wording goes against almost everything else we teach in the church. We tell people about grace and about how God loves us, not because of what we do, but because we are God’s creation. We explain that we shouldn’t try to earn our way to God’s love through doing what we often call “good works.” We say that we shouldn’t advertise the work we do, that we should love each other in meaningful ways, but always without attracting anyone’s notice. We should certainly not draw attention to whatever good we are doing for one another. Yet here we have Jesus clearly stating that we should let our “light shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works.”
Jesus, though, makes it clear where the glory for those good works should go, as what we do should not point to our goodness, but to the goodness of God. While this idea is true, it also leads to the belittling of others’ work and talents. Too often in the church, we praise other people for the hard work they have put into something—a musical performance, cleaning the church kitchen, preparing meals for those who would go hungry otherwise—and they quickly demure, as they want to give the praise to God. This view of our work has led to people’s lowering their view of their self-worth, and, unfortunately, it often leads to a hierarchy of abilities or work in the church, as if God values some people more because they do or don’t do certain parts of the church’s calling. That type of thinking leads to the true downside of celebrating good works.
Defining what our light actually is, though, might help deal with this passage, as we often leave the key idea here vague, as if we are still children singing that song without truly understanding it. The rest of the passage shows Jesus talking about the law and the prophets, about how he has come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. The law and the prophets center on how we treat God and how we treat one another (becoming Jesus’s two commandments). Whether we’re talking about the Torah, where God lays out clear ideas for how to live in community, or the prophets, where they admonish the Israelites when they fall short of God’s ideals for living with one another, the overriding idea of the law and the prophets is about experiencing true communion with each other because God loves us all and wishes us to share that love with everyone we encounter.
If Jesus is the light of the world, and Jesus is the epitome of that love, then so, too, has God called us to be that love in the world. That love is what we should show to anyone and everyone, not hiding it under a bushel. We should let our love shine before others, so that they will give glory to God, as such love could only come from one’s connection with the divine, not from any mere human love.
The passage from Isaiah (one of those prophets Jesus has come to fulfill) makes this connection between light and love even clearer. After beginning with a question from the Israelites about why God does not see their fasts, Isaiah’s response, speaking in the voice of God, is that their fasts are self-serving and lead to fights among themselves. Unlike Jesus’s admonition in the passage from Matthew, the Israelites here are trying to let their personal lights shine, wanting to receive the glory themselves, which leads to strife in the community.
Isaiah then reminds them of what God values, which goes well beyond not eating food. Instead, God wants them to fight injustice and oppression, to share food with the hungry and welcome the homeless, to clothe the naked and support their families. Then, the author of Isaiah says their “light shall break forth from the dawn.” God wants the Israelites and God wants us to speak out for those whom society has deprived of a voice, to feed those who are hungry, to provide shelter for those who need it, to do whatever we can to help whoever is around us and suffering.
Thus, whenever we support those whom society oppresses because of their race or sexuality or ability or gender, we let our lights shine. Whenever we give food or drink to the hungry, we let our lights shine. Whenever we stand up to a government that tries to deprive people of their basic rights and liberties, we let our lights shine. Whenever we forgive the person down the hall or down the street for how they have wronged us, we let our lights shine. We do all of these actions, not because we’re perfect, but because God loves us all, and all of these acts point toward that love. There’s no bushel that can hide such a love.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion:
What are some ways we can be light in our world today?
Where are places we hide light away, put it under a bushel? And why do we do so?
Are We Sure We Want Transformation?
Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany
Luke 6:17–26
Jeremiah 17:5–8
Whenever we talk about the beatitudes or the sermon on the mount, we’re almost always talking about the version found in the gospel of Matthew. The version from the gospel of Luke, which people usually refer to as the sermon on the plain, given that Jesus clearly stands on a “level place,” doesn’t receive the same discussion. That lack of interest might be for practical reasons, in that the version from Matthew is much longer and covers a wider range of topics. Also, the list of beatitudes in the sermon on the mount is longer and more detailed; not surprisingly, it has become the one people both inside and outside of Christianity seem more interested in.
There might be another reason for the lack of interest in the sermon on the plain, though. Not only are these beatitudes shorter, they’re also much more focused on tangible poverty. While the version from Matthew talks about people who are poor in spirit, the gospel of Luke talks about people who are poor. The sermon on the mount discusses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, while the sermon on the plain is interested in people who are hungry. The longer version seems to provide us with more of an excuse not to do anything practical in this world. We can say we are working to help make the world more just by focusing on righteousness or people’s spirits, more abstract ideas. This passage, though, makes it clear that the people who are poor or hungry on a literal, concrete level are the ones we should be interested in.
Such an approach is in keeping with the gospel of Luke, as this author is clearly concerned about those on the margins of society. He emphasizes women and Gentiles, the prostitutes and tax collectors, and, as here, the lower classes, those whom the religious establishment largely ignored. Mary’s Magnificat comes in the opening chapter and sounds strikingly similar to this sermon on the plain, so it seems Jesus paid attention to his mother’s prophetic utterings about the kingdom of God and is sharing those ideas with a larger audience.
One other major difference between the sermon on the mount and the one on the plain is that this version includes woes in addition to blessings. Those woes are also clearly focused on material success, as Jesus makes it clear what the rich and the full and the laughing can expect in the future. They should enjoy what they have now, as they’re not going to have those material possessions or full stomachs in the future. This part might be another clear reason why we tend to ignore the gospel of Luke’s portrayal of this sermon.
We often work diligently in the American church to avoid talking about wealth. We are certainly willing to discuss money, especially when it comes to finding ways to helping the poor, and we will definitely talk about stewardship to the church. Even there, though, we tend to talk about time and talents, in addition to money, mainly to avoid creating guilt for those without much money. We simply assume those of us who have money can interpret what we mean, and those of us who have spent any amount of time in the church definitely do so.
We ignore the numerous passages like this one where Jesus (or God in the Old Testament) talks explicitly about what the wealthy can expect in the future. We immediately find ways to explain away whatever the literal meaning of the passage is, finding refuge in some sort of metaphorical reading. We try to connect this passage with the sermon on the mount and argue that Jesus is not really discussing financial wealth here or literal hunger, but that he is talking about some spiritual truth that we’re simply having trouble discerning. Almost no one stands up and preaches on this passage and says quite simply that Jesus makes it clear that the wealthy and the full and the laughing will one day not be any of those.
The reason we don’t talk about wealth is obvious: many of us are wealthy. Even those of us who are at the bottom end of middle class still have a great deal of wealth compared to the poorest in our society, not to