The Eyes See
Recently, I experienced some inflammation in one eye. I noticed that my vision was a little off. I couldn't quite focus, and things just seemed a little blurry in one eye. I thought maybe I was getting a migraine as they sometimes impact my vision, but the headache never came. So I reached out to my eye doctor, who got me in right away to make sure my eye was ok.
They ran all the tests, checked the pressure in my eye, and took photos of the nerves. It was evident when reading the eye chart that the vision in my right eye was struggling. The doctor shined bright lights in my eye and determined that while all my tests looked good the eye was in fact inflamed.
She prescribed me some eye drops and asked me to come back in a week.
After using the eye drops for one day, I woke up in the night with an itchy, red rash on my body. It was very unpleasant. After reaching back out to the doctor, she promptly changed the medicine she had prescribed and a week later said everything was on the mend and to come back if I started having similar symptoms.
It was fascinating to me how the drops I put in my eye could impact my whole body, which got me thinking about these verses in Luke.
Luke 11:33-36 (NLT)
No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. "Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light."
As you read these verses, what questions come to mind? These are some that I am curious about -
Why does Jesus begin by talking about the lampstand?
These verses have to be relatable to those who can see and those who are visually impaired, so what does Jesus mean by healthy and unhealthy eyes?
How do we know that the light we have isn't actually darkness?
Are there areas in my life that have dark corners?
What would it look like to be illuminated so brightly?
In N.T. Wright's commentary on Luke he has this to say about these verses:
"When we read the sayings about light, then, they speak of more than a general wisdom or spiritual illumination. To begin with, Jesus warns that the light that has come into the midst of Israel is designed not to remain hidden but to shine all around. Then, changing the image, he gives another warning, more cryptic for us and easy to miss.
To begin with, it looks like a rather obvious saying about human life: 'If the eye is in working order,' Jesus seems to be saying, 'you can see where you're going; but if it isn't, you can't; so watch out in case your light (that is, your eye) becomes darkened.' Now clearly Jesus isn't giving advice about protecting our physical eyes; nor about the spiritual dangers of looking at the wrong things. Nor, I think, is he just speaking of the spiritual insight of individuals. The passage makes more sense, especially where Luke has placed it, as a warning to 'this generation', his contemporaries. They must watch out in case they fail to see the light that was standing there in their midst.
The final sentence is then an encouragement to embrace and live by the light while there's time. A day is coming when everything will be lit up and on that day those who have allowed the light to illuminate them fully will shine brightly."
I find N.T. Wright's thoughts on these verses help expand my curiosity about Jesus' exchange in Luke.
As I reread the verses, these words especially stick out to me: "Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness."
Oh, Jesus, help us to see you clearly. Help us not to be deceived, thinking that darkness is actually light. May our eyes be healthy. May our bodies radiate your light now and always.
~ Melissa