O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

Blomberg (1992:123) shows that the heart can be viewed as that part of the personwhich “forms the centre of one’s affections and commitments….” As Guelich(1982:328) notes, the heart is seen metaphorically as the “ultimate direction” of aperson’s “innermost desires.”One could then sum up the reason for the antithesis as follows: the affection of one’sheart sets the direction of one’s life. Jesus’ reason for the disciple choosingallegiance to Him over the accumulation of wealth is not only related to the eternalvalue of Heavenly treasure and the temporariness of earthly wealth, but that a heartthat sets its affection on wealth will be a life lived in contrast to the demands ofobedience in God’s Kingdom.4.2.2 Part Two – The Good and Bad EyePart Two of Matthew 6:1-24 is found in verses 22-23 (Talbert 2006:121). Part Two ismade up of an “assertion,” “inferences” and a “conclusion.” The assertion is found inthe first part of verse 22 where Jesus says that the eye is the lamp of the body.It seems likely that with this assertion Jesus is quoting a well known parable(Stern1992:32). This verse is confusing to modern readers as this proverb states theopposite of the contemporary saying which goes like this, ‘the eye is the window tothe soul (Hauk 2006:57).’ The modern idea being that something of the internal life ofan individual can be seen reflected in an individual’s eyes.People in antiquity believed that light entered the body through the eyes much like awindow, thus if the eyes are good then much like a room with a window, the personbecomes full of light (Tasker 1971:75). Carson (1994:86) prefers to view themetaphor as a person being a house or room and the role of the lamp is to makesure that the person is full of light. One could also argue that the eye as a lampwould give direction to person much like a lamp would. The view taken by this thesisis that whichever view one prefers, what remains the same is the intendeddestination; for the eye to be good so the body can be full of light (Mtt 6:22).44