Read Luke 12:32-40. There are two ways that life in Jesus is light. But they’re both about building his kingdom on earth, here and now.
The first way is travelling light - being free of the burden of too many things. Jesus says to sell your possessions! But the idea isn’t to leave you begging, to make you poor and miserable. No, it’s to use the extra you have to help the poor. Be generous, reach out, be useful to other people. That shows the love of God in this world.
Too much money is too much trouble. Remember the man who had too much grain. He decided to build bigger barns to hold his grain for longer. But God mocked his greedy plan. It was his last day on earth. He was about to die! (Lk 12:15-21)
We don’t know when we’ll go. It could be any time. That’s the key idea of today’s reading. That’s the time when we’ll be face-to-face with our life’s story. That’s when we’ll see our Maker and be called to account.
What will God see then? What are our habits? If we are living our life with good habits, we don’t have to be worried.
That’s where we look to the other meaning of light.
Our lives should be aglow – they should be like lamps. We should be children of light. In the story, we should have our lamps burning. But in truth, we ourselves are the lamps. The light of God is in us. Or it should be!
Twice in Luke, Jesus talks about showing your light. You don’t hide your lamp under the bed (Lk 8:16), or under a bowl (Lk 11:33). You need to let your light shine, happily on show because you have nothing to hide. The gospel is told through your loving actions, and your loving nature.
You need God’s light shining in you to see out to God’s hurting world, and to make a difference in it. You need God’s light glowing in you so others can see how God works in children of God.
In Luke 11 (33-36), there’s a parable about eyes. The light of God inside you comes through your eyes: what you see when you look at God’s world; and what people see when they look at you.
So Jesus invites us to lighten up in two ways. Don’t be burdened by things. Use money to help people. Develop the habit of being generous. And this helps you lighten up that second way: your life becomes a light for others. You become a torch for God. If it’s a habit, there’s no need to fear. Whenever Jesus comes, he will find you bright, light and ready.
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