A sermon by the Rev. Michael Gladish
Pittsburgh New Church March 18th, 2026
Video:
Text:
“Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
“When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’
“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’” (Matthew 19:23-26)
The teachings for the New Church are very clear that hell, and specifically, the falsity from evil that rules in hell, has no power. Indeed, as we read throughout the Gospels, “With God all things are possible.” And yet story after story in the Scriptures, not to mention our own experience in the world, testify that hell does have power, indeed, very real power in certain circumstances. Here is one of several passages that speak to this point, from HH 233. Note the qualifier:
As truths from good have all power, so falsities from evil have no power at all, and as all in hell are in falsities from evil, they have no power against truth and good.
Here is another:
Whatever is in good and at the same time in truth has reality; and whatever is in evil and at the same time in falsity has no reality…. By having no reality is meant that it has no power and no spiritual life. Those who are in evil and at the same time in falsity – and all such are in hell – have indeed power among themselves; for one who is wicked can do evil, and does it in a thousand ways. Nevertheless, he can only do evil to the wicked from their evil [that is, from the evil in them], but cannot do the least evil to the good, except, as sometimes happens, by joining forces with their evil (DP 19).
So we see that hell does have power in a context of evil and falsity, most of all in hell itself, where there is constant, selfish competition for everything, and where evil spirits get their main delights from controlling and punishing one another. Such order as there is in hell, is therefore largely due to the restraint caused by fear of these punishments (HH 543, 574).
But what about our lives in this world? Clearly, “with God all things are possible,” but this simple truth raises two logical questions:
1. What “things,” exactly, was the Lord talking about, and
2. Why do good people, who believe in God, suffer so much from falsity and evil?
Well, whole books have been written about the second question, generally referencing the issues in the first question, making it clear that God looks to what has eternal value in human life, not only to what is natural or material, and that for the faithful, even serious hardships can be opportunities to grow in some spiritual virtues.1 This is not to deny or minimize the harm that is done in the world, or the suffering that results, but it does speak to the point about what is real or unreal, and what is or is not possible with God.
With this in mind, let’s have a careful look at the story in Matthew 19. At face value, it’s about how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. But note that the story begins with the question, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” And the Lord said, simply, “keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:16-17). But then the man who asked was also told to go and sell what he had and give to the poor, at which point “he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
The disciples were, as we noted, “greatly astonished” at this, saying, “Who then can be saved?” And THAT is when the Lord replied, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:23-26).
Now, here is where it gets interesting, because the Lord had a lot to say about riches on several other occasions, most notably His opening sentence in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). And again, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Further, in the parable of the Sower, He said, “the [seeds] that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard [the Word], go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (Luke 8:14).
So what is it to be rich or “poor in spirit?” What is it to be conflicted about spiritual and natural values? Well, we know from our doctrine that real wealth consists of the knowledge that provides for our spiritual lives. Yet even then, we need to remember that what we know is virtually nothing compared to what we don’t know, so it’s critical that we maintain a posture of humility, even curiosity, about how much more we could learn. If our lives are “choked with cares” about what we already know, there won’t be any room for growth. The kingdom belongs to those who are poor in spirit, that is, who recognize their need for ever greater wisdom (AC 7640).
Then again, the literal meaning of the teachings on wealth is also important. In Luke 12:13-21, the Lord tells the parable of the rich man, whose ground yielded a plentiful crop – too much for him to store in his barns – and of how he planned to build bigger barns, store it all away, and take it easy for the rest of his life. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then who’s will those things be which you have provided?” And He concluded, saying, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” In fact, whether we understand riches to be natural or spiritual, the Lord’s teachings consistently emphasize the importance of sharing, and not hoarding, what we have, even to the point of laying down our whole lives for His sake and for others.
This is the critical point about the Lord’s power and the power of hell. We can’t expect the Lord to help us in the fight against falsity and evil if we are conflicted about it, and have only a partial loyalty to Him. This is where our lesson from True Christian Religion is so insightful.
As the passage says,
Can anyone skirmish with his squadron between two armies and be on both sides at once? Can anyone cherish evil against his neighbor and at the same time good towards him? If he does, the evil conceals itself in the good. Although evil which conceals itself may not be seen in actions, still it shows itself in many things when they are properly considered? (TCR 437).
