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22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ~ Matthew 6:22-23
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus provided for us teaching on the key to our personal relationship with God which is an engaged heart. Previously, the Lord Jesus made it clear that greed is the greatest culprit to our spirituality. There is something at the root of the sin of loving money that is the root of all sin. That root is pride which is the desire to be autonomous of God. It is our pride that convinces us that we can run our own lives for ourselves. Greed and pride go hand in hand. And, when we embrace this illusion, we will perish with it.
In v.22 of today's passage we read, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light."
On the surface, this is a confusing verse, but it’s only confusing because we’re not first century Jews. The Lord Jesus enlisted a very well known cultural idiom that was understood by his listeners. The idiom was a bad eye which was a Jewish expression describing someone who was bitter and envious, someone who looked on someone else’s blessing and thought to themselves, "That should be mine." By using this common idiom, the Lord Jesus obviously drew attention to the tenth of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not covet."
To covet is to have an unlawful desire for something that is not rightfully yours. Covetousness is not limited to money, as this passage spells out. We might covet our neighbor’s status, fame, good looks, or home. The first nine of the Ten Commandments deal with our actions, but the tenth commandment deals with our attitude. The tenth commandment is the root cause of all the others. Without covetousness, we would not do all of the other things prohibited by God.
At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus used a lamp as an illustration. A lamp is something that provides illumination. The lamp is not the light itself, it is used to discover things that are lost in the darkness. The lamp is also used to provide illumination to the one who has the light. The lamp also provides any amount of light, even to a sliver that illuminates the darkest context. The eye is what sees things and provides information to the mind, where it is processed. The mind and body react to what has been seen and understood. In the Bible, light is a metaphor for God's definition of all things. It is contrasted throughout the Bible to darkness, which includes the faulty definitions given to us by the evil one. When we are being defined by God we will have God's light to varying degrees. If we focus on earthly treasures to define us most, we will lack the ability to see what is of most importance and worthy of our heart's allegiance.
In v.23 of today's passage we read, "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
While an eye that sees clearly will yield a body full of light, an eye lacking light will be given over to evil. A bad eye renders an understanding that will lack according to God's definitions of things. Without a God-defined life one’s vision will be impaired. The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to bring us His light in order that we may understand God and that His ways are better. The more we reject the truth as defined by God, the more darkened our understanding will be. Those who look with clarity of vision will see what is revealed in God’s light and will thus be defined accordingly.
Throughout the Bible, the Lord Jesus is revealed as the light. His cross and resurrection validate both He and His work. This is what draws us to Him. Having been drawn to Him, we all have the decision to believe in Him and be defined by Him. When we obey the Lord Jesus, we will convert our perishable treasures into imperishable treasures by using them in concert with His purposes in this world. When we are found being generous with our money, we will not be its slave. This explains how leaving an inheritance to our grandchildren doesn’t contradict that which is most dear to the heart of God. And, no one has become poor by giving. In fact, the happiest people in this world are those who outgive their getting.
