Heaven and Hell # 365
365. We may gather from this that rich people arrive in heaven just as much as poor people do, one as easily as the other. The reason people believe that it is easy for the poor and hard for the rich is that the Word is misunderstood when it talks about the rich and the poor. In the spiritual meaning of the Word, "the rich" means people who are amply supplied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the church where the Word is. "The poor" means people who lack these understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church, where the Word is not found.
[2] The rich person dressed in purple and fine linen who was cast into hell means the Jewish nation. Because they had the Word and were therefore amply supplied with understandings of what is good and true, they are called "rich." The garments of purple actually mean understandings of what is good, and the fine linen means understandings of what is true. 1 The poor person who was lying in the gateway and who longed to feast on the crumbs that were falling from the rich person's table, who was carried up into heaven by angels, means the non-Jews who did not have understandings of what is good and true but who still longed for them (Luke 16:19, 31).
The rich who were invited to the great feast but who excused themselves also mean the Jewish nation, and the poor who were brought in to replace them mean the non-Jews who were outside the church (Luke 12:16-24, 14:16-24).
[3] We need also to explain who are meant by the rich of whom the Lord said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). "The rich person" here means the rich in both senses, natural and spiritual. Rich people in the natural sense are people who have abundant wealth and set their hearts on it, while in a spiritual sense they are people who are amply supplied with insights and knowledge (for these are spiritual wealth) and who want to use them to get themselves into heavenly and ecclesiastical circles by their own intellect. Since this is contrary to the divine design, it says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. On this level of meaning, a camel means our cognitive and informational level in general, and the eye of a needle means spiritual truth. 2
Nowadays people do not know that this is the meaning of the camel and the eye of a needle because there has not yet been any access to the knowledge that teaches what is meant spiritually by the things that the Word says literally. There is spiritual meaning in the details of the Word, and natural meaning as well; because the Word was written in pure correspondences of natural realities with spiritual ones in order to effect a union of heaven and the world, or of angels with us, once the direct union had ceased. We can see from this exactly who are meant by the rich in the Word.
[4] We may gather from a number of passages that on the spiritual level "the rich" in the Word refers to people who enjoy insights into what is good and true and that wealth means those insights themselves, which are spiritual riches: see Isaiah 10:12-14; 30:6-7; 45:3, Jeremiah 17:3; 47:7 [Jeremiah 48:7?], Jeremiah 50:36-37; 51:13, Daniel 5:2-4, Ezekiel 26:7, 12; 27:1-36; Zechariah 9:3-4; Psalms 45:12; Hosea 12:9; Revelation 3:17-18, Luke 14:33, and elsewhere. On the poor in the spiritual sense as people who do not have insights into what is good and true but who long for them, see Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20-21; 14:21; Isaiah 14:30; 29:19; 41:17-18; Zephaniah 3:12, 18 [13]. An explanation of the spiritual meaning of all these passages may be found in 10227 of Secrets of Heaven.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Garments mean things that are true, and therefore insights: 1033 [1073?], 2576, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536. Purple means heavenly good: 9467. Linen means truth of a heavenly origin: 5319, 9469, 9744.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] A camel in the Word means our cognitive and informational level in general: 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. What embroidery, embroidering, and therefore needles Arcana Coelestia 9688. To start from outward facts in order to gain access to truths of faith is contrary to the divine design: 10236. People who do this become insane in matters of heaven and the church: 128-130, 232-233, 6047; and in the other life, when they think about spiritual things, they become virtually drunk: 1072. More about their nature: 196. Examples to illustrate the fact that spiritual things cannot be grasped if they are approached on this basis: 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209. It is all right to go from spiritual truth into the knowledge appropriate to our natural level, but not the other way around, because there is an inflow of the spiritual into the natural but not an inflow of the natural into the spiritual: 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427-5428, 5478, 6322, 9110-9111 [10199?]. We need first to acknowledge the truths of the Word and the church, and then it is all right to take our secular learning into account; but not the other way around: 6047.
Mark 12
1
He began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.
2
When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
3
They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty.
4
Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
5
Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some.
6
Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
7
But those farmers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
8
They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
9
What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.
10
Haven't you even read this Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner.
11
This was from the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
12
They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away.
13
They sent some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words.
14
When they had come, they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don't defer to anyone; for you aren't partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
15
Shall we give, or shall we not give?" But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it."
16
They brought it. He said to them, "Whose is this image and inscription?" They said to him, "Caesar's."
17
Jesus answered them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." They marveled greatly at him.
18
There came to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. They asked him, saying,
19
"Teacher, Moses wrote to us, 'If a man's brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.'
20
There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring.
21
The second took her, and died, leaving no children behind him. The third likewise;
22
and the seven took her and left no children. Last of all the woman also died.
23
In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife."
24
Jesus answered them, "Isn't this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God?
25
For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26
But about the dead, that they are raised; haven't you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
27
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken."
28
One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the greatest of all?"
29
Jesus answered, "The greatest is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:
30
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
31
The second is like this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
32
The scribe said to him, "Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he,
33
and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." No one dared ask him any question after that.
35
Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36
For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."'
37
Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?" The common people heard him gladly.
38
In his teaching he said to them, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces,
39
and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts:
40
those who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."
41
Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much.
42
A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin.
43
He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury,
44
for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."
