THE EVIL EYE

English professors love to catch the errors students make in their term papers, and they love nothing better than to catch mixed metaphors. The Calvin College English department collected this list of mixed metaphors and posted them on their web site:

“He swept the rug under the carpet.”
“She’s burning the midnight oil at both ends.”
“It was so cold last night I had to throw another blanket on the fire.”
“It’s time to step up to the plate and cut the mustard.”
“She’s robbing Peter to pay the piper.”
“He’s up a tree without a paddle.”
“Beware my friend…you are skating on hot water.”
“Keep your ear to the grindstone.”
“Sometimes you’ve gotta stick your neck out on a limb.”
“Some people sail through life on a bed of roses like a knife slicing through butter.”

There are no mixed metaphors in the Bible…or are there?  There are certainly many metaphors.  We are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”, Jesus is the “good shepherd” and the “bread of life” — the list could go on and on),  But surely there are no mixed metaphors.  There’s one scripture, though, that I’ve often struggled with because the metaphor seemed out of place.

In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus is talking about our attitude toward material things — “treasures on earth”, “mammon”.  Right in the middle of this passage, though, Jesus says,

“The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23-24)

Talking about a “good eye” and a bad eye” seems somewhat out of place in this discussion of material things.  But I learned something recently.  I was doing some research on the word “envy” and checked the dictionary to find out the derivation of our English word.  It turns out “envy” comes from two Latin words meaning “to look upon”.  Past usage included the phrase “to cast an evil eye upon”.

So, an “evil eye” is one that looks with envy,  A “good eye” is one that does not.  Knowing that sheds new light on this passage.  The metaphor (as always) is so very fitting, and serves as a reminder to me that I need to learn the value of contentment in my own life.

Is your eye good?

Have a great day!

Alan Smith