Luke 11:33-36 Parable of the Lamp.

Luke 11:33-36 Parable of the Lamp.

"No one who lights a lamp hides it away or places it (under a bushel basket), but on a lamp stand so that those who enter might see the light. The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is sound, then your whole body is filled with light, but when it is bad, then your body is in darkness. Take care, then, that the light in you not become darkness. If your whole body is full of light, and no part of it is in darkness, then it will be as full of light as a lamp illuminating you with its brightness."

This passage is all about “light” Jesus uses the word light, lamp, eyesight. This last, eyesight, seems especially important. If our eyesight is sound, our whole body operates in the light. But if our eyesight is bad, our body lives in darkness. Where our vision/perspective comes from is very important, making our eyesight key among our senses. It gives us a sense of where we are, who we are with, etc. Without it we are lost.

How do we look out onto the world? Do we look out onto the world in fear and anxiety, anger and mistrust? Jesus seemed to look out onto the world with eyes of mercy and trust and love. As human beings I believe our eyes reflect a lot of what is going on inside us. What we hold within must ultimately shine through our eyes and be shown to the world. Jesus’s basic goodness and love shone out through his eyes onto all who met him. He seemed to be all-knowing and at the same time both compassionate and loving. No wonder people were drawn to him. I think the idea of meeting Jesus, looking into his eyes, being known for just who you are, and at the same time being loved, must have been an incredibly powerful and humbling experience. To be known, forgiven, loved . . . oh boy, I think that experience would be the experience of a lifetime. No wonder people followed him. Any of us would have basked and grown and unfurled in the light of that gaze. But how do we experience that light/love today? I’m not sure. Through faith and trust in him?