Is your eye evil?

“ Friend, I do thee no wrong: Take that thine is, and go thy way. Is it not lawful for me to do what will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? ”

The Ten Commandments outline the will of God for us, largely around our orientation toward God and our behavior toward other people. We can't murder them or betray them by adultery, lying or theft. But the final one, number ten, is a sin of the mind, a sickness of the soul, that while malignant, may never actually result in harming anyone but ourselves. “ You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.” Ex 20:17 To covet is to envy, and people often use the word jealousy for this evil eye.

What is this sin, really? It may result in some other sinful action, to steal the thing you covet, or destroy it. But the envy is in itself one of the great sins, and it doesn't do anything outright. Or does it?

Solomon wrote: “ I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity.” Eccl 4:4 “Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.” Prov 23:5 “ A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.” 14:30 “ Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” 27:4

Envy is hatred mixed with lust, a very loathing of another because he is good, or has done well, or is blessed with good fortune. The hatred of good sets the feet of the envious person on a path that ends in the hatred of God. An envious heart turns everything good into an insult, and inverts every value, the very nature of nature. Let someone look nice, and envy says it's only cosmetics, or finds a few crow's feet, or sees that the bag doesn't match the shoes, or curses God that she should be so favored. Let someone achieve something and be recognized, and the covetous start a rumor campaign of suspicion around it, boycott it, or simply curse it with their eyes.

Modesty is a good trait, but it is enforced in some cultures by the fear of envy. If I should receive a compliment and not refuse it, I am laying myself open for the curses of the evil eye. The evil eye looks daggers at anyone who shines. Superstition? or is it perhaps spiritual discernment that perceives a vicious curse that comes from people who look upon something beautiful, creative, innovative, courageous, or noble and their hatred is palpable. You can feel it burn your neck. Their words sound friendly and seem to commend you, but their eyes are shrinking back into darkness.

Jesus referred to this in His parable we read today. A man has a vineyard and it's harvest time. He hires as many day-laborers as he can find, and puts them to work for a ‘penny' a day. The penny of that day was a day's wage for such incidental work. As the day goes on he hires more harvesters until finally stragglers arrive to work only one hour. These he pays first, and they get the penny. When he gets down to paying the first group, they too get their penny and begin to grumble. “ These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.” The farmer answers: “Friend, I haven't robbed you: didn't we agree for the penny? Take yours and be on your way: I'll give these last same as you. Is it unlawful for me to do what I will with my money? Is your eye evil—do you give me the evil eye—because I am good?”

Jesus knew all about the evil eye. He was perfect, did only good, and suffered for that very reason. Even Pontius Pilate knew that the priests had brought Jesus up on charges of treason merely because of their envy of His power, His popularity, and His good character. Long had they secretly plotted His downfall, and for the very reason that He was good, did well, and was loved for it. What injustice! Jesus' great-great grandfather David cried out:

“O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth… show thyself. Arise, thou Judge of the world, and reward the proud after their deserving. LORD, how long shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly triumph? How long shall all wicked doers speak so disdainfully, and make such proud boasting? They smite down thy people, O LORD, and trouble thine heritage. They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death. And yet they say, Tush, the LORD shall not see, neither shall the G od of Jacob regard it.” Psalm 94 BCP

A terrible evil has been done among us, across our nation, from high to low, and it has take the lives of the young and innocent in every family. Out of envy, the evil eye has reached out and struck, and every time it strikes, a tiny infant dies. What is abortion? The most common surgery in America happens in darkened rooms, under the shadow of laws and court rulings, hidden by language that obscures and distorts, fueled with money, lies, fear, and envy. All the commandments are broken by it, and after it has renounced God, made other things greater than He, cursed real parenthood, misused sex, stolen, lied, and murdered an innocent child, it sends out the evil eye on anyone who might simply tell the truth. Hsssss! Think I don't know what I'm talking about? I have the marks of the fangs on my back. Want to see?

Abortion has robbed from us the awesome and inevitable reality of having to face ourselves with our deeds. It's a big bloody eraser by which we try to unmake our mistakes. It would be so nice to be able to turn back the clock on some of our blunders, wouldn't it? To get a second chance to make the right choice this time, to turn right instead of left? But would we? Given so many chances and choices… but abortion just erases. It doesn't change what we did, it just makes the consequences go away. But the long red smear it leaves behind is the blood of our children. Hssss! The evil eye did not want me to say that.

Our mistakes need to hurt. That teaches us wisdom. It makes us responsible adults. We grow through consequences, and God's chastening of us shows He loves us. “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him in thy law; That thou mayest give him patience in time of adversity, until the pit be digged up for the ungodly. For the LORD will not fail his people; neither will he forsake his inheritance; Until righteousness turn again unto judgment: all such as are true in heart shall follow it.” Ps 94

It's convenient to look away from all this. It's another person's problem, and who am I to raise my voice in objection? Can I be the judge? We misquote scripture to placate ourselves, but God puts us on earth with two feet in order to stand. If we don't stand for His precious gift of life, we fall for anything. He calls, “Who will rise up with me against the wicked? or who will take my part against the evil doers? If the LORD had not helped me, it had not failed, but my soul had been put to silence. But when I said, My foot hath slipt; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul. Wilt thou have any thing to do with the throne of wickedness, which imagineth mischief as a law? They gather them together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.”

Every week young women, girls, walk into the doors at Planned Parenthood and the Women's Feminist clinic like the Eloi through the dark portals that lead down in The Time Machine , and down they go thoughtless, heedless of the misery, sorrow and death that waits below. Will anyone stop them, anyone break the dreaded machinery of death? Where can we find them to tell them in time? How can we just sit by and let the evil eye crush another, and another? Hssss!…

Everybody loves a baby. I put a baby picture on the bulletin today because we do. The babies of every species draw our hearts out, make us say, “Awww.” But there is a quadrant of our society that sees a baby, or her pregnant mother, and the hatred of life, of goodness, of God who makes every life and knows every infant intimately before he or she is born, and those eyes dart out with only evil intent. How dare she? Ever see a mother of three or four beautiful children and hear a voice say, “Doesn't she know where those come from?” Yes, she knows and so does that voice of envy that turns the most blessed gift of God into a curse.

What is the cure for this dreadful sin? Jesus might say to the envious farmhands that they should look on the latecomers with love. Love is the opposite of envy, and its cure. St. Paul says of a godly love that it is patient, kind and does not envy. Love cures envy, and conversely , envy kills love. Envy is the canker worm that begins devouring love from its smallest most innocent object and finishes the job by hating God. Do abortionists hate God? Ask Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Especially against Catholic immigrants, Sanger rang out, claiming they “are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.” American Birth Control Conference. November 11-12, 1921.

Envy: the enemy of love. Love receives the consequences of life that God doles out, but better than that, takes responsibility before the consequences. In any event, every life is a blessing, and every blessing comes with grace. But every good thing has its detractors, and thence comes the evil eye. Don't let your eye be evil because of another's good works, gracious deeds, generosity, or good fortune. Envy kills every opportunity for the covetous to achieve, and cuts them off from good fortune every time.

Is your eye evil? Let the love of God be your medicine. Two drops in each eye, twice a day.

PFH+