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what understanding of light, darkness, and the eye would jesus's original audience have had?

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The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Matthew 6:22-23

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

This passage is part of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, a collection of his teachings on how to live in relationship with God and others. Here, Jesus uses common metaphors of light and sight to explain spiritual clarity and inner disposition.

What inner 'eye' or guiding principle directs your understanding and actions today?

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Read alongside it

  • Luke 11:34-36

    Another account of Jesus's teaching on the 'eye as the lamp of the body,' emphasizing the inner source of light.

  • Proverbs 4:23

    Advises guarding the heart, as it is the wellspring of life, similar to the eye as a source of light/darkness.

  • John 1:5

    States that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it, linking light to divine presence.

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