The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23
“Heavenly treasure would have been associated with light and earthly treasure associated with darkness. Collecting treasure on earth would be equated with coveting. If a person’s heart is evil and covetous, then the body will be full of darkness. The determination of the heart to store up treasure either in heaven or on earth, creates either inner light or inner darkness.
The heart that is inclined toward good works and an attitude of giving will be full of light. The connotation is that when ones’ treasure is in heaven, that person is full of an internal light that comes from within. If a person is bent toward collecting earthly treasure, indicating greed, there will be darkness rather than internal light. It is therefore, the ethical character of a person (whether he is giving or greedy) that determines whether or not the eyes function properly as a lamp. If the person has no internal light, he would not be able to operate as a lamp, and in a manner of speaking, he would not be able to see.
If we look at this from an ethical context, the eye is affected by sinfulness which causes the light to go out, resulting in a loss of lamp light. A good eye reflects generosity and moral integrity and is a result of light within. Generosity is proof of light within, and greed is proof of darkness within. In a manner of speaking, generosity is the light, and greed is the darkness.”
Steven Wickstrom in his article “The Eye is the Lamp of the Body” on Matthew 6:22-23.
This quote serves as a helpful explanation of what many describe as a confusing element of these two verses from the Sermon on the Mount. May God help each of see, and have hearts filled with generosity as proof of the light within us. Make it so, Lord, by your Holy Spirit.