Lesson 61: I am the light of the world.
Back in 1989, a youth minister from Michigan was inspired after reading a collection of sermons by a Kansas minister named Charles Sheldon to create friendship bracelets with the acronym WWJD on them. Sheldon, in 1886, preached a series of sermons where he created a cliffhanger each week by ending his talks by asking, “What would Jesus do?” He would answer the question in next week’s sermon.
The bracelets created by Janie Tinklenberg became pop culture icons, emblazoned on t-shirts, mugs, jewelry and more. The slogan was meant to remind us to be like Jesus in the world – but eventually it became a banal call to just “be nice,” which isn’t really like Jesus at all. Most often, the WWJD question would be asked and summarily dismissed because, y’know, he’s the Son of God and we’re not, so why even strive to be something we’re not meant to be? To even try would be the height of arrogance.
A Course in Miracles takes a completely different view of our role in this bodily world. It asks us not to try to emulate Jesus, but to realize that we are exactly like Jesus. We have the capacity to awaken, to remember our true nature as Children of God, and accept that our function here is to be the light of the world.
“To the ego,” this lesson tells us, “today’s idea is the epitome of self-glorification. But the ego does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement. Humility consists of accepting your role in salvation and in taking no other. It is not humility to insist you cannot be the light of the world if that is the function God assigned to you. It is only arrogance that would assert this function cannot be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego.”
The ego always wants us to think that we’re too big for our britches if we ever dare to recognize, let alone embrace, our true nature as the light of the world. The ego tells us that it’s arrogant to think that our role in this world is to be a beacon of God’s light – even though it was Jesus himself in Matthew 5:14 clearly states: “You are the light of the world.” We can’t put that light under a bushel, Jesus says. Instead he calls us to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
What’s arrogant, this lesson says, is to believe that we are anything less than the light of the world. As Hafiz says, we must shine God’s light of love into the world, no matter what the world may have to say about that.
The clear night sky tried to prepare me for
what it knew would someday happen;
it began to show me ever deeper aspects of
its splendor, and then one evening just directly
asked, Will you be able to withstand your own
magnificence?
I thought I was just hearing things, until
a spring orchard I was passing my days with
at the height of its glory burst into song,
about our – every human’s – destiny to burn
with radiance.
Still I felt my ears were playing tricks on me
until the morning came when God tore apart
my chest … needing more room to bloom
inside.
I began to roll through the streets in ecstasy.
Everyone thought I was crazy.
I hope everyone someday knows how blessed
I was. You will.
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