Lightning Strength

In Back to the Future (1985), Marty McFly, a teenager, accidentally transports himself to 1955 through the time machine his genius friend, Emmett “Doc” Brown, invented. The Doc powered that time machine (a car) using stolen radioactive materials that produced 1.21 gigawatts of power! That much power wasn’t available back in 1955 for the Doc to safely return Marty to 1985, except in a flash of lightning. Since he went back in time, Marty knew the exact day and time when a lightning bolt struck the clock tower in the center of the town. Doc and Marty work together to capture that lightning bolt to power the time machine to return him to 1985. And they succeed!

Imagine a single light in a town powered by a lightning bolt! It would be bright and blinding! The Lord Jesus taught that his disciples could be people like that.

“If your entire body is lit, without any small dark spots, then it will lighten everything like a bolt of lightning that lights you” (Luke 11:36).

The above is my translation, but I’ll quote another translation that, too, speaks of this lightning imagery since every other English translation omits the reference to lightning, even though the Greek text has it (astrapi – “a flash of lightning”).

“If your whole body is illuminated, with no part in darkness, everything will be illuminated, just as you are by a flash of lightning.” (New Testament for Everyone by John Goldingay and N. T. Wright)

Jesus taught that when his followers had no darkness in them, they would be like bolts of lightning flashing lights and uncovering anything hidden. He said this within a context and for a purpose.

“No one lights a light and places it in a hidden place. Instead, s/he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is sincere/honest, your whole body is bright/lit. But when your eye is common (poniros), your body is darkened. Therefore, see* that the light in you doesn’t go out or become dark. If your entire body is lit, without any small dark spots, then it will lighten everything like a bolt of lightning that lights you.” (Luke 11:33–36)

The teaching about placing a lit oil lamp or torch on a stand or tall place to light the entire room was common sense. But the Lord linked the light with one’s eyes! He wasn’t talking against visually impaired or blind people (tiflos), but people with common (poniros) eyes everyone had that could trip them. Covetousness, greed, immorality, idolatry, etc., were all triggered by someone looking at something and irrationally wanting it without counting the cost. Eve saw the fruit was pleasing to her eyes and ate it (Gen 3:6). David saw a woman bathing, coveted her although she was someone’s wife, and committed adultery with her (2 Sam 11:2–3). Mrs. Potipher saw (in Hebrew; NIV “took notice”) that Joseph was “beautiful in form and appearance” and said, “Come to me!” (Gen 39:6–7).

In contrast, if someone’s eyes were sincere or honest (aplus), s/he would be a lighthouse or bolt of lightning that lightens the entire surrounding. (We can remember this Greek word “a-plus [A+] eyes”!)

Let’s watch our eyes – what they see and covet or what they see and show mercy, love, goodness, kindness, generosity, caring – the fruit of the Spirit! That way, we’ll be bolts of lightning in our surroundings.

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*Jesus made a play on words with “see” in the context of “eyes.”