Church of the Holy City

Delight in the Law

Delight in the Law
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 26, 2014

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 Matthew 22:34-46 Psalm 1

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law of Moses, but to fulfill it. And this does not mean just the prophesies of the coming Messiah. Jesus taught the same Law that bound the people of Israel. That Law is summed up in Leviticus 19:18 and is cited by Jesus in Matthew 22:39: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Even Paul, whose name is sometimes used to say the Jesus abolished the Law, repeats what Jesus says and affirms the Law of love,
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8-10).
It is this love for the neighbor that brings delight to our lives. Psalm 1, which we read this morning, says, “his delight is in the law of the Lord.” We may think of the list of rules called the 10 Commandments to be unhappy commands characterized by the words “Thou shalt not.” These may look like they were given by a stern taskmaster. But when we see that this list of thou shalt nots actually points to a joyous love for our neighbor, then we find delight in the Law. For when we live in love, we are delighted in everything we do.
I have heard it said that love is an action word. It is not just a feeling. Or should I say that because it is a feeling, it wants to pour forth into act. Love seeks to express itself. It wants to flow into good deeds.
These good deeds are called uses by Swedenborg. We can call any act of love a use. For the term use is not just useful. Uses are any expressions of heavenly love. When we are filled with love, our love will flow into good deeds.
This is why Jesus links his commands of love and with bearing fruit. His command is to love one another as He loves us, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). And He says that this command of love will show itself in good deeds, which Jesus calls bearing much fruit,
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples (John 15:7-8).
Swedenborg says that heaven is a kingdom of uses–”The kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses” (HH 387). In heaven, everyone is filled with love for their neighbor. And as love wants to flow into kindly deeds of love, heaven is a place where everyone is doing kindly deeds of love one to another. Imagine how delightful such a kingdom is. Swedenborg does a pretty good job of describing the wonderful joy of heaven,
How great the enjoyment of heaven is, may be evident only from this, that it is an enjoyment to all in heaven to communicate their enjoyments and blessings to others; and because all such are in the heavens, it is manifest how immense is the enjoyment of heaven; for . . . in the heavens there is a communication of all with each, and of each with all (HH 399).
Imagine it! Heaven is populated with the souls of all the good people who have ever lived. And there is a communication of everyone with everyone. The whole of heaven flows into each individual and each individual contributed their good to the whole, “heaven being a communication of all goods” (HH 268). Swedenborg calls this an extension of thoughts and affections into heaven and from the whole heaven into an individual,
all the thought of his or her understanding, and all the affections of one’s will, extend themselves every way into heaven according to its form, and wonderfully communicate with the societies there, and these in turn with him or her (HH 203).
This mutual desire to share one’s joys and to receive the joys of others flows forth ultimately from God. This is God’s nature. God created humans in order to give us happiness and joy forever. “God in creating [the universe] had one end in view, which was an angelic heaven from the human race” (TCR 13). It is God’s nature to give of God’s self. And as God is Love Itself, God wants to flow into our hearts with His Divine love.
His love is the love of communication of all that He has with all, for He wills the happiness of all. Similar love is in everyone of those who love the Lord, because He is in them; hence there is a mutual communication of the enjoyments of angels with one another (HH 399).
Love for God and for the neighbor is a love of sharing. And sharing means receiving and giving. Heavenly love feels another’s joy as joy in self. Everyone can share in another’s misery. This is because we see our own misery in it. But only heavenly love feels another’s joy as one’s own joy. This is because to feel another’s joy we need to transcend self and open ourselves to another’s world.
I think that the dynamics of the me-generation have done much damage to this mutual sharing of joys. Back in the ’70′s we were taught to become our own selves. We were taught self-actualization. This meant the discovery of who we are. We were taught to do our own thing. We were taught not to please others, but to please self. Being caught up in striving to please others was mockingly called the “please me game.” I think of a rather tragic story that illustrates this world view. Back in the ’60′s there was the first group of a movement later called “Hippies.” These were the “Merry Pranksters” led by Ken Kesey. There is a story about Kesey and one of the Merry Pranksters named Pancho. Pancho had discovered a book of oriental carpets that blew his mind. He exclaimed, “Come on, man! I mean, like, I gotta share this thing . . . I can’t keep this whole thing to myself!” He showed the book to Ken Kesey. But instead of sharing in the joy of these beautiful patterns, Kesey replied with a sad rebuff: “Why should I take your bad trip?” It wasn’t Keyse’s trip so Kesey saw no reason to share the other’s joy in the oriental patterns. This story captures well the attitude of the ’60′s and ’70′s. Psychology and philosophy preached the doctrine of self, self-actualization, and self-affirmation. This doctrine had little to say about sharing another’s joy, which was often labeled as co-dependancy.
I think most of us may have made a better effort at sharing the joy this young man found in his oriental rugs. He was attempting to share his discovery with others. In order to feel another’s joy we don’t have to share the same interest. We may not have seen the same beauty in the carpet patterns. But we would surely have seen that they meant something to the young man. And we could still feel his happiness in these carpets. His happiness would become our happiness even if we didn’t understand why he was so enthralled with the patterns. On a personal note, I think I would have seen something in those carpets, anyway, though. The whole essence of loving is feeling another’s joy as our own joy.
The hallmark of love is not loving ourselves but loving another and being united with them through love. The hallmark of love is also being loved by others because this is how we are truly united. . . . The essence of love is that what is ours should belong to someone else. Feeling the joy of someone else as joy within ourselves–that is loving (DLW 47).
This understanding of mutual love and mutual union is what Swedenborg’s notion of heaven is all about. Otherwise there can’t be that wonderful communication of each other’s joy with each other. The very love we feel is because we accept God’s love. That receiving is what makes us want to give all we have to our neighbor and to be united with our neighbor by being happy when they are happy. This isn’t co-dependency. Feeling another’s joy is heavenly happiness. Sharing and being united through sharing is what makes loving union possible. And loving union is the sum of all the Law and Prophets.

PRAYER

We give you thanks, Lord, because you have given us your law. Your law teaches us the way to you. Your law guides us in the ways of your kingdom. And we are grateful that your law is not too difficult for us. We do not need to travel across the sea to obtain it. Nor do we need to ascend up into the heavens to obtain it. For you have written your law upon our hearts. You teach us that loving you and loving our neighbor are what you command. And if we treasure these words of yours in our hearts, we will show our love in good deeds to our neighbors. Help us to see opportunities to do good. And liven our hearts to take action when we see the opportunity to do good. By this we show that we are your disciples.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. Comfort their family and friends. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.