A City on a Hill
Luke 11:33-36
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."
(MATTHEW 5:14)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus referred to His people as a light that cannot be hidden. Galileans only had to look up in the night sky to see another light. It was the ancient city of Safed, a town to the north, perched on a mountaintop. Safed has regained its fame since Madonna made her foray into the Jewish mystical practice of Kabbalah. The Bohemian art colony is now the home of a 16th century Abuhav synagogue where an ancient scroll of the Torah is kept locked in one of three Arks on the south wall and is removed only three times a year (Yom Kippur, Shavuot, and Rosh Hashanah) for reading.
Kabbalah, which holds to deep superstitions that stray from the Hebrew Bible, is followed by even some Orthodox Jews today. Jesus made mention of what would become of this bastion of mysticism when He turned his back to those in that mountaintop city and spoke to those gathered around Him below it. "You who are mine," he said, "are the light of the world. Your light must not be hidden under a bowl." Jesus, the Light that is not hidden, eradicates darkness.
INSIGHT
JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD WHO HAS OVERCOME THE DARKNESS. LET THAT GOOD NEWS SHINE FORTH FROM YOU.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Numbers 19-20
Psalm 71
John 12
Luke 11:33-36
New International Version (NIV)
The Lamp of the Body
33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,[b] your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Footnotes:
a. Luke 11:34 The Greek for healthy here implies generous.
b. Luke 11:34 The Greek for unhealthy here implies stingy.
THE OTHER LORD'S PRAYER (JN 17:20-23) [PART 2]
Many of us learn the Lord's prayer when we are young Christians. But what about the prayer Jesus gave on the eve of His crucifixion? Just before going to the cross, He was praying for all of us.
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