The Good or Evil Eye

24. July 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Hello: 

Our text for today is:  Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 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!  

The first part of this text Jesus uses figurative language to express his point.  Jesus states that the eye is the lamp of the body.  The lamp is used and often referred to in the ancient world in terms of direction or as a guide.  

A common scripture quoted is Psalms 119: 105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”  It is actually what is called synonymous parallelism where both the first and last parts of the sentence mean the same but uses different words.  In this example it would be lamp/feet in the first stanza and light/path in the second stanza.     Our Lord uses the eye figuratively to mean the conscious or soul of the body.    I like the way that one commentator puts it: 

  Thus the meaning of our Lord appears to be something like this: the activities of the body are directed according to the light which is received through the eye. When that organ is sound and functioning properly, perceiving objects as they really are, the whole body is illumined, and we are able to discharge our duties and to move with safety and circumspection. But if the eye be blind, or its vision faulty, then we perceive objects confusedly and without distinction, and then we stumble as if in the dark, and cannot perform our task or journey properly, being continually liable to lose our way or run into danger.”   (http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Sermon/sermon_30.htm) 

Remember, this phrase comes right after it talks about laying up your treasures in heaven and not on earth.  Jesus teaches us that if our heart, conscious, affections are fixed on God then our eye (conscious, vision, judgment) will be sound but if our hearts are fixed towards the things of this world, then our eye (judgment, conscious, vision) will be evil or full of darkness.    

If you have been following this Matthew series, let me remind you earlier we talked about how Jesus came to fulfill the law essentially in two ways, as the sacrificial offering for our sins and in teaching.  We know that he went to the cross for our sins but he also came to correct the false teachings from the religious leaders.   A lot of the information that we have studied thus far, you will see that Jesus opens up by saying you have heard, or you have been taught, but I say……. 

I simply wanted you to keep this in your mind as we move forward.  The religious leaders had greatly compromised the word of God to the point where in some liberal circles almost anything was allowed or accepted.   One of the assignments of Jesus was to teach the right way a citizen of the kingdom should behave over against what had become the norm. Some of his sayings were so difficult to embrace that even the disciples would say and I paraphrase “ Come on Jesus, ain’t nobody going to do that” but this was only because so much compromising had been allowed and so much of the word had been replaced by men’s traditions.    

Jesus encourages his disciples that we can achieve and live the way God intended for us.  He responded to them by saying; “With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” and Jesus modeled the Godly lifestyle though he was tempted in all ways as we are, yet sinned not. 

Living God’s way is not bondage; it is actually liberating, exciting, and amazing.  I’m not saying that it isn’t work nor does it happen overnight, but to make anything successful in this life, it requires sacrifice and work so why should we expect a “free ride” with God.    

The levels of love and growth that we can experience in God are more satisfying that anything this world could ever offer.     

God Bless. 

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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