Matthew 6:16-24
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
This is, at first glance, an odd assortment of aphorisms, or wisdom sayings. One about fasting, and perhaps religious piety more generally; another about wealth. Words about keeping your eye healthy; another about heavenly versus worldly treasure.
After a second, more careful look, however, it becomes clear that there is a single theme that links these various concerns together: integrity. Jesus is inviting his disciples to a life of integrity, a life that is lived for the sake of the principle, not for appearance; a life that is deeply healthy, not only outwardly attractive. Appearing pious, gathering and collecting shiny things, striving after wealth at any cost – these habits betray one’s relationship to God and undermine God’s call to live a full and meaningful life.
Perhaps the heart of this passage comes in the curious statement about the eye. Why is the eye the lamp of the body? Because it is through the eye that we look out onto the world and via the eye that we let what is in the world into our body and, more to the point, our soul. So what are we watching? What are we looking at? What do we focus on? The answers to these questions reveal more about our character and destiny, Jesus suggests, than just about anything else. If the eye – and the things it looks to – are healthy, so will the rest of the body and person be healthy.
In an age when we are bombarded each and every day with thousands of advertising images seeking to make us feel inadequate, and when we have access to more information (understood most broadly) than ever before via the internet, what seemed initially to be an odd assortment of sayings is revealed to be sage wisdom for our day. What are you looking at? What are you focusing on? These are vital questions because what we give our deepest attention to is what we eventually gravitate toward and ultimately become.
And so to his disciples then and now, Jesus’ counsel and command is simple: keep your eyes wide open in wonder, belief, and gratitude, focusing on what gives life and shunning what takes it. If we can do that, we will live a healthy and full life and make this world a better place.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to focus on what gives light and life to the world that we may live with integrity and grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
In Mt. 6:22-23 Jesus contrasts the healthy (pure) eye with the unhealthy (literally, “evil”) eye. The “evil eye” is found earlier in Deut. 15:9, where a bad thought leads one’s eye to be evil against a poor brother; nothing is given to him. Since the context of 6:22-23 is Jesus’ teaching about not storing up expensive treasures on earth, here he is probably contrasting the “pure eye” that is generous to the poor with the “evil eye” that looks down on the poor. The pure eye is the light that inspires one’s body to move into action and give to the poor; the evil eye leaves the body darkly detached from the poor. (Later in Mt. 19:21, the “treasure in heaven” of 6:20 will reappear when Jesus tells the rich man that he can have treasure in heaven if he sells his expensive treasures on earth and gives the money to the poor–and follows Jesus.)