By Sister Rebecca
Today’s Gospel is a section from the Sermon on the Mount in
chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel: “Jesus went up into a mountain; he sat down and
gathered his disciples around him and taught them.” Matthew is portraying Jesus’
teaching in continuity with the Prophet Moses, who on a mountain received the
Law of God. Beginning with the Beatitudes Jesus interprets the Law—also called
The Way—showing what the Word of God looks like in the lives of those who are Jesus’
followers. What follows through to
chapter 8 are the teachings seen through the lens of the Beatitudes. These
teachings become like beacons of God’s Light: “Let your light shine so people
can see how your life manifests the radiance, the splendor of your Father.” Jesus is not proclaiming a New Law, a
different Torah. He says his teaching
does not change even the smallest letter of the Law. He interprets and brings to light a deeper
understanding of the Law.
Just prior to the section we heard today, Jesus was warning his
listeners about the danger of making earthly treasures the object of their
longing, and ultimately their worship. “Where your heart is, there is your
treasure.” Jesus is not telling his disciples,
or us, to squelch any desire to treasure something that is outside of us. Rather,
he is directing us to attach, first and foremost, our God-given soul-longing to
the ultimate treasure our hearts are yearning for—God Himself. All other
treasures will, in the end, break the hearts of their worshippers.
Jesus continues his warning with two more images: a healthy
versus an unhealthy eye, and the human tendency to serve two masters.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound,
your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole
body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great
is the darkness!”
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.”
(Many commentators will mention here that at the time of
Jesus’ earthly life, people believed that the eye shines light on the objects
it is looking at, rather than that the eye takes in light from outside. However, this is not important in trying to
understand Jesus’ point.) Jesus is saying that the eye is the gateway to enlighten
the body—the entire inner person. To
have unhealthy eyes has a profound effect on one’s whole life. Everything is
affected—how you get around, your ability to engage in social situations, what
you can do to earn your living, and so on.
Since this image follows immediately from Jesus’ speaking
about what we treasure and set our hearts on, it makes sense to see that what
we “SET our eyes” on is really our treasure. The person who has a sound eye is the
one who treasures that which is beyond the small self to soul-vision. Such a person
is conscious of the deep longing for God: His peace, His righteousness, God’s
transforming grace, His justice, His purity, His love and joy. These people
recognize the infinite superiority of treasuring God over all else. This is
what is meant by having a sound eye, or literally, a single eye, a single-mindedness
for God, Then, one’s whole life is full of light.
How so?
In this light we are enabled to see more clearly the
correct, proper place of earthly living and its various lesser “treasures.” Our
relationships, our work, our wealth, the political situation under which we
live—all come to be seen in God’s light. His purpose and work are seen in their proper
place. They are no longer the place where we seek our identity. Seen in this
light we can take everything else in this perspective: we can receive what is
proper and possible from others and from our work, and we can give in such a
way as to be truly a blessing. We can give and receive with no strings
attached.
In the verse “If the light within you is darkness, how great
IS that darkness” what is the meaning of darkness? It is a form of blindness,
subjectively felt as deception, ignorance, lack of insight or
understanding. It brings on a kind of
death. It hampers foresight. It often causes extreme worry or anxiety. Darkness
can be a kind of blurred vision where there is a lack of boundaries. When our desires throw us off balance. It also has a ripple effect on others. They too are confused, upset, thrown off
balance.
When we attach ourselves to things, to unhealthy, unrealistic
ideals of ourselves, our “personas,” then our lives are in the dark. When we
find ourselves “attached” we are out of balance, and nothing is in its proper
place. We cannot enjoy what we do treasure because we are trying to control
life rather than receive it gratefully and with a discerning eye.
Have you ever noticed that when you count on another person
to be the one who gives you your identity or your life, you cannot see that
person for who they really are? Your
state of mind is such that you are unable to receive from them what they are
actually able to give you. You are projecting onto them your unrealistic
expectations of them. As C.S. Lewis says: “When we worship what is not God, it
becomes a demon that we hate, but can’t quite seem to let go of.”
It is not enough to attend to our inner selves—to pray,
worship, do good. We do need others, especially in these times, when the
floodgates of the media can have devasting effects on those who are not rooted
in moral, religious, or spiritual milieus.
There is much Darkness in our midst: unknowing, feelings of
listlessness. There is an ancient term
we often hear today: crises of ACEDIA (ah-say-dia), which I think is related to
what lately I hear from certain younger people who moan, “I am in a funk.” I
need help.
We need wise
teachers, spiritual companions; we need enlightened friends, spouses, community
members to mirror to us the areas of our own blindness. Not all darkness is bad.
Darkness can be the space or state of mind where our deeper longings can emerge
into our consciousness. Our resistance
to truth can precipitate us into this darkness. We may unconsciously set up
resistances to see what really IS, that to which God is calling us, what our
addictions or attachments are, and how they are sucking life out of us. At these times, do we really want to know the
truth? Are we willing to surrender to the truth? There is no way we can shine the light of the
Spirit of God on how I am to live my life if we are stuck in our opinions, our
unnamed unbalanced areas of our living, our addictions no matter how
subtle. Great teachers tell us that
without suffering some form of darkness, our resistances will not give way to
the light that leads to fuller life.
Jesus concludes this teaching with these words, “No one can
serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon.” Mammon doesn’t mean money, as some translations would have it. Mammon
is anything that we get attached to, cling to, or be addicted to. You cannot,
Jesus is saying, have two things vying for first place in your life, as the
focus of your eye. Doing that will make you a divided person, unable to be
whole in the relationships and activities of your life. In the previous
section, we found that we need to choose what truly is first. Here Jesus
warns against trying to have two “firsts.”
We cannot set our eyes on two things, have two centers, two
“treasures” that we devote ourselves to. Attempting to serve two masters will
result in our coming to resent, despise, and resist one or the other—endlessly!
Our whole lives will be filled with darkness, not just our eyes! Jesus
continues to point out the only source of true blessing, true life, both here
and now, and for eternity. He calls us to surrender in trust to the Living God
who is present and offers himself to us in Jesus Christ.
I’d like to end with a few thoughts for reflection:
Through what lens am I seeing? What is the light I seek or that
I am drawn to? Is there anything in my
life that is blurring my inner vision, just one thing?
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would
appear to man as it is: infinite.”
William Blake
“When we go to God in contemplative prayer, we wait in
silence. In silence, though, all our thought patterns assault us. Our patterns of control, addictions,
negativity, anger, and fear assert themselves.
That is why many people do not persevere. Even when Jesus is led by the Spirit into the
Wilderness, the first things that show up are wild beasts. Contemplation is at
first all-consoling. The precious pearl that Jesus speaks of is formed first like
an oyster, through an irritant. God is
light, yet this full light is hidden in the darkness so that only the
single-minded seeker is ready to receive it.”
