Looking at the right things

YOU CANNOT SAY JESUS WAS NOT CLEAR

AND YET PEOPLE STILL PUSH AT HIM

I doubt anyone in Jesus day would have accused him of being unclear. Some days we seem to make it harder than it needs to be. Today, with a little bit of background in the Bible you will see two things…how he is clear…and how people still pushed at him to change what he is saying…in some ways we still do that today…because we are not looking with our eyes at the right thing.

In the Bible (in 1 Kings 10:1-13 & 1 Chronicles 9:1-12) we read about the Queen of Sheba coming to visit King Solomon. She is impressed, this non-Jew, this foreigner, gives glory to Almighty God based on what she has seen.

In the Bible there is a Book of Jonah. You may know the story. Jonah gets himself swallowed in the belly of a large fish for three days, is delivered from this predicament, and then goes to the city of his (and his nations) mortal enemies, tells them to repent and follow Almighty God…one single man named Jonah is called to do this…and his enemies hear Jonah and repent.

So some people see evidence for God in action, others hear truth from God…and both follow God…but not so for the people following Jesus. They accused him of being from the devil. And so he tells the people following him who know these stories inside and out…that something (not someone) is happening and they cannot see or hear it…therefore they will be judged by the Queen of Sheba and the people of Nineveh…foreigners!

The problem…they are focused on…they are looking at the wrong thing. The bit in verses 33-37 is curious. If you read it fast you think it is about light shining outward…but it is not. Read 33-37 closely and then at the end I have some comments about the second half.

29When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

The Light in You

³³ “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷ While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. ³⁸ The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹ And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” ⁴⁶ And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ⁴⁷ Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. ⁵² Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³ As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Light does shine outward, but how does light get into your body? Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body and when the eye is healthy the whole body is full of light. Hmmm. Might that mean if your eye is looking at and focused on the right things, then your body fills with light…with the converse being true as well. I think our Lord is pointing out that people are focused on the wrong thing, and it causes them to reject Jesus.

We see this in the remaining verses. Jesus is having a meal and the Pharisee is critical because he did not perform a ceremonial washing…so what is the Pharisee focused on…answer—ritual rules. Jesus points this out sharply. A lawyer tells Jesus that his tone is insulting…so what does Jesus do…he reinforces the point about being focused on the wrong things. Their eyes are filling their bodies and minds and hearts with wrong ideas and values…with darkness.

So what are your eyes looking at? Seriously, if you made a list of the top 3-5 things you look at today, what would they be? Jesus is serious about filling ourselves with Light. Consider focusing on the Cross, or Prayer, or reading God’s Word just a little bit longer today and see what the result it for you.