“Light Isn’t Invisible” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes clear that we are called to be light. And he says you never would put light under a bushel, right? You wouldn’t put a candle under a bushel. But what I was thinking about this text is that actually people try to put our light under the bushel all the time, and people try to hide our light all of the time. How many of us have been in jobs where we had a boss who didn’t want us to outshine them? Or how many of us have been in circumstances where people have tried to make us invisible or tried to force us to fit into some mold so that our light winds up being hidden behind their expectations of us. People try to put our lights under the bushel all of the time, and what I love about what Jesus is saying here is that we are actually supposed to shine. We’re supposed to be able to be authentic to who we are. We’re supposed to be who God created us to be, not who somebody else wants us to be. And so, if we are called to be light, we are called to be true to ourselves. We are called too, if somebody tries to put a basket over the burning flame that is us, burn the basket! Be the fire! Shine! Shine so brightly that even if people don’t like what they see, you love what you know about yourself. In Jesus’ name, Amen.