What They Believed About Eyes in the Ancient World

Until recently, I was confused by the words of Jesus we find in today's reading:

³³ “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Luke 11:33-36

But this week I came across the following explanation in a commentary, which helped me:

"According to a physiology prevalent in Greco-Roman antiquity, the eyes do not function by allowing light to come in but by allowing the body's own light to go out. The eye is the conduit or source of the light that makes sight possible. Jesus' assertion, 'Your eye is the lamp of your body,' thus expresses a commonly held view, identifying the eyes are sources of light insofar as they allow the body's light to go forth. Given this physiology, the pivotal issue is whether the eyes are sick or healthy--that is, whether the body is full of darkness or light....[Jesus] urges his audience to consider the nature of their dispositions.... v. 35 is present as an existential challenge to self-evaluation, a warning to be filled with light rather than darkness. Clearly, those who test Jesus (v. 16)--as well as those Pharisees and lawyers of the subsequent unit (vv. 37-54), whose inner avarice and malevolence generate a neglect of justice and love of God--are condemned by their own actions as people full of darkness. The possibility of repentance is left open; what is not debatable for Jesus is the certainty that one's inner constitution is broadcast in one's behaviors.

Joel Greene, The Gospel of Luke, pp 465-466 [emphasis mine]

Anyway, I found that helpful.

Today’s Scripture:

Luke 11:29-36

---

***Sign Up to Receive My Weekday Updates***

Subscribe here to receive a weekday update as we read through the Gospel of Luke.

In addition to my weekday blogging on the Gospels, I also write occasionally about other topics. Subscribe here to be notified when I publish a new post.

P.S. All Subscribers Will Get My Free Whitepaper!

If you sign up for my Andrew Forrest newsletter, I’ll send you a white paper I’ve written called “The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use to Become a Better Communicator”.

Calling Jesus Names

Rather than coming to terms with the obvious power at work in his ministry, some of the people slander Jesus and say that he is only able to exorcise demons because he works for Beelzebul. (Beelzebul was a Philistine god that came to represent the Devil for the Jews.) Jesus points out the obvious stupidity of this accusation: if he is driving out demons on behalf of the prince of demons, that means that the demonic forces are working against themselves.

I think it's interesting that his opponents would prefer to call Jesus a name than to actually reckon with his ideas. That should be a warning to us: when people resort to simplistic labeling and name-calling, rather than reckon with the actual ideas themselves, it means they don't actually have anything to say, and no argument to make. American politics is full of this kind of lazy bullying. Let us not be like that today--if we think someone is wrong or misguided, let's do the hard work of argument and avoid the easy resort to useless labeling.

P.S. Quick thought about vv. 24-26. Jesus is just describing what evil spirits are like: they will torment someone for a while, give someone a temporary reprieve, and then come back worse than before. If that's what evil spirits are like, then it is ridiculous that some people are unable to celebrate that he has been exorcising demons; rather, they want to just criticize and call names.

Today’s Scripture:

Luke 11:14-28

---

***Sign Up to Receive My Weekday Updates***

Subscribe here to receive a weekday update as we read through the Gospel of Luke.

In addition to my weekday blogging on the Gospels, I also write occasionally about other topics. Subscribe here to be notified when I publish a new post.

P.S. All Subscribers Will Get My Free Whitepaper!

If you sign up for my Andrew Forrest newsletter, I’ll send you a white paper I’ve written called “The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use to Become a Better Communicator”.

My Daughter is Obsessed With Chewing Gum

We made the mistake of giving our two year-old daughter chewing gum earlier this summer. (It was a moment of temporary parental insanity, Your Honor.) I'm assuming that the gum we gave her included heroin, because since then she's become obsessed with it. This morning--and this is 100% true--she asked me for chewing gum at 6:45 AM. And here's the thing: no matter how many times we tell her, "No," she will ask again, undaunted, 20 minutes later, or 2 minutes later, or 5 seconds later, "Kin I half gumm? Kin I?"

[Note to the reader--and I am not making this up--she literally just asked us again as I am in the midst of writing this post. Let the record show that she just "brushed" her teeth, and that it is 7:45 PM and her bedtime. We've created a monster.]

Jesus says that that's the way we should behave in prayer:

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

Luke 11:5-8

Persistence, according to Jesus, is an important ingredient in prayer.

What have you quit praying for?

Today’s Scripture:

Luke 11:1-13

---

***Sign Up to Receive My Weekday Updates***

Subscribe here to receive a weekday update as we read through the Gospel of Luke.

In addition to my weekday blogging on the Gospels, I also write occasionally about other topics. Subscribe here to be notified when I publish a new post.

P.S. All Subscribers Will Get My Free Whitepaper!

If you sign up for my Andrew Forrest newsletter, I’ll send you a white paper I’ve written called “The Simple Technique Anyone Can Immediately Use to Become a Better Communicator”.