The Eye
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Matthew 6:22-23
“The eye is the lamp of the body” is Aramaic idiom, but it is not difficult for us to understand. When the eyes are functioning well, then we see the world clearly and our place within it. But when the eyes are diseased we literally lose our focus. We are unsure of ourselves, and of the things that surround us. We may lose our depth perception; things that are normally bright and clear suddenly appear to be dull and obscure. We suffer, not just because we cannot see, but also because we lose track of where we are.
In Aramaic or Hebrew thought, the eye informs the heart. That is, the seat of our cognition and emotion is informed by our eyes. If, therefore, we do not see clearly, then our heart is affected. And, of course, there is more than one way of failing to see. Anxiety stops us from seeing clearly. It clouds our vision. We begin to see demons and dangers in every shadowy corner. We get things out of perspective. Small things bother us unduly. We are easily distracted or confused.
The answer is to focus the eye not on oneself but on Jesus. If the eye of the body is fixed upon Christ then our faulty perspective is corrected. With renewed vision we see our troubles for what they are – all too often slight and momentary. We lose our anxiety because we look at the solution instead of at the problem. And in Christ we see the source of our strength.
We should always be careful what we look at. If our eyes are constantly filled with those things that are unwholesome then we shouldn’t be too surprised when our lives are filled with darkness. But if we concentrate upon Jesus, and upon whatsoever is good and noble and pure,[1] then our lives will be illuminated, our self-centered anxieties will vanish, and we will know God’s peace.[2]
Light of the world,
Enter into the darkest recesses of my soul.
With Your pure fire, burn away the dross, consume whatever is unworthy.
May I be refined by the power of Your love.
May I burn for You.
Amen.
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