Word Magazine May 1997 Page 3
MORALITY AND CHRISTIANITY
By Archdeacon Hans El Hayek
Throughout the entire gospel readings, whether directly or indirectly, the ultimate concern of Jesus Christ is the edification, spiritual maturation and finally the salvation of mankind.
Jesus Christ speaks out to us all on an extremely important matter and that is the task of our salvation and eternal existence. Be carefully aware and fully understanding that your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.
In the gospel Jesus speaks about both the “physical eye” and the “spiritual eye”. The physical eye is that with which we see ourselves in a mirror, see other human beings, see nature and the multiplicity of its components and the features of its numerous behaviors, whether positive or negative, destructive or constructive. And in a delicate and a more elaborate sense, the function of the physical eye is that we are able to see the amazing, thrilling and distinguishable beauties that God has endowed to both nature and human beings.
The gospel says: “consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon himself in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these”.
We are also able to see the ugliness and the unfit in the domain of nature and man which for one reason or another have fallen away from the grace of God and have been given to the servitude of the evil powers and ultimate destruction: “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more”.
And in between the lines of the gospel, Jesus emphatically draws our attention to the spiritual eye, the instrument of learning about, understanding of and adhering to the prescribed ways for our salvation.
The spiritual eye is the eye of the spirit, the eye of the soul, the eye of the mind and the eye of the heart. The spiritual eye is the totality of all those eyes combined together. Jesus told the lawyer who came tempting him: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength and your neighbor just like yourself.” If any one of us wants to do something worthwhile, successful, dignified and lasting in life, we must do it with all our might and all our heart, and not in bits and pieces.
Our Saviour makes it very clear that the main problem is not with the physical eye, but definitely with the spiritual eye. The physical eye does not endanger and hold back the spiritual growth of man, for if your physical eye offends you, pluck it out, for it is easier for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye than with doubts in yourself, for then you would not enter it at all!
If the spiritual eye is sound, simple, content, transparent and clearly sees the depth of its own self, its whole being will be full of light, both the physical light of the world and the divine light that shines in the heart of each and every worthy human being.
The guiding light of the spiritual eye takes you into any kind of darkness, but you are not afraid of darkness anymore for the power of darkness is a misleading power; but the power of the divine light is the most illuminating and the greatest of all powers!
With the spiritual eye we can see the way things really are, our normal daily human needs, the simplicity of things around us, and the importance of our priorities for our life here on Earth and the spiritual, moral needs of our salvation.
In our Christian daily life, do your work with full responsibility, true faith and genuine dedication. We must always put God first in our minds and in our hearts. For, if we look to God, He will always make the way for us and provide us with all our necessary earthly needs, for our final goal should be the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all material things shall be ours as well.
Archdeacon Hans is deacon to His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP, since 1979.
