"healthy Eyes"

“The Healthy Eye”

Matthew 6:22-23

As many of you know, this church has operated a ministry called “Safe House” since the year 2001.

It has been a labor…and I mean LABOR of LOVE.

It is an incredibly self-less and generous ministry.

And one reason for this is that it serves some of the most at-risk people who are at the same time—some of the most difficult to get-along-with…

…Middle-schoolers.

It provides a safe place for Middle School kids to go after school.

But lately it has become more and more difficult to find people to volunteer to help with Safe House.

At one point this year, David thought we would have to stop the program.

We even changed the name of Safe House to The Red Bank Community Safe House in order to try and find others in the community and outside our church to volunteer.

We called a community meeting.

The only folks who showed up were folks already affiliated with this church and almost all are already affiliated with Safe House.

But God is good; because of the faithful few, it looks as if Safe House will continue for another year.

This shortage of volunteerism or lack of giving of oneself for the sake of others is not unusual, though.

All across the country, people are giving up on giving…

…and that involves the giving of both time and money.

What has gone wrong?

It’s not something that just started because of COVID; it’s been happening for a long time.

Less and less people are giving of themselves and more and more people are unhappy.

We live in the most prosperous nation in the world, but have some of the most worried people.

We fight over money and buy weapons in order to keep others from getting at our “stuff.”

We often give very little.

Why is it so difficult for us to be generous?

And why is “stuff” so important to us?

And why am I asking this question after reading this difficult passage of Scripture?

And what is this Scripture passage about anyway…

…this cryptic teaching of Jesus about “The eye is the lamp of the body”?

It’s like… “Say what?”

“What is Jesus talking about here?”

Well, this isn’t a teaching on the need to see an optometrist; this is something quite different.

This teaching comes from rabbinical history.

You see, there was a good or healthy eye and a bad or unhealthy eye.

And rabbis taught that a person either has a good eye or a bad eye, a healthy eye or an unhealthy eye.

And the kind of eye a person had made all the difference in the world.

So, Jesus says: “The eye is the lamp of the body.

If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

This unusual teaching is all about how we see things.

For instance, if I see with a “healthy eye” I choose to see things in a positive light.

I choose to see things optimistically.

I choose to see the best in a situation.

Because, let’s face it, how we see the world greatly impacts who we are inwardly.

One theologian says: “What you look for you will find.”

And what he means is “If you want to find the good you will find it.

And if you want to find the bad you will find it.”

And a lot of us have a tendency to look for the bad.

And that is no fun, and it does no-one any good.

As a matter of fact, it inflicts a lot of harm.

My mother had an amazing view on life and a strong trust and faith in God.

She was known for her laugh, her smile, her generosity toward others.

This used to, sort of confound me.

And the reason this confounded me was that by the time my mother reached the age of 6-years-old both her parents had passed away.

I said to her one day, “Mom, you sure have had a difficult life.”

And her response was one of shock.

“I don’t know why you say that, I feel as if I have always had God’s grace at my back.”

Instead of being angry, holding grudges, and being sour about her situation—she was able to see the good in life, rather than the bad.

My mom had a “healthy eye.”

And because she had a “healthy eye” she was able to live “outside of herself,” to be generous, loving, compassionate, empathetic.

She spent more time helping others than she did focusing on herself.

Hers’ was a life well-lived.

I’d imagine most of us know or have known people like this.