The Lamp of the Body and Bible Arcing

Matthew 6:22-23 - The eye is the lamp of the body, so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Observation: Overall, this is given as a matter of fact. It is true of all people even though Jesus is teaching the disciples, it is a universal truth claim.

This the premise He begins with: the eye is the lamp of the body. The eye is elevated in importance and given the responsibility of supplying light to the whole body.

However He makes this condition: the eye must be clear - single (focused). Only then can it give light (vision) to the rest of the body. The alternative situation is also explained. If the eye is bad (defective) or evil (malicious) then its vision or ability to radiate light is forfeited. The result is continued darkness for the rest of the body.

Interpretation: Since our ability to see and understand and react to our surroundings is directly dependant on the clarity of our vision of the physical world. Jesus tells us that if we have a clear sight of what is important in life, the treasure of Heaven, then the rest of life can have coherance and understanding. vv 22-23 are in context with Jesus' teaching on money, so this directly applies to materialism and what we make our treasure (vv 20,21) and what/who we serve (v. 24). It is Jesus' overall intention to cause us to understand it is His lordship that must govern our lives. Anything else is darkness. When it comes to money, Paul supports this teaching:

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 1Ti 6:9-11

The point that Jesus makes is that it really does matter what we desire. It does matter what we pursue.

Application: This clarity of sight is not a passive quality of the eye though. It requires intensionality to focus on the right things. If an archer is not even aiming at the bullseye of a target then it is certain that he will not hit it. In fact, he will be even more likely to strike an inocent bystander if he shoots without pointing at his intended target.

So for us, to be able to be obedient to Christ we must have our gaze on Him - our eye fixed on Him. Otherwise, every aspect of our lives will be darkened - shrouded from the light of His truth - which only leads to disobedience.

The questionsto ask ourselves are "Do I pursue Christ? Is my gaze on Him?"

If you would like to see the Bible Arcing tool where I did this study, here's the link: http://biblearc.com?e27o
It's a pretty dang intense method of examining the text.