Today we will be looking at Luke 11:33-36.
The eye is an incredible organ in our body. Without it our life would be tremendously more difficult. In fact, if no one could see it would be practically impossible. Yet, even more incredible than the eye is the properties of light that the eye is designed to exploit. Light can transmit many different kinds of information over vast distances within seconds. This property of bringing information to us that we could never obtain for ourselves is an important picture for spiritual matters.
After having stated that his generation was an evil one, Jesus began to point out things that gave evidence to this. Last week the point was that an evil generation is always looking for a greater sign. Their unbelief is never satisfied. Here today we are going to see how unbelief and desire for sin had also impacted their ability to see the Light of God, which was the Truth that God was revealing through Jesus.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Throughout the Bible light is used as a metaphor for God’s revelation of truth, righteousness, and what is good. Jesus uses this metaphor along with another related metaphor; a lamp. The lamp is the instrument through which the light shines. In the days of Jesus the people in general were unable to see the truth that God was trying to reveal to them. It was as if they were blind to it. God had been faithful throughout the ages to give light to the world. That light revealed what God was doing and what He expected from mankind. This light was not hidden. He had openly dealt with mankind. However, mankind had a habit of casting aside this revelation and coming up with answers on their own, or, worse, listening to the teaching of evil spirits. In Jesus mankind is given the perfectly clear brilliance of the truth of God. There was no sin or weakness to dim its revelation. This is pointed out by the writer of the book of Hebrews in chapter 1 verses 1-3. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…” So in Jesus they had the perfect representation of God and His will without any error.
Now up until Jesus mankind could complain that the light they received wasn’t clear enough. None of the prophets were perfect men, even if they perfectly recorded what God told them to say. This could jam people’s ability or desire to listen to what they had to say. It is easy to point to the other person and say the fault all lies within them (whether prophet, or God Himself). But the truth of the matter is that our ability to receive truth from God can be good or bad. We are as much a critical part of this equation as they are. Jesus points this out in vs. 34. Just like a lamp is set in a room to fill the room with light, so God has given man eyes so that we can be filled with the information of what is around us, but also as a means of receiving communication from God. Thus when light comes into our body it first goes into the mind and is decoded. From that decoding we make decisions that direct the rest of our body (feet, hands, mouth, etc…) how to respond. Of course, Jesus is not concerned about physical sight. He is concerned with our ability to understand spiritual matters and thus our spiritual sight. God was brilliantly and openly revealing His plan of salvation for Israel and the rest of the world, but most of them could not see it. They were spiritually blind. This caused them to be full of darkness even though it was “midday” as it were. Like a blind man in a room they would not know how to act during the days ahead.
How are your spiritual eyes? Are there things that are blocking your ability to see the truth that God is trying to give you? Often the hurts and injuries of the past affect our ability to see today. Take time to prayerfully ask God to reveal to you what is standing in your way of seeing what He is saying.
This is what Jesus points to in vs. 35. He warns us to check our spiritual eyesight. Take heed is to observe or check something out. The people as a whole claimed to have light (and they did). But the light was doing them no good. Sin and rebellion had covered their eyes like cataracts and darkened their lives. They were full of spiritual darkness. This needed introspection is made easier now that we have Jesus. I can simply gauge my ability to see by my resistance to the words and teaching of Jesus. Now this can’t just be cherry-picked parts of what Jesus says. But, rather, all of what He says, including the Apostles for whom he personally vouched. Am I embracing the whole light of Christ or only partial light? If I only embrace part of Christ there are shadows in my inner life. God is always working to bring us to knowledge of the Truth. It is only through humble introspection, in which we prayerfully ask God’s help, that we can avoid being blind. God intends us to be full of light/truth so that we will live out His love according to His ways, not ours.
This brings us to the Lamp analogy. In this passage the Light that is not being received is Jesus himself. Yet, Jesus told his disciples elsewhere that they were also the light of the world. While he was here Jesus was the light of the world and through the Bible He continues to be so. However, he has put his light in those who follow him; like a lamp. So that there would continue to be light in every generation. God has given us so much light here in America. We are without excuse to not recognize His truth. We can point to churches and “so-called” Christians in our past as excuses to God. But in the end God’s Word tells us there would be people who didn’t accurately reflect Him. The way that we would know it is that we could compare them to Jesus. We are without excuse because we have record of the perfect light. How good of a lamp am I? The light of Jesus is perfect, but if something is wrong with me as a lamp the light will be hindered. Just as a person has personal responsibility to make sure they are seeing well, so believers have a responsibility to make sure they are transmitting the light of Christ well. Am I a broken or dirty lamp? Yes, you have received the light of Christ, but is it shining out well? Jesus told us, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”
In this sense our generation is just as evil as they days of Jesus. Many are blind. Don’t let excuses and the sin of others be your justification for rejecting the light of Christ. Get into the Bible and discover Christ for yourself. Pray to God to open your eyes and enable you to see the perfect light of Christ, not as you desire it to be, but as it truly is.