The meaning of this parable is that the light of God's truth should not be hidden but will draw God's people to him (1 Peter 2 :9). In the Old Testament there are some profound insights into the responsibility of Israel to draw all the nations towards God (Isaiah 51 :4--5,55:5,60:3) but the religious leaders in the time of Jesus had lost sight of this. We have seen with the teachers of the Law who opposed Jesus that they had become so spiritually blind that they could not recognize God's power working in him. There was nothing in these men which would reflect the light of God's truth to others.