Luke 11:29-36
29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up in 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 indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
33 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. 34 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. 35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
The Ninevites, who were Gentiles, received Jonah as a sign of repentance. The Queen of Sheba, also a Gentile, traveled to hear Solomon’s wisdom. Jonah’s time in the belly of the great fish and his expulsion prefigured Jesus’ time in the tomb. Solomon was wise indeed, but Christ Jesus is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). He is greater than Jonah and Solomon, yet the Jews of Jesus’ day neither repent of their sins, nor do they gladly hear His wise teaching.
Many of Jesus’ hearers assume they see Jesus correctly. They assume their eyes are full of light. In reality, their eyes are darkened with unbelief and impenitence, which is why they seek a sign from Jesus. If Jesus performed a sign for them, they still wouldn’t believe because their eyes were darkened with unbelief. John writes of another context, “Although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him” (John 12:37).
If the eye is good the whole body is full of light. Having a good eye means seeing Jesus in faith. When the eye sees Jesus in faith, the whole body is full of the light of the gospel, living in repentance, hearing His wisdom and leading a holy life according to His teaching. When the eye is bad—darkened by sin, self-righteousness, and unbelief—the whole body is full of darkness. Like many of the Jews of Jesus’ day, the devil and our flesh tempts us to darken our eyes with sin and self-righteousness. If we do this, the light we think we have in us is actually darkness. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). So Jesus warns us, “Take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.” Look upon Jesus each day as the one greater than Solomon, who has the words of eternal life. Look upon Jesus as the one greater than Jonah, who was crucified, died, and buried for our sins and raised to justify and sanctify believers. Then the eye is good and the whole body filled with the light of Christ.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, grant us Your Holy Spirit that we see Christ through the eyes of faith, so that we walk in the light of His heavenly wisdom. Amen.
