In His public ministry, Jesus made two statements about light that at first seem to stand in contradiction to one another. Recorded in John 8:12, Jesus said of Himself, “I am the light of the world.” According to Matthew 5:14, Jesus said of and to His disciples, “Ye are the light of the world.”
How can this be? Who is the light of the world? Is Jesus the light of the world, or are we the light of the world?
The key that unlocks this apparent contradiction can be found in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel, where the Apostle John spoke much about light. The apostle said of the Lord Jesus, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:4–5). After painting this mental contrast between light and darkness, the apostle continued with an introduction of John the Baptist.
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:6–9).
This is the grand solution to the seeming contradiction. John was a light in the sense that he testified and bore witness of the Light. Christ Jesus was the light producer, and John was only the light reflector.
There is an analogy in Creation that illustrates this relationship very well. According to Genesis 1:16, “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” The sun is the light producer. The moon is only the light reflector, the great luminary body of the night whose presence and light testify to the existence and power of the sun.
I am the Light of the world
This testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ was given at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem in the context of John 8. During the time of the Second Temple, the Court of Women was illuminated at night during the Feast of Tabernacles. The giant candlesticks that filled the courtyard with light were a reminder to the Jews of the time when the children of Israel were guided and protected by the pillar of fire by night in the wilderness.
When Jesus testified to the Jews that He Himself was the Light of the World, He was making a clear, bold claim that He was God, the source of Light—the same Divine Being that accompanied the children of Israel on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. He is the Giver of Light and the only One Who can illuminate the darkness of our fallen world.
Ye are the light of the world
When Jesus encouraged the disciples with this equally important truth during His Sermon on the Mount, He was charging them with the important duty of reflecting the True Light. As the moon does for the sun, so we are called upon to shine forth the light of the Lord Jesus against the darkness of our world. The Apostle Paul encouraged the believers of the first century with this same vital truth. “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).
The moon is only a chunk of rock orbiting the earth. Yet it beautifully and luminously testifies of the power of the sun. Even in the darkness of the night, the passive and reflective light of the moon testifies to the sleeping world that the sun is still shining far away. So also, when we as God’s children shine our light, it is a reflection of God’s light.
Like the moon, we are made of dirt. Like the moon, we have no light of our own. Like the moon, sometimes we are brighter than at other times. Like the moon, we only reflect the true source of light.
How do we “let our light shine” when we are only a reflector? In a reflector on a car, there is no bulb to change and no batteries to replace. A reflector shines best when it is clean, free from dust and mud that would obscure it. A mirror shines when it is wiped free of dust and fingerprints that mar and obscure the light.
So also, the light of a Christian best reflects the true light of Christ when our hearts are cleansed by His Word and the Holy Spirit. May God give us the grace, as He did with John the Baptist, to bear witness of the Light, and that all men through Him might believe.
