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Luke 11:33–36
“Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness” (vv. 34–35).
In our last study, we read of Jesus’ condemnation of many people in the first century who were looking for signs as ends in themselves and not for what those signs pointed to, the kingdom of God and Christ its King (Luke 11:29–32). Hearing this, some of the onlookers might have complained that Jesus was to blame for their failure to perceive the true significance of the signs or to look for what the signs pointed to. Before they could utter a word, however, Jesus responded that any lack of understanding of Christ and His work was due to their own hearts, not His teaching.
Turning to Luke 11:33–36, we first see a statement from Jesus that no one hides a lamp but rather puts it on a stand so that it illumines a room (v. 33). Luke records a nearly identical expression in Luke 8:16, and Matthew 6:22 features a similar thought from a different context. This indicates that Jesus probably used this saying about a lamp on a stand and similar phrases often in His teaching ministry. Here in Luke 11:33, the statement refers to the clarity of His own ministry. Jesus has not hidden the truth from people, but He has openly proclaimed it. If the people don’t understand, they cannot blame Him, for He has been holding the light high to illumine the darkness.
In verses 34–35, Jesus presses the point further, essentially arguing that since He was not to blame for His audience’s failure to get the point of His ministry, the fault actually lay with the audience. Jesus talks about the eye as the lamp of the body, remarking that a healthy eye lets the light in and a bad eye plunges the body into darkness. In other words, when the eye is seeing properly, it can receive the light and can direct the body where to go. When one’s heart is earnestly seeking to know God and His Word, the person receives Jesus’ teaching and follows it, but if one’s heart has been corrupted, he rejects our Lord’s instruction and cannot find His way. John Calvin comments, “The light is said to be turned into darkness, not only when men permit the wicked lusts of the flesh to overwhelm the judgment of their reason, but also when they give up their minds to wicked thoughts, and thus degenerate into beasts.”
When the eye is healthy, the body is full of light and the body will shine forth to all (Luke 11:36). If one’s heart and mind want the truth, a person will receive it and let it shine before others.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Just as our eyes can suffer harm when we do not care for them properly, our spirits can be darkened when we fill our lives with unclean things. We must be careful to meditate on that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable (Phil. 4:8) lest our hearts grow dim and we become less capable of discerning truth from error. Moreover, let us pray that the Lord would give us eyes to see and hearts to receive and follow His truth.
for further study
- Proverbs 21:4
- Matthew 5:14–16
- Mark 4:21–23
- 2 Peter 1:16–21
the bible in a year
- Ezra 3–5
- John 20