Luke 11:34 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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.

NIV: Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.

NASB: Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

CSB: Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness.

NLT: Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness.

KJV: The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

NKJV: The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

Jesus continues His admonition to the scribes and Pharisees: to share the truth they know. He has shown the light of who He is (Luke 11:29–33). The reality that He is Messiah was evident. Yet the religious leaders' hearts are darkened. Even though they have proof that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, they refuse to admit it. Rather than believe and seek further understanding, they accuse Jesus and demand signs (Luke 11:14–16). If their eyes—their perception of what is real—were clear, the light of truth would enter their hearts. But their perceptions are bad, and so their hearts are filled with darkness. They don't believe, so they're blind to truth; blindness to truth prevents them from believing (John 5:39–40; 7:17).

For Jesus' audience, the "light" they should be seeing is how Christ fulfills Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament. Especially important are predictions that the Messiah would bring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute (Isaiah 35:5–6; Luke 11:14).

Evidence for those of us in the modern world is a bit different since we can't see Jesus' miracles first-hand. We can know that God is the powerful and divine Creator by looking at creation (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:19–20). We can read the Bible and realize that it accurately describes our fallen world. We can recognize that real goodness must be grounded in something outside of us. As we affirm each truth, we take a step forward in faith, trusting that what the Bible says about Jesus must be true. But if we succumb to pride, hurt from wounds, or rebellion against God's expectations for our behavior, that darkness blinds us to the truth of who Jesus is.

If, however, we read something in Scripture we know to be true, then build on that truth by having faith that Scripture is true in other areas, we will reach the realization that Jesus is not just the Jewish Messiah. He is God and the Son of God who came to earth in human form, died to take the penalty for our sins, and rose on the third day. And that truth will shine out of us as evidence to others of God's truth.

Luke 11:33–36 stands between the Pharisees' and scribes' rejection of Jesus (Luke 11:14–32) and Jesus' passionate condemnation of their works (Luke 11:37–54). Their eyes should see that He is their Messiah, and they should spread the message as a lamp spreads light. Instead, their refusal to see that He the Messiah reveals that they are dark in their hearts and their understanding. Jesus covers similar themes in Matthew 5:14–16 and 6:22–23.

In what some scholars refer to as "The Travelogue to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51—19:27), Jesus prepares His disciples for His crucifixion and resurrection and the establishment of the church. The description begins with Christ teaching the disciples how to spread the news of the kingdom of God and reaffirming how they will be blessed, culminating in the Lord's Prayer (Luke 9:51—11:13). Luke 11 finishes with accounts of leaders who reject Jesus. The remainder of the travelogue gives a pattern of teaching on the kingdom of God, miracles, and explanations of salvation. Then Jesus enters Jerusalem to face the cross.

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16:10) and a physician (Colossians 4:14). Unlike Matthew, Mark, and John, Luke writes his gospel as an historian, rather than as a first-hand eyewitness. His extensive writings also include the book of Acts (Acts 1:1–3). These are deliberately organized, carefully researched accounts of those events. The gospel of Luke focuses on the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke's Gentile perspective presents Christ as a Savior for all people, offering both forgiveness and direction to those who follow Him.