Let us regard for our study and profit this morning this one particular, "the evil eye," noting _I. its nature_, _II. its cure_. And may God bless His Word!
What, to begin with, is meant by an "evil eye"? It may in different places of the Bible mean different things. What is meant in the text is clear enough. The evil eye here is such an eye as the laborers in the vineyard had when they looked askance at their neighbor's good fortune. An evil eye, therefore, is a grudging, an envious eye. To say of any one in this sense that he has an evil eye, is the same as saying that he is of a grudging, an envious turn of mind. Now, this particular turn of mind is far more common than it ought to be. The divine Householder still has occasion to ask, "Is thine eye evil?" It is a spirit very general, in truth, it is the moral epidemic of the world, it is found everywhere, and more or less in everybody, yourself, my dear hearers, myself not excepted. We open our Bibles, and we read of Ahab, King of Israel, dwelling in the midst of affluence and of plenty, yet he goes to his royal palace, heavy and displeased, and lays himself down on his bed and will not eat,--why? His evil eye grudged a poor vineyard which Naboth would not surrender. Haman was the favorite of King Ahasuerus, the mighty ruler of Babylon. All the princes of Persia pay him respect and riches are his; the evil eye has stung his heart, and he says, "All this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting at the king's gate, who will not bow to me." Nor is it confined to the rich, this grudging cast of mind. Coming down the ladder of life, who were the people that murmured against the owner of the vineyard? Were they not common laborers, who had been hired to work for the day, day laborers? And the disease is prevalent among them yet to-day. The disposition to grumble and tease themselves into dissatisfaction and discontent over the good estate of their more favored and fortunate fellow-men, is not this the fundamental heresy of Socialism, the evil eye? Again, coming from the various classes of men to the different spheres of life, in the private and social sphere, what mean those jealousies and rivalries that are ever dividing a neighbor from a neighbor, friend from friend, relatives from relatives? Because the one possesses more of this world's money or goods, because one is more attractive and amiable in person, has greater intellectual endowments, is more popular, eloquent, skilled, holds a position superior, he becomes the occasion for a brother or a sister or a neighbor to envy him, and the butt of all sorts of petty and annoying uncharitableness on the part of relatives. Example: Because he was beloved by his father and had dreamed a dream which showed him superior to them, Joseph was hated by his brothers, and they could not speak peaceably to him. No, let us beware of flattering ourselves that this malignant eye is not in the Church. The vineyard of the parable symbolizes the Church. The minister of the Gospel who looks askance with green-eyed jealousy at another whose efforts are crowned with greater success than his own; the Sunday-school teacher who throws up the work in wounded self-love because some one else occupies the place and prestige he or she covets; the over-sensitive member who smarts under the feeling that his or her talents are not sufficiently recognized, their efforts duly respected and flattered, and so withdraws altogether from every kind of cooperation and enterprise, may all look into, and carefully examine, their spiritual eyesight in the light of this text.