Luke 11:33-36	Matt 5:15	Thom 33
		1 Jesus said:...
		2 "After all,
33 "No one	15 "Nor do people	no one
lights a lamp	light a lamp	lights a lamp
and then puts it	and put it	and puts it
in a cellar or
under a bushel basket,	under a bushel basket,	under a basket,
		nor does one put it
		in a hiding place.
but instead	but instead	3 Rather,
		one puts it
on a lampstand	on a lampstand	on a lampstand
so that		so that
those who come in		all who come
		and go
can see the light.	where it sheds light	will see its light."
	for everyone
	in the house."
	Matt 6:22-23
34 Your eye	22 "The eye
is the body's lamp.	is the body's lamp.
	It follows that
When your eye is clear,	if your eye is clear,
your whole body	your whole body
is flooded with light	is flooded with light.
When your eye is bad *	23 If your eye is bad *
your whole body	your whole body
is shrouded in darkness.	is shrouded in darkness.
35 Take care then	If then
that the light within you	the light within you
is not darkness.	is darkness,
36 So if your whole body
is flooded with light,
and no corner of it
is darkness,	how dark
it will be	that can be!"
completely illuminated
as when a lamp's rays
engulf you."
Luke 8:16	Mark 4:21
	21 And he was saying
	to them,
16 "No one lights	"Since when
a lamp	is the lamp brought in
and covers it with a pot
or puts it	and put
	under the bushel basket
under a bed;	or under the bed?
instead,
one puts it on a lampstand	It's put on the lampstand,
so that	isn't it?"
those who come in
can see the light."

* Greek: πόνηρος (lit.: "evil")

Composition

Luke has a small group of sayings about light appended to Q's Jonah cluster. Their only link is the fact that each cluster ends with a warning about not recognizing or seeing. Luke's light cluster contains two elements:

• a proverb about lamp lighting (Luke 11:33); and
• a string of sayings about eyes as a light source (Luke 11:34-36).

The sentences in this string could have circulated separately, but there is no evidence that they ever did. The preceding proverb, on the other hand, was widely quoted by itself. Matthew has slight variations in both the proverb and the string of sayings, which he records in separate sections of his sermon on the mount. Mark and Thomas only record versions of the proverb. So it is not absolutely certain that this cluster was created by Q rather than by Luke. Luke records the proverb twice, however, --- once like Mark, right after interpreting the parable of the sower (Mark 8:16); and again here. So the easiest explanation for this duplication is that Q had it here.

Variants

All versions of the lamp lighting saying, except for Mark's, are straight proverbs. Mark presents it as a pair of rhetorical questions rather than a statement of facts. Yet all suggest that it is not wise to put a lamp under a basket. Most lamps in those days were simply dishes shaped to hold oil and an open flaming wick. A basket would not only hide the light; it might extinguish the flame or catch fire.

The proverb probably originally paired the basket with a second unsuitable location for a lamp. The original word, however, was apparently unclear even to the gospel writers. Mark has it under a bed, Luke in the cellar and Thomas in a closet or chest. Matthew simply omits it.

Contrasting conclusions

Q is the sole source of the string of sayings linking light to eyes. The argument begins with a definition. Some ancients thought light shone from a person's eyes into an opaque world. Others held the view more common today that eyes like windows let light into a person. The image of the lamp might be viewed in either way.

The second saying considers the consequences of good or bad eyes. The contrast between light and darkness has moral as well as physical implications. The reference to an "evil eye"---the penetrating stare, which ancients took to be the cause of harm---infers as much.

Matthew and Luke draw different conclusions from these twin principles. They agree that a bad (or evil) eye leaves (or reveals) a body totally in the dark. But while Matthew sees this as reason to lament, Luke interprets it as reason to be alert.

Attribution

Lamp & bushel	%	Red	Pink	Grey	Black	WA	Print
Luke 11:33 Luke 8:16 Matt 5:15 Mark 4:21 Thom 33:2-3		27 27 27 27 27	47 47 47 47 47	17 17 17 17 17	10 10 10 10 10	63 63 63 63 63	pink pink pink pink pink
Body's light
Luke 11:31-32 Matt 12:41-42		3 8	23 35	30 33	45 25	28 42	grey grey

The proverb about lighted lamps depends upon common sense observations that anyone might make. Also, the varied gospel contexts do not provide good evidence of what might have led Jesus to say this. On the other hand, three independent sources (Mark, Q and Thomas) claim Jesus said something like this. The vivid imagery is presented in a pithy and mildly provocative manner that is compatible with many genuine parables and aphorisms of Jesus. Mark's formulation as ironic rhetorical questions that are hard to contradict is especially similar to the style of Jesus' quip about gathering fruit from thorns (Matt 7:16) which Q cited in Jesus' sermon. Since this well-attested saying does not echo observations ascribed to someone else, most of the Fellows thought it should be included in the data base of things Jesus probably said.

The string of sayings about eyes and light, however, combines elements that were rather common in the ancient world. The absolute contrast between light and darkness was more typical of the moralizing of many Hellenistic minds (e.g., Essenes, Platonists) and is hard to reconcile with the thinking of Jesus who urged others to imitate divine tolerance of good and bad alike (Matt 5:45//Luke 6:35). Apart from the use of a single metaphor the language is not similar to most genuine Jesus sayings. Yet, the ethical thrust of this argument is compatible with Jesus' counsel to correct oneself before focusing on others (Luke 6:41-42//Matt 7:3-5). Thus, this saying complex fell into the grey range: not distinctive enough to be deemed the product of Jesus' own thinking yet not incompatible with things he probably said.