February 25,
2016 ~ Day 16
My 2016 Lenten Journey: Exploring the
Gospels to discover what following Jesus and becoming more like him would look
like? ‘And I, when I am lifted
up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).
Matthew:
6:22-24 ~ The
eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will
be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole
body will be full of darkness.” Garbage in/garbage out? Maybe.
But, what is a healthy eye or an unhealthy eye? And does the relative health of
my outlook change reality? Again, “we see through a glass darkly.”
I did a quick
reading in about a dozen English versions, and the word translated here as “healthy”
(NRSV and several others) is translated in other versions, “good” or “sound.” The
word, in the original language, is “ἁπλοῦς”
(pronounced “ah – ploos”), and only the oldest versions, (KJV, Darby, ASV, et. Al.)
translate it literally, “single” or “simple,” implying honesty and integrity,
the opposite of duplicitous (“two-faced,” “double-dealing,” “deceitful,” etc.).
Thus, “if you see with integrity, your whole body will be full
of light; but if you see with a double standard, your whole body will be full
of darkness.” The contrast is the crux of this section, which began with, “Beware of practicing your piety before
others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your
Father in heaven.” And the call
for singularity extends through the concluding remarks, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either
hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
So much for a “prosperity gospel;” however, the word “wealth”, like the word "healthy" is more directly and accurately translated in the older versions, “mammon.” It refers to
virtually anything related to this physical world.
William Wordsworth captured the spirit of these closing words:
The world is too much with us, late
and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste
our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
If I am to be a
slave, at least if I follow Jesus, I can choose my master.
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John
14:9 NRSV)
‘And I, when I am lifted
up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).
That's the way it looks through the flawed glass that is my world
view.
Together in
the Walk,
Jim
No comments:
Post a Comment