Mastered by our Worldview (Part Two)- Matthew 6:19-24

In verses 22 and 23, Jesus reinforces His teaching on worldview, changing the metaphor from storing up treasure to seeing with the eyes. We are told first that “The eye is the lamp of the body”. The use of eye here can be seen to describe the way we “see” things (a metaphor for our worldview), with Jesus here continuing His teaching on the importance of the way we see things, of our worldview. The eye here is the lamp of the body, with the word lamp here as luchnos- “source of light”. Light in Scripture is commonly used as a metaphor for life, and the way we see things here is seen to determine how we “source” our lives, that our worldview (shown here through the metaphor of the eyes) is the source of light for our bodies. Jesus then mentions “good eyes” and “bad eyes”. What does He mean by this? He is obviously not talking about physical eyes here, for in both cases they provide light for the body. He must be referring to some other kind of eyes, to another type of “seeing”. The word translated good here is haplous- literally “single”. What could He mean here by an eye being single? He is talking here about a singular way of seeing things, a single focus in our lives. Since the word translated good here is “single”, then the word translated bad here must refer to its contrast, which here would mean “divided”. We are told here that this “eye” (way of seeing things) controls the body (note the use of the expression “full of”, you are controlled by what you are filled with), and that an eye that is good produces a body controlled by light. A singular focus on the heavenly worldview will produce a life controlled by “the light”, while a divided focus on the earthly worldview will produce a life controlled by “the darkness”. Jesus then gives us the basic premise of the earthly worldview, that light is seen as darkness and darkness is seen as light. This testifies to how deceitful the lord of darkness truly is, getting people to buy into a worldview where right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. Jesus concludes His teaching here, in verse 24, by telling us exactly how crucial our worldview (the way we “see” things) is. He tells us no one can serve two masters, and that those masters work through the way we see things, through our worldview. It is interesting to note here that Jesus does not leave open the option of serving no master, telling us here that every human being is enslaved by someone or something. The word translated serve here is douleo-to be enslaved, and every human being will be “enslaved” by one of two lords, working through one of two worldviews. The way we see things determines who we will serve, and we will all be mastered by our worldviews. The way we “see” things is the most critical factor in where we “store up our treasures”, in which lord we will serve, and if our lives will be controlled by light or darkness.