One of the greatest books I’ve ever read is Soren Kierkegaard’s “Works of Love.”
It has had a profound impact on me. I have read it a few times and I still don’t think I’ve come close to exhausting it’s riches. I commend the book to you, though beware: a great book isn’t something that you can expect to move through quickly. It will at times wear you out. But no great thing is ever easy. However, the perseverance and struggle results in a depth of soul and spirit that is well worth the energy spent. “Dumb and Dumber” might be funny. But it’s too easy. It profits little. Kierkegaard is hard, but the profit is immense. For the next few weeks, I’m going to walk through some of the treasures of Kierkegaard’s book, “Works of Love.”
In chapter 1 he writes, “If mistrust can see something as less than it actually is, love also can see something as greater than it is.” He comes back to this through throughout the book. What he is getting at is the heart of God. When he looked at us, he could have seen a mess and assumed that the mess would only grown. Instead, he looked at us with love. In his love he saw hope and believed in greater things. “Facts” are not so easy to recognize as we would like to imagine. The creative power of Love can create new facts and see greater things than what at first appears.
He goes on in chapter 2 to say this, “Christ does not speak about recognizing one’s neighbor but about being a neighbor oneself, about proving oneself to be a neighbor, something the Samaritan showed by his compassion . . . Choosing a lover, finding a friend, yes that is a long, hard job, but one’s neighbor is easy to recognize, easy to find–if one himself will only recognize his duty.”
The Pharisee had asked the question, “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus replies with the story of the Good Samaritan. And Kierkegaard comments that this makes our neighbor easy to find! And then our duty to love easy to fulfill!
He goes on to say that love then must move outward to be love. If not, you become a traitor, not to someone else, but to your own self. “There is a lot of talk in the world about treachery and faithlessness–and, God help us, it is all too true–but still let us never because of this forget that every man has in himself the most dangerous traitor of all.” To love oneself rightly, you must love others. If not, you do not merely betray your duty to love them, you have betrayed your duty to love yourself. For to love yourself, is to love others.
Next he’ll speak about how love can be commanded. For what sense does it make to say to someone you shall love?
Tom+