10th. Sunday (C)
(1 Kings
17:17-24; Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17)
We have in today’s Gospel reading a very significant
miracle performed by Jesus when He raised a young man from the dead. What most impresses us today, perhaps, is not
so much the objective fact of the miracle itself ... for we believe Jesus to
have been – even here on earth -- the Son of God made man, One very capable of
performing such an outstanding miracle ... but the human sympathy of Jesus
which led Him to spontaneously involve Himself and perform so striking a
miracle with such personal and tender compassion. There are deep and most powerful human
emotions involved here which secretly stir-up and evoke our own like involvement
even today, for here was a woman of ancient times whose only son had just died,
and who was, moreover, already a widow.
Jesus was deeply affected by the personal situation of this
distraught woman appearing before Him: a widow, her only son now also dead, walking
alone though followed by a crowd of sympathizers; walking upright in body,
though her head is bowed and her heart overwhelmed with grief, as tears blind
her eyes. She is getting on in years and,
most probably, has little or no idea of her future livelihood and security, let
alone any hope of love and companionship.
At the best, the crowd of sympathizers would suggest that she may find
herself with some happy memories of friends and family; but will that enable
her to face up to an empty and threatening future?
Was Jesus at that moment foreseeing and fore-suffering His
own mother’s grief and loneliness on Calvary?
Possibly.
In the course of His public ministry Jesus was frequently
compared, even mixed-up, with Elijah:
Jesus went on with His disciples
to Caesarea Philippi. And on the way He
asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they told Him, ‘John the Baptist; and
others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’
Now it happened that He was
praying alone, the disciples were with Him.
And He asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah ... Then He said to
them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’
Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ of God.’ (Mark 8:27) (Luke 9:18-20)
Elijah was not only one of the prophets Jesus had heard of,
but one whom He knew well – as would be shown at His Transfiguration when
Elijah appeared with Moses speaking with Jesus – one who came readily to His
mind at times:
Jesus began to speak to the
crowds: Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one
greater than John the Baptist All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until
John, and if your are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
(Matthew 11:7, 11-14)
Jesus would have been well aware of what we have just heard
concerning Elijah’s miracle for the widow of Zarephath:
Elijah said to her, ‘Give me your
son.’ Taking him from her lap, he
carried the son to the upper room where he was staying and put him on his bed
... Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times, and called out to
the Lord: ‘O Lord, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this
child.’
Had Elijah stretched
himself out upon the child not only three times, but also in the form of a
cross: with the prophet’s outstretch arms and full length body covering those
of the child so that the warmth of life might be transferred from the prophet
to the child by God’s goodness and mercy?
Elijah then took the living child and, we are told, gave him to his mother. Is that why we hear that Jesus gave to his mother the young man -- an
adult – though apparently still on the bier being held by its bearers?
After Elijah restored the living child to his mother:
The woman replied to Elijah, ‘Now
indeed I know that you are a man of God.
The word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth.
The word of the Lord spoken by Elijah was a prophetic word.
Jesus’ words were salvific words, words
bringing salvation for mankind; and such words, Jesus knew, could only come
from His Cross-transfigured heart and soul, body and being, words of life from the
One Who would conquer death.
Was Jesus at that moment foreseeing
and fore-suffering His own mother’s grief and loneliness on Calvary? Quite possibly.
Saint Paul wanted to make most clear
to the Galatians this aspect of the Gospel message in our second reading when
he declared that:
The Gospel preached by me
is not of human origin. For I did not
receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a
revelation of Jesus Christ.
And, of course, the Jesus He referred
to is the Crucified and Risen Lord, for as he himself says in his second letter
to the Corinthians:
The love of Christ controls us, and He
died for all, that all those who live might no longer live for themselves but
for Him Who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we
regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard
Him thus no longer. (5:14-17)
This meeting with the widow of Nain, this raising of her son
from his coffin, bier, of death, was, moreover, most intimate. Immediately before and, in St. Luke’s
narrative, straight after, this incident at Nain, Jesus restored to health the servant of a
Roman Centurion and also:
Healed many people of diseases and
plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind He bestowed sight. (Luke 7:27
On both these occasions He spoke directly to the attendant crowds. But not here at Nain.
On both these occasions He spoke directly to the attendant crowds. But not here at Nain.
When the Lord saw her He had
compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’
Words of most sincere sympathy, surely to be heard by her
alone who so needed them. Again, on
approaching the dead man’s bier He simply touched the bier to stop the bearers
and then addressed the young man himself saying:
Young man, I
say to you, ‘arise.’
And then, ‘Jesus gave
him to his mother.’ All so tender
and essentially intimate.
Was Jesus foreseeing His own mother and fore-suffering with
her? Quite probably.
Of course, the accompanying crowd could not fail to see and enthuse
over what had happened, and they whole-heartedly cried out:
A great
prophet has arisen in our midst!
As did the widow of Zarephath when she said:
You are a man of God, the word of God comes truly from your
mouth.
Here at Nain, however,
revelation is proceeding and there is something more; not that the people
proclaiming realized just what they were saying, but was the Father perhaps once
again witnessing to His Son, for:
All
glorified God exclaiming, GOD has visited His people?
God indeed, God-made-man, was visiting His People in Jesus
our Saviour Who would be stretched out on the Cross of Calvary for love of men,
and Whose death and Resurrection would give life to all those touched by the words
of His Gospel; because, although :
Preached by (Paul), (that Gospel) is
not of human origin, but came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
That revelatory report of Jesus -- the crucified and risen
Lord -- has spread throughout the intervening ages indeed, and has reached us
once more this day to refresh, inspire, and comfort us with the truth it brings
and the beauty it contains for us. Truth
because it is a revelation of the Risen Lord Who was crucified for us; truth
because Jesus is ever the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And Beauty,
because:
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty
of the Lord ... I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living! (Psalm 27: 4, 13)
Truth guides and sustains, beauty inspires and comforts; so
let us ever seek to embrace God’s Truth in all its Beauty as we hear and strive
to understand, embrace and put into practice, the authentic Gospel proclaimed
to us in Mother Church, the Immaculate Spouse of her Risen Lord and Suffering Saviour,
Jesus Christ.