In the comments for my review of Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, I quoted a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (basically his "Kingdom of Heaven Manifesto") in which he says this:

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." — Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)

In response I received the following anonymous comment: I personally believe that by ‘light’ he meant that combination of awareness and spirit now commonly known as "Self." How many people deny their Self for fear of others? When we become humble and open our Self and heart to others then we will shine.

This comment bugs me, first of all because it just doesn’t make any sense. "You are the selfs of the world"? That’s not only redundant, it’s bad grammar, too. There must be something else meant by the use of the "light" analogy, and I have an idea what it may be…

Chapter five starts off thus: "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him." So right from the beginning, we see who his audience is in verses 14-16: he’s talking to "his disciples" (that is, his students or followers—not exclusively "the twelve," but certainly not people in general, either).

Verses 2-12 are "the Beatitudes," and while at first blush it may seem that the subjects of these verses are the "you" in 14-16, it should be noted that in every one Jesus either says "they/them/their" or "you when"—so Jesus isn’t explicitly saying his audience falls into these categories. He’s simply opening his manifesto outlining how things work differently in the Kingdom of Heaven.

From Matthew 5:17 through chapter 7, Jesus spends the rest of his time in this sermon/manifesto setting an impossibly high moral standard for the citizens of this Kingdom of Heaven. "Light" and "dark" are commonly used in the Scriptures to denote good and evil, and the fact that these moral standards succeed verses 14-16 gives weight to the idea that he’s speaking of a moral light being put on display to provide guidance to those "in the dark."

So taking all of that into account, I would venture to say that Jesus is saying something more-or-less like this: "You, as my disciples, are to be living examples of God’s righteousness in the world. Live such Godly lives among the ungodly that they will glorify your Father in Heaven because of you."

There’s something else that bugs me about this comment; namely, that it seems to be implying that it’s a bad thing to deny your "Self". In chapter 18, verses 24-26, Jesus again speaks to his disciples: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" In other words, if you don’t deny your "Self," you aren’t following me. If you want to follow me, you need to deny everything else—including your very self.

Whoever you are, Mr./Ms./Mrs. Anonymous, I don’t mean to attack you; I’m merely challenging your idea. If you’d like to offer a reasoned rebuttal, please do. (I’ll even let you remain anonymous if you’d like!) Only let’s drop the "Jesus means whatever I happen to think I would like him to mean" childishness.