The Bible

 

Matthew 8

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1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1187

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1187. And the voice of the mill shall be heard in thee no more.- That this signifies no longer any understanding of truth from the will of good, is evident from the signification of a mill (mola), as denoting the production of truth from good, concerning which see above (n. 1182); thus also the understanding of truth from the will of good, because the understanding is the recipient of truth, and the will the recipient of good.

Continuation.- Now, since the end, which is the love of man's will, provides or procures for itself through the understanding the means by which the ultimate end may exist, and this end to which the first end advances by means is the existing end; and since this is use, it follows that the end loves the means, when they perform this use, and that if they do not perform it, it does not love them, but rejects them, and by the understanding provides or procures for itself others. It is therefore evident what a man's quality is, if his principal end is the love of eminence, that is the love of glory and honours, or if his principal end is the love of opulence, that is the love of money and possessions, namely, that he regards all means as subservient to him for the attainment of the ultimate end, which is the love existing, and this is use to himself.

[2] Take as an example the case of a priest, whose principal end is the love of money or possessions. His means are the ministry, the Word, his doctrine, his erudition, and his preaching founded on them, and by these the instruction of the members of the church, their reformation and salvation. These means are estimated by him according to the end and for the sake of the end, but still they are not loved - although with some it appears as if they were loved - for opulence is the object of his love, because it is the first and ultimate end, and this end, as was observed, is altogether in the means. He says, indeed, that his desire is that the members of the church should be instructed, reformed, and saved; but because he says those things with opulence as an end, they form no part of his love; they are only the means of his acquiring reputation and gain on their account. It is similar with a priest, whose principal end is the love of preeminence. Let profit or honour be separated from the means, and you will see.

[3] The case is entirely different if the instruction, reformation, and salvation of souls are the principal end, while opulence and eminence are the means; for the priest is then of an altogether different character. In the latter case he is spiritual, while in the former case he is natural. With a spiritual priest opulence and eminence are blessings, but with a natural priest they are curses. That this is the case can be proved from much experience in the spiritual world. Many have been seen and heard there, who said that they had taught, and written, and had brought reformation about, but when the end or love of their will was made manifest, it was then clear that they had acted in everything for the sake of themselves and the world, and in nothing for the sake of God and their neighbour, yea, in fact, that they had cursed God and injured their neighbour. Such are those meant in Matthew 7:22, 23; and in Luke 13:26, 27.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Commentary

 

One

  

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.