Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “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 bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
So in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns to a discussion on money. In these six verses, the two sandwiched in the middle seem out of place. Jesus says not to lay up treasures on earth, but in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be. He also says no one can serve two masters - we can't serve God and money. But sandwiched in the middle, He says the eye is the lamp of the body - a healthy eye will be full of light, but the bad eye your whole body will be full of darkness.
One of my favorite pastors is Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York. I recently heard him talking about this passage, explaining the peculiar discussion about the eye. What I learned from him:
Materialism has the peculiar effect of blinding you spiritually and distorting the way you see things. Materialism has the power to blind you to materialism.
Keller was going through a monthly breakfast study, each month talking on one of the seven deadly sins (lust, pride, envy, anger..and greed). His wife asked if he was advertising the to-be-discussed deadly sin in advance of the breakfast. He said yes, to which she said she'd expect attendance to drop dramatically. She was right. It was the worst attended of all sessions. In reflecting on why, he doesn't believe it was because people didn't want to hear about greed. Instead, he expects attendance was low because everyone was so absolutely sure it wasn't a sin they struggled with.
Greed is a different sin than the others, which is why Christ says it's an "eye" sin. Jesus never said "watch out! you might be committing adultery." If you are committing adultery, you know you are committing adultery. However, he does say, "watch out, you might be greedy." Why? Because greed hides itself. It blinds you in a way other sins don't.
Over the years, he's had people come to his office and confess their sins. They'll talk about bitterness, anger, lust, pride and just about everything. But he doesn't recall anyone ever coming to him to discuss their sin of greed or materialism.
We're not greedy. Rich people are greedy. All it takes is knowing one person greedier than us to to dismiss the idea that we could be greedy or materialistic.
A symptom of materialism is that we're sure it's not true of us.
