Reading Light, Leading Light Series

How many of you own a flashlight? I probably have half a dozen, and most of them have dead batteries in them. I’d be lost without the flashlight app on my smart phone, because it’s always charged. It works. It helps me see where I’m going. It is, to use Jesus’ word, healthy.

I think you can all see where I’m going with this one. Jesus is talking, in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, about maintaining right relationships both with God and with the world we live in. In the last passage he gave instructions about how, practically, to start weaning his followers’ attention away from worldly things. Remember, by giving alms we practice putting our neighbor ahead of our bank accounts, by fasting we reduce the tyranny our appetites have over us, and by prayer we develop dependence upon God. In this passage he gives us more detailed instructions about the equipment we need.

Sometimes the word ?????? is translated “light,” sometimes “lamp.” Is there a difference? Are our eyes what we see by, or what we see with? The light is outside of us, the lamp is part of us. So for a person to be full of light, the eyes first have to be in good working order. For us, that’s 20/20 vision, right? That’s certainly the standard for everyday life. But our eyes must also be looking in the right direction.

Slight change of topic – but you’ll get the point in a minute. Back in my youth, I was taught that God was a fiction, invented by people who needed a crutch to stumble through life. And I’ve come to understand that, in fact, religion is a crutch. What I don’t understand is why they thought that was a bad thing. Shouldn’t people who need crutches have them? Shouldn’t nearsighted people wear glasses? What’s wrong with using a microphone to talk to a crowd, or a bag to carry more than your hands can hold? If your eyes and hearing and legs all work just fine, you don’t need special devices for everyday life. But what if you want to do better than that? What if you want to study the stars? There are devices that improve upon normality.

Of course ordinary vision is just fine for ordinary things. We can see to recognize faces, to drive, to read, to do all the daily tasks which occupy our days. But what if we want to see beyond things? What if we want to see the difference between good and evil, or the purpose of life, or why people are the complicated messes we all are? For seeing those things, neither bifocals nor microscopes will help at all. We need a com-pletely different kind of lens.

All of you have heard of seeing life through rose-colored glasses. That is an optimistic attitude that just doesn’t seem to notice negative things. These people are often impractical dreamers with an unrealistic view of life. Others are the opposite, mistrusting everyone and just knowing that things are going to turn out badly. The fact is that what we see is affected by how we see. People have different perspectives, see from particular angles. I’d like to suggest that the Holy Spirit gives us Christ’s perspective.

God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches every-thing, even the depths of God. For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. [1 Cor 2]

We need to start seeing the world through Christ-colored glasses, which is not the same as rose-colored glasses. Jesus saw compassionately, but he also saw clearly and realistically.

Now, Jesus gave this sermon before the gift of the Holy Spirit. You may object that I’m over-interpreting. But I don’t think so, because he knew that much if not all of what he taught would not be fully understood until later.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. [Jn 17: 25-26]

We can therefore assume that Jesus is talking to his church, to people who have received the Holy Spirit. For Jesus’ people, a healthy eye includes the gift of expanded vision, the ability to see beyond the surface, clearly, without shadows or distortion. But were all of them acting like it? Are all of us acting like it? Remember that what we see is affected by how we see. And if we see with worldly eyes we are not seeing things as they are, but as the world and its systems wish us to see.