November 25, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“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!” (Matthew 6.22-23)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Healthy. Unhealthy. Even in some scholarly translations of those words as they are remembered by Matthew, they denote “perfect, imperfect.” If we go even further into the text itself, we would find that Matthew used the Greek forms of those two words which can be interpreted as “generous, stingy.” I am relieved to see that bit of information and saddened as well. Why? Because I have corrected vision with glasses. That means I have imperfect vision. Which also then informs me, by an application of this short but poignant lesson taught by Jesus, that I may well have more dark than light in me. It does make sense if you apply the concepts of all three interpretations “opthamologically.” I am not even sure that is a real word. I have tried to look it up and bring any needed correction to light. I was not able to do so. Thus, I put it in quotations to denote it is a word I use in this context. Any error would be my own. I am to blame. I own up to it. To continue, if my eyesight or vision is less than perfect, then the various parts of the eye are disfunctional. Perhaps they are not “perfect” because of a medical condition or an injury such as a concussion, glaucoma, detached retina, cataracts, etc. The disfuncational state of the eye would limit the amount of light that comes into the eye. What is seen is not a clear representation of what is present. Thus, it is darker and the perception of it would possibly leave the person viewing it in the “dark” as well.

The story of the young man who was born blind and healed by Jesus certainly was a part of the stir which the ministry of Jesus brought into the world. By some sects of Judaism, blindness (especially that from birth) was a clear indication that the person was a sinner or a victim of generational sin. You can see how this lesson Jesus was teaching easily followed the one concerning sacrifices and fasting. If the sacrifice was impure or if the fast was self-serving then there would be no “light,” righteousness, in it. It served a purpose only to elevate the one giving the sacrifice or the one engaged in a fast by a false pretense. Granted, the Law and the Prophets allowed caveats for the poor to present their sacrifices of thanksgiving and those for the petition of mercy and forgiveness to be simpler, such a sparrows. Such interesting creatures. I am not sure how anyone would see them as being imperfect. Yet, there were those who deemed them “acceptable,” but not as good as a lamb, goat or bull. When Jesus healed the young man it created huge stir among the “perfect and righteous” of Israel. No one could heal a person blind since birth! But, there was the young man seeing and believing when those around him, even his parents, had a difficult time coming to terms with it. Now who was in the dark? It was the young man who brought their doubt to the climax of reality as he asked “Why do you continue to ask me about this. I was blind now I see. Do you want to see and believe, too?”

Ah, the hardship of introspection. In biblical terms, both Old and New Testaments, declare “There are none so blind as those who refuse to see; or so deaf as those who refuse to hear.” You see, it had less to do with the physical than it did with the social, psychological and spiritual reality of the person in question. Jesus “pointed” that out when He taught, “Judge not lest you be judged. Do not dare to accuse another of a splinter in their eye when you have a log jutting out from your own.” There are none so blind as they who cannot see their own blindness, darkness, sin, imperfection, doubt or need for healing from the inside out. What diseases of the spirit blind us to the state of our being as well as to the condition of others? Having said that, then there is the Greek words used in “light/dark” and “perfect/imperfect” which can also represent generous and stingy. Without getting into related terms for stingy aligning with darkness and imperfect of the heart, mind, spirit and soul of a person, I believe we are wise enough to see within ourselves that Jesus was not merely speaking of money. Can we be stingy in praise? understanding? empathy? sympathy? compassion? thanksgiving? deliverance? charity? faith? hope? love?

And what of generosity? Seeing the light of need and reasonable understanding of plight, history, confusion, displacement and so forth brings to perfection the place of mercy, grace, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, compassion and the like. Does it, or can it, extend into giving to the poor or the needy or the destitute or the struggling friend, neighbor, family member, stranger or enemy monetarily as well as spiritually? Such expressions may not reach into the realm of “perfect” for one of us because we see it in love. But, the recipient sees the light of perfection and welcome. Their own state and condition may well melt away in the light of such “generosity.” Even if the person we are ministering to is ourself, could this be true? I believe it can be, should be and must be. Or else how could we truly understand “love one another as you yourself are loved and/or desire to be loved.” That would border on the glorious light of perfect generosity which God extends to us in and through His Son Jesus the Christ by the Holy Spirit. As we enter into the season of Advent, let this light so shine among us all. Shalom.

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.