Transcript:

Jesus is really concerned with the purity and the longing of our hearts. Entry into our hearts comes especially by way of the eyes and, depending on the health of our eyes, we will experience the world around us either as light or darkness. If we fix our gaze upon the corruptible things of earth, our eyes will become diseased and our hearts will be plunged into darkness. And our hearts will be plunged into darkness. How great that darkness is when we allow ourselves to be fascinated by, seduced by, consumed by and when we crave the unhealthy things of the earth.

So what Jesus is doing is inviting us to look beyond the surface distraction of the things of earth and to see things as God sees them. Jesus invites us to listen to the longings of our hearts and to fix our sights on the mystery of God that is revealed and that is brought into action in our own lives. And so the direction of the heart flows from clear discernment, and that’s what we mean by through healthy eyes, to have clear discernment of who God is, the one to whom we can entrust our lives and our futures absolutely. And such a perception fills our whole being with light, living in the light of God’s kingdom rather than the opposing darkness.

Now it’s just worth me explaining that statement the eye is a lamp of the body. Now, that rests on an ancient understanding where the eye was not considered the organ through which light from outside enters the body. Of course we understand it to be that now, but the ancient understanding was that the eye was not the organ through which light entered the body, but rather the eye was understood to be the organ that gave light within, enabling a vision, hence the lamp of the body. So ultimately, we’re all called to make a radical choice for God. Like the needle of a compass, our hearts must be fixed on God, to love and to serve God.