Read: Matthew 5:13-48
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (v. 14)
Who are we? That’s the second question the Sermon on the Mount begs. If Jesus identifies himself with Yahweh descending to his created ones on a mountaintop, then how are we supposed to identify ourselves? In verse 14, he gives us a hint: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
There are two things to notice here: the hill and the light. First, although our sin prevents us from ascending to God, Jesus, through his life and death, promises to make us into mountains of meeting, places where the people around us can encounter him. Following in the way of Christ means we will stand out to the world—it’s a status and calling that cannot be hidden, just as a city on a mountaintop is impossible to miss.
And second, we are called to be light. “It shall come to pass in the latter days,” the prophet Isaiah writes, “that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” (Isa. 2:2).
It’s our truest calling as Christians. We have been placed as cities on mountains, as lights on stands (Matt. 5:14-15), to draw all people to God’s eternal city. So instead of hiding, may we, like signposts, point the way to God.
As you pray, ask God how you can be a city of light to the community around you.
Justin Kuiper is a student from Holland, MI, studying English literature at Hope College. His own writing explores the many intersections of faith, storytelling, and the created order. Justin is a life-long soccer fan and plays on the Hope College soccer team.
