Healthy Eyes, healthy body- Matthew 6:22-23

Original Picture by Flickr user Gerardofegan

According to Wikipedia, there are different kinds of blindness. Some are just legally blind. Others can only see the difference between light and dark and can generally tell the direction of the light. Still others that are completely blind have absolutely no light perception. (Wikipedia "Blindness")

I can't imagine being legally blind, much less being completely blind. There may be someone reading this who can. I have always read our passage for this week from the perspective of focus-- If you focus on darkness, then you will have darkness inside. If you focus on the light, then you will be full of light-- But today as I am looking at it in different translations, I am thinking more about the idea of the eye being "healthy."

A healthy eye is going to be able to perceive available light and translate it into meaning once those signals get to the brain. Those who have healthy eyes have no trouble seeing what the reality of the situation is in front of them. They can see where the safe and dangerous paths lie. They can see both the rewards and the punishments in front of them if they choose one direction over the other. Everything in their body is benefited by the light that has entered.

On the other hand, if someone has two unhealthy eyes that cannot perceive the light much less translate it into significant meaning that the rest of the body can benefit from, then the entire body will suffer tremendously!

I don't think we have to look around the world or even around our own lives and families too long to see the suffering that is happening constantly because of spiritual blindness. Oh, how many in the world have "unhealthy eyes" that will not allow them to see the truth of who God is and they are in light of who He is! Oh, how much darkness we live in and hear about on a daily basis!

Oh, how desperately the church today needs to adopt Paul's prayer for the Ephesians:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.   - Eph. 1:18-19a

and pray it fervently and constantly for the people we come into contact with every day and the people on the other side of the world that are reported about in the news!

What if we viewed the ugliness that we see in the world and that hurts us and our families as a symptom of the larger problem of someone who is living in fear, uncertainty, and ignorance because they are living in absolute spiritual blindness!? And if they have lived in that their entire lives and never come into contact with the Great Physician  who alone has the power to give sight to the blind, "how great is that darkness!" After all, isn't darkness nothing more than the absence of light? There is only absolute darkness if there is absolutely no light.

I read a Christian fiction some time ago in which the protagonist who was a devoted follower of Christ and a true lover of broken people's souls asked, "why are we surprised when sinners sin?" I have not been able to shake that question from my mind and I am thankful it resurfaces when I start to get angry at someone for their wickedness and the pain they are causing others.

So then, if sinfulness is caused by spiritual blindness, then does the blind person not have any responsibility for action based on this passage? Or what about us who have "seen the light?" Does it not apply to us? First of all, I would say that even for the children of the light, we know very well that we occasionally still exhibit and experience spiritual blindness. I am thankful for the forgiveness and the grace that is constantly extended to us in those relapses. But this is where the verse needs to be put back into the context of the surrounding passages in order to know how we can work alongside God in bringing light into our lives.

The verses before talked about laying up treasure in heaven. The verses after talk about choosing which master to serve. What it boils down to is that where I choose to focus my eyes, does indeed do much to cause further blindness or further sight. Just think about what happens when you are in complete darkness for an extended period of time. It takes some time to readjust to the light. For some period of time, you are still unable to see even in the presence of light because your eyes and brain have become so adjusted to the darkness. But if you are continually exposed to light, eventually you will begin to see again.

May we recognize the "blinders" we may have over our own eyes that are preventing God's light to shine in and through us. May we have the courage to remove them even though the new light may hurt for a while. And may the darkness that we see coming out of others who are completely blind lead us to compassionately and tenderly expose them to the light that has saved us from darkness instead of leading us to contempt and avoidance.