and beyond who are facing catastrophic damage. In some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Atlanta, the water damage to homes, roads, bridges, etc. is horrific.
I kept thinking about those utility vehicles from Illinois. I think it is fair to assume that they were headed somewhere south – maybe South Georgia, perhaps Florida – to help put things back together. I have no idea who pays the bill for that. Do large corporations have agreements with one another to help in time of emergencies like Helene? Is there a federal program that will pay the companies for their time and effort? I don’t know, but I must say I was taken aback by what I saw.
The workers in those trucks likely will be helping people they have never met. My guess is that decisions about who to help won’t be made based on racial, religious, political, sexual orientation, or economic realities. Instead, there simply are a bunch of people in very difficult situations who need some help. Some good people from Illinois (and no doubt many, many other places) are acting like humans ought to act – not just in times of emergency, but always.
Those Xfinity trucks didn’t have Matthew 5:16 bumper stickers on their bumpers and buckets. But I couldn’t help but be touched by what I know they were doing. Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a very interesting book not too long ago titled Holy Envy. It was all about what we can learn from paying attention to practices we see modeled in the lives of people whose faith we would find unorthodox. She asked questions like, “What if Christians were as committed to prayer as Muslims seem to be?” Or “What if Christians were as patient as Buddhists typically are?” She asked lots of questions like that.
I know that when disasters like Helene strike, believers often are quick to organize and engage in the ministry of helping. Chances are that some of the other kinds of trucks slowing down traffic on I-75 through Atlanta Sunday afternoon were the results of believers collecting needed supplies and getting them to the right places. I think that is an example of good works that lead people to glorify our Father who is in heaven.
What I’m wondering about however, is this: what if such “good works” characterized our lives daily – even in the mundane nature of getting up, getting dressed, rushing to work, and rushing home to get to whatever obligations we might have nearly every evening? What if, in every moment like that, we remembered that Jesus calls us to be “the light of the world?” And to do so in a way that gives God, not ourselves, the glory?
The world – no doubt – would end up a much brighter place to be. And, by the way, “brighter” would mean far more than a light bulb big enough to put the spotlight on me!
Wye Huxford 