This illustration occurs in a short chapter with the heading, “The first thing in charity is to banish evils, the second is to do good deeds which may be of use to the neighbor.” This teaching is often rendered, “the first of charity is to shun evils,” and not just because they are bad but because the Lord said so, and therefor they need to be acknowledged as sins against Him (Charity 1-2). This has the effect of bringing the Lord, with His goodness and truth, into the contest, so that He, with all His power, can protect us.
In fact, this teaching is so important that it is repeated in many other books of the Writings,2 not to mention the Prophets of the Old Testament, where we read, for example, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good…” with examples following (Isaiah 1:16-17). But still, it sort of begs the question, how can we shun evil in the first place without the Lord’s help? So, let’s think this through.
The universal teaching of the whole Word is that we can’t do anything good of, or from, ourselves. Yet there is a very strong and providential appearance that we can. This is because, buried deep down in the interiors of our natural memories, we all have what the Scriptures call “remnants,” or “remains” of goodness and truth, implanted by the Lord Himself, often before we are even conscious of this happening (AC 1050). These are the goods and truths that keep us alive and give us hope in times of spiritual famine or captivity. They constitute the Lord’s own presence within us, but because they are so deeply hidden, they seem to be our own.
This is a profoundly wise provision of His Divine providence. The Lord knows we need to act “as if of ourselves” or we would just rebel against His authority (CL 134:5, e.g.). As we all know, nobody really likes being bossed around! But we all love a challenge, so if we come up with something as if of ourselves, we can happily do it, even if it’s difficult. But here’s the critical qualifier: when it comes to doing anything really good, the first thing we have to do is, as Isaiah said, learn: “Learn to do good.” And we learn this from the written Word, to which we can freely turn our minds “as if of ourselves,” through self-disciplines of reading and reflection. This reading and reflection don’t make us good, but they show us what to do and how to do it, so that the Lord Himself can make us good – little by little (Deuteronomy 7:22), from the inside out.
This is how it works: even though the outward good we do in the first place isn’t really good inwardly (because there’s so much of self in it), the behaviors themselves provide a basis for the Lord to affect us with His powerful influence and gently, gradually, change our attitudes (AC 5828:3). So the actions become routines, we grow accustomed to these new routines, and we begin to experience a transformation from a state of conscientious discipline to one of new love, that is, a new will, formed in and through our understanding (AC 4353:3, HH 533).
And the most amazing thing about this whole process is that the more we do what we’re taught in the Word, as if of ourselves, the more genuine freedom we feel, as we read in these passages:
The more closely a person is conjoined with the Lord, the more distinctly does he appear to himself to be his own person, and the more clearly does he recognize that he is the Lord’s (DP 42).
He appears to himself more and more distinctly to be his own person because Divine love is such that it wills what it has to be another's, thus to be a person’s or an angel’s. That is the nature of all spiritual love, especially of Divine love. And besides, the Lord never compels anyone, because everything to which someone is compelled does not appear to him as attributable to him, and whatever does not appear to him as attributable to him cannot be made a matter of his love and so be assigned to him as belonging to him. Therefore a person is continually led by the Lord in freedom, and is also reformed and regenerated in freedom (DP 43).
The bottom line is that, despite the fact that we can’t do anything genuinely good from ourselves, (because selfishness and worldly loves are in it, like the poisonous tares among the wheat in Matthew 13:24-30), we can do good from the Lord when we do it FOR the Lord, by shunning, avoiding , or turning our backs on what is wrong, because then we are actually recruiting HIS help to overcome the power of hell in us.
Can we do this every day? Can we do it every time a mean thought or a careless remark comes to mind? Can we do it to break the power of a bad habit? Yes. We can. As we read, “It is not so hard to lead the life of heaven as people think, because it is simply a matter of recognizing, when something attractive comes up that we know is dishonest or unfair, that this is not to be done because it is against the Divine commandments. If we get used to thinking like this, and from this familiarity form a habit, then we are gradually united to heaven. To the extent that we are united to heaven, the higher levels of our minds are opened, and to the extent that they are opened, we see what is dishonest and unfair; and to the extent that we see this, these qualities can be dispelled” (HH 533). Then the Lord Himself will overcome the power of the hells within us.
Amen.
1 Notably, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People, by Rabbi Harold Kushner (164 pp.), and Why Does God Let It Happen, by Bruce Henderson (published by the Swedenborg Foundation, 112 pp.)
2 For example, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 65-106, The Doctrine of Life 19-31, and The Doctrine of Charity 1-12 , not to mention several more