WHAT WE SEE DEPENDS ON WHAT WE ARE. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shi...ning of a candle doth give thee light. (Luk 11:34-36) At first sight this might seem to thoughtful readers a somewhat inappropriate comparison. For a lamp is an organ that distributes light, and the eye an organ that receives it. Put a lamp into a darkened chamber, and the room is lightened by its radiance; but put an eye into that chamber and the darkness still remains. It seems strange at first, to thoughtful readers, that our Lord, who never spoke in foolishness, should compare the eye of the body to a lamp. But the point of comparison on which the Master seizes is entirely independent of that contrast. His point is that everything we see depends on the condition of the lamp. If a lamp is burning brightly we see things as they are. We recognize the books upon the table, and the photographs upon the wall. But if a lamp be flickering or smoky everything is distorted or obscured, and so, says the Lord, is it with the eye. If you are color-blind you cannot see the glorious redness of the rose. If short-sighted you cannot see the friend who is signaling to you from the hill. If you suffer from impending cataract I may sit on the next chair to you and yet all that you distinguish is a shadow. Still is the rose red, though you cannot see it in your color-blindness. Still is the friend waving on the hill or seated by your side. There is nothing the matter with reality; the pity is that you are seeing badly—the lamp of the body is the eye.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 11:17:15 +0000
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