Compare Matthew 6:22-23
I’m sure that the Savior’s comment here presupposes and reflects an ancient theory of vision that we no longer hold, scientifically speaking.
Nevertheless, I think his essential point remains:
If our way of perceiving people and the world around us is fundamentally wrong, skewed, warped, deformed by gross error, poisoned by cynicism, distorted by hatred, and so forth, that will affect virtually everything about us. And, manifestly, not for the good.
But the converse is also true:
“And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:67)
Photo by Jorge Láscar (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
Compare Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-9; Luke 20:46; John 8:6
These are powerful verses against cultivating an outward appearance of righteousness without the inward attitudes that accompany the real thing.
I’ve always liked a German word that is the rough equivalent of English hypocrite: Scheinheiliger. A not very elegant but fairly literal translation is “appearance saint.”
The important thing is the inner reality, not the outward show.
Compare Matthew 16:5-6; Mark 8:14-15
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Just a little bit of leaven affects the entire loaf. So, too, just a tiny trace of obvious hypocrisy taints a person’s reputation, authority, and moral stature.
Compare Matthew 10:26-33; Mark 4:22; 8:38; Luke 8:17; 9:26
The world in which we now live is, all too often, one of intrigue, backstabbing, covert gossip, secret cattiness, plotting, stealthy slander, and, yes, these days, anonymous online malice.
This world, however, is not forever. Such things will eventually be done away.
In the meantime, the Lord warns us that every hidden thing will someday be made known. And, at the same time, he advises us not to hide the truths that we ought to be proclaiming.
Our priorities are often reversed. We’re ashamed to do good rather than to do evil.
An illustration for Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
Luke 12:10
Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-20
“And every one who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα βλασφημήσαντι] will not be forgiven.”
In my view — and I don’t exclude myself from this judgment — people routinely act against the Spirit. We deny obvious truths, ignore moral impressions, repress intuitions, dismiss intimations of the divine, and so forth.
But that, I think, is not what this verse is talking about.
To blaspheme the Holy Ghost is more than merely ignoring the Spirit’s guidance.
It’s to consciously, deliberately, defiantly reject the Spirit.
We can hope that such people will be few.
I’ve always loved a line from the late and recently canonized Pope St. John Paul II. “Must a Christian believe in Hell?” he was once asked. “Yes,” he replied, “but we can hope that it will be empty.”
I confess to flirting with a hope for universal salvation. In the long run, anyway.
But, given human nature, I fear that there will be at least a handful of people who, even when they know that it will bring eternal destruction upon their heads, will still choose rebellious rejection of God’s gracious mercy. And, though sorrowful, he will respect their choice.
In the end, C. S. Lewis once explained, we will either say to God “Thy will be done,” or he will say to us “Thy will be done.”
He’s said it before, according to the scriptures. He said it to Lucifer.
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