Thursday 20 February 2025
"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light." (v. 22)
Background
The ancients believed the eye was not a window through which light entered the body, but a lamp that projected light out, to be able to see the world.
We remember that God’s first act of creation in shaping the world was the creation of light. (Genesis 1:3-4) God gave us the gift of light, from which all light comes, and God separated the light from the darkness. As ‘earthlings’ we are given a spark of this light within us to learn to look out on the world with God’s eye, but as a human.
Jesus is teaching his disciples to keep the priority on learning to see with God’s light, God’s eye. If we forget (as we will) we will slip into darkness and our seeing of the world will be obscured.
What in practice might this mean for us?
It helps us remember that in any situation our own human seeing will be partial and that God (and God’s energies of love, hope, justice, beauty, forgiveness) might have broader or alternative perspectives. This keeps us humble. We are only human.
It reminds us to consider what we are looking at. Our eyes can be drawn all over the place, but the filter in our heart should aim to see what God wants us to see. We want to keep our eyes trained on where love is present, where the kingdom is being sown. If we habitually only see the negative, or are always blind to what is wrong in the world, we will fall into deep darkness.
Verse 24 emphasises the need to keep our focus on God. In the busy rush of lives we can very easily lose sight of making God the priority. We can often operate on automatic pilot with habits and routines, and we have to make deliberate interruptions to 'stop the conveyor belt'. In our families, groups and organisations there is a ‘system’ which keeps the conveyor belt going. There is a lot of status, power and wealth tied up in human systems which helps keep the status quo. It takes a big effort to pause at regular intervals to ask if this particular ‘system’ is seeing with God’s priorities, serving God’s kingdom purposes, or whether it is human business as normal.
To Ponder:
- We live in a world where we are increasingly aware of polarised views. As you reflect on a scenario in your experience, how does Jesus’ teaching help you situate yourself?
- What practices or habits have you personally developed to ‘interrupt’ your business-as-usual self to check in with God’s priorities?
- Have you experience of an organisation or system which changed course because of perceived God priorities? How did it happen and how did it unfold?
Prayer
God of love, help us keep our eyes focused on you. May we always remember that you have a broader perspective and understand more clearly how love works. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Jenny Ellis
Jenny is a supernumerary Methodist minister. She facilitates a mindfulness community based at her local surgery and also online. She also leads quiet days and contemplative study days. This year's series of online contemplative days entitled Beginnings will be based on the first three chapters of Genesis.