The Lamp of the Body

This morning the Master has raised a great question: What is our life? And immediately He draws a great distinction: between what man has made and what God has made, between the world and the Kingdom. He does this by singling out the particulars of food and wardobe, which, while they sustain life, also define class and status. Now, isn't this main point about food and raiment in the Gospels. It is not a neutral subject. He asks, Are we not more than the food that we eat? Do you see the hierarchy? Are we not greater than the clothes we seek out and display in public?

Food and clothing are primary markers of social status ..... then and now, in the twenty-first century. Who eats the finest cuts of veal? Who has fresh produce delivered to their homes? Alternatively, who habitually eats soup or pot luck stew? Who buys day-old bread ..... or hardly eats at all?

Our clothing marks us out as well. It turns out that we are the "wrong cut" of man, should we appear for a CEO interview wearing anything less than an Armani suit with handmade Italian shoes.

You might think that I am importing contemporary values back into Classical Antiquity — what we call anachronism. But that would not be so. During Jesus' lifetime, people were obsessed with food and clothing as markers of social status. Recall Jesus' tale of

This man dined in full view of passing onlookers. And he wore purple. In the ancient world only king's wore purple. Alexander the Great's toga was recently found dyed all in purple. Then it must belong to the emperor! That is, St. Luke has chosen a most ostentatious display featuring this "certain rich man."

The zeal for high-status clothing reached the point that restrictions had to be enforced. Roman Senators, for example, were permitted a purple stripe on their togas. In general, the process for obtaining this dye was prohibitively expensive and time-consuming and labor-intensive. And only the wealthiest (or most powerful) men could indulge this passion to the full.

In general, only the rich could afford clothing spun from the best materials and of a fine weave. By contrast, Jesus says of John the Baptist (who stood far above social distinctions)

And the softest of all garments, indicating highest of statuses, were made from silk. The arrival of silk into the Mediterranean basin would be a world-changing event, sending the affluent world into a frenzy for the next fifteen centuries — plowing paths through the sea and forging a network of trade routes over land — all to obtain that precious, impossibly soft, and transcendently beautiful material, which came alone from the mythical Far East. Indeed, silk would mark the beginnings of world trade.

The century of Jesus birth coincided with the first instances of silk arriving to Arabia and thence to the Levant. Never-before-sampled spices also arrived from the exotic East. The fragrance of them alone was enough to transport one into another dimension. Now, here was a world fit for kings, and, to be sure, it would be kings alone who could afford such rare delights. And the exemplar of the king who brought all delights obtainable to himself from far lands, in the imagination of the first-century Levant, was Solomon "in all his glory" (Mt 6:29), Jesus says.

All this sets the scene for understanding our Gospel lesson at the literal, or historical, level. The tropological, or moral, level begins to unfold as the Master takes up the theme of creation: what man "weaves and spins" (Mt 6:28) versus what God has made.

☦

These sentences are spoken in the imperative mood, grammatically speaking, and, therefore, Divine commands. He brings us to attention, for who dare ignore or would slight the commands of God?

He then addresses Himself to the puny things man has managed to manufacture versus what God has created. That is, He traces His Finger over the matchless canvas of His Creation: "the birds of the air .... the lilies of field .... the grass .... the grain gathered into barns." Yet, this is one of those rare moments when we are able to turn away from Sacred Scripture and see a truer version of what He describes all around us today. Indeed, we see an instance that is livelier and truer than any printed words could ever be. For what God has Created constantly renews itself in brilliant, pristine hues and fresh, inimitable fragrances — the morning of the earth hinting of the scent in Eden. What is like it? What comes near to this? Now this is a fabric which is always beautiful and new.

What is the subject every artist attempts to portray? The Greeks used the word mimesis to convey this: the artist holds the mirror up to nature. But try as we might, no artist has come close to rivaling the Master. For who could create this Art of endless variety that has that mysterious, more-than-lofty quality: stirring, sentient, life?

Do you think silk is soft? Then compare it to the rose petal or the daisy or the lily. Who spun and weaved this fabric? They did not travel thousands of miles from the Far East. They are not be presented before royalty alone. No. They are growing all around you and in profusion for everyone. Why are flowers so impossibly soft? Why do they appear in myriad colors which no dye could match? And Who added to these colors beguiling fragrances, with which no cloth might be endowed?

Why was all this created? Why did God create this things as He did? If you consult the authoritative opinions of biologists or horticulturists, they can give you no more than a reductively, materialist answer. For they have trained themselves to limit their investigation to empirical and scientific study .... that is, of matter. They will never say, ".... because evidently, God loves beauty, for they are without rival in their beauty." They will never say, ".... because God fashioned people in His Likeness and Image whom He surrounds with uplifting bird-song, transporting fragrances, and dazzling colors." He has made us to be moved by beauty, and He in His Own Beauty has surrounded us with beauty.

Here on our Polynesian island, Saffron Finches are seen in short grass in morning light. They take flight before us, and the fresh air is lighted with flashes of yellow, green, and pink. In the distance the Chinese Melodious Laughing Thrush (Hwamei) sings lustily with its brilliant display of melody and range of sweet notes. You never know what he is going to "say" next. And the air is fragrant with a multitude of blossoms from the trees and fields. Now, this is something that it took time to get used to, for Hawaii is always in bloom with something.

God created beauty to let us know that the Kingdom of Heaven is beautiful. And when He had finished His canvas, the Earth, He set His signature upon the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean, with His fingerprints, the Hawaiian Islands with His thumbprint set down upon Big Island. For everything is here. And it is God alone Who is able to do this.

But if you follow the world in an obsession for silk, if you are obsessed with the scent and taste of rare spices, then the lamp of your eyes begin to dim, and darkness begins to gather inside you. And how great, therefore, is this darkness!

Alternatively,

The eyes are the lamp of the body ..... and the soul. And goodness is the only unfailing light. Therefore, the Lord commands, fix your eyes upon the things of God. For they alone are beautiful, and like Lazarus the beggar, who set outside the gates of the rich man watching him eat, yours will be the place of beauty itself: the Bosom of Abraham, whose other name is Paradise.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.