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Good morning.

This week, I’m looking at some of the parables of Jesus and suggesting that we hear them as stories that reveal to us something about ourselves, about our inner lives, our priorities, our hopes and our concerns. Today, I want to look at one of those parables that has become part of our everyday speech. This is what Jesus said: ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.’

We often use this term, ‘hiding your light under a bushel’, to refer to someone who has been keeping a talent secret and surprising us when they reveal some special ability we knew nothing about. But it’s interesting that Jesus sets up this short parable with a rather grand claim – ‘you are the light of the world’. Now that sounds like something more than being able to hold the floor at a karaoke. What could he have meant?

I wonder if Jesus is inviting us all to consider how we might be a light for others. Perhaps this could take the form of a word of encouragement or support to someone whose confidence has been severely challenged. Perhaps it’s the willingness to listen well to someone so that they come to a clearer view of a choice they must make. Perhaps the light we offer is the patience to sit down with someone and work things out together.

God of light, shine for us when we are in the dark, and help us to reflect that life-giving light to all that we meet this coming day. Amen.