Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:19-24 (day three)
“If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.”
A large swath of Jesus’s audience were people who had learned to accept their lot in life as spiritual paupers – that is, people who would never be considered particularly worthy in God’s eyes or in the eyes of the religious powers-that-be. Jesus goes right for the jugular of “the system” when he opens up with the shocking beatitudes, declaring that such poor in spirit, mournful, meek ones are actually blessed, because they are exactly the ones whom God desires to come near and befriend. Here, he goes further still. He proclaims to his hearers that as his words wash over them, those words can bring clarity to them, doing away with their dependence on the myopic teaching of “brilliant” spiritual “actors.” Who needs a bulb when you’ve got the sun?
Thank you for this insightful, well-crafted post, Bryan! I especially love the last line. But apparently, some people are more scared of the light than the dark.