“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)
While maintaining journalistic coverage for Word&Way throughout this chaotic year, one thought routinely pushed itself to the forefront of my mind: photojournalism is a powerful thing. This is not the type of journalism I practice myself, but it is something I regularly encounter as I select images to go with the words I write or edit. And it is something that has moved me recently more than I ever remember it doing in the past.
I have found this to be especially true when it comes to covering war and conflict. It is one thing to read staggering statistics about how many people have been killed or displaced. It is altogether different to see striking images of ordinary people’s lives reduced to rubble or statues of despotic rulers pulled down from their pedestals. But it is not one or the other — we require both. We need our rational mind to work in tandem with our heart and emotions to get a clear picture of what is happening around us.
And that is something I believe this Unsettling Advent series has done quite well. The images included in these devotionals (full credit to Brian Kaylor for selecting each one) are intended to be a key component of the reflections — not just a garnish.
We all have a tendency to “other” people when we hear about events happening halfway around the world. But when we are made through photojournalism to look into the faces of people who are hurting in places like Lebanon, the cultural walls that we have built up often crumble from the sheer force of empathy. Our creative imagination opens up and allows us to recognize ourselves and our loved ones in those perilous circumstances, minimizing the gap between us and strengthening our connections.
A man sets up a Christmas tree on Dec. 20, 2024, amid the rubble of a church in Derdghaya, Lebanon, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 9. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images)
The scripture above from Matthew certainly doesn’t refer to our literal eyes. My read is that these verses are about how we should pay attention to the ways we interpret the world around us. A healthy perspective is one that is not limited by our own self-centeredness. Perception can easily be distorted or narrowed by thinking we can see everything from our particular vantage point. Or worse, our “eyes” can be closed off to light altogether and leave our inner and outer world shrouded in darkness.
Making sense of the world as Jesus taught us to look at it means striving to see through the eyes of the most vulnerable, even (and especially) when we have been blessed enough to live relatively comfortable lives ourselves. We cannot follow the light of the world with a myopic gaze. And the story of Advent demonstrates that the view from a manger will always reveal more truth than the one from atop a bejeweled throne.
Jeremy Fuzy is the digital editor of Word&Way.
NOTE: This is part of our Unsettling Advent devotionals running Dec. 1-Dec. 24. You can subscribe for free and receive them each morning in your inbox.
