Wednesday 12th June
Read Matthew 6:22-23
“‘The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Of many passages in Jesus’ sermon on the mount, this one is amongst the more difficult to both translate and understand. Jesus is using a metaphor to make an important point. The problem with metaphors is grasping exactly what they are metaphors for!
Our translation of the key word in this metaphor is ‘healthy’. Others use ‘good’, so that the contrast with ‘unhealthy’ eyes is ‘evil’ eyes. The word used can also be translated as ‘determinedly single-minded’, hence the old King James version translated this as the ‘single’ eye. (Though the ‘unhealthy’ eye here is translated as ‘evil’ in the King James…). One can immediately grasp the challenge in understanding what Jesus means!
The point Jesus makes, whatever the metaphor may be, is that ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ eyes will let the light in freely, whilst ‘evil’ or ‘unhealthy’ eyes will cloud things up. Kind of like trying to drive in Armidale on a frosty morning – if the windscreen is not clear it can be quite a dangerous thing to attempt. If we should translate it as ‘single-mindedness’, we are called to be focused. If your vision is blurry or you suffer from double-vision, then you are still in a fair bit of trouble!
Not intentionally taking the metaphor too far, we need to reflect on what ‘good’, ‘healthy’ or ‘single’ vision looks like. That is Jesus’ intention in saying this, and before we look at the context to decide what He might mean, spend time today doing that yourself. Sit quietly for 10 minutes and meditate on Jesus’ words.
