Tuesday, 15th September 2020

Collect

Forgiving God, your mercy endures forever; make us know the extent to which we are forgiven, that by your grace we will become a forgiving people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Eucharist Readings:

1 Corinthians 12:12-14,27-31        Psalm 100          Luke 7:11-17

In our Gospel reading, the story of a healing person at the point of death in (Chapter 7:2) is followed by that of the raising of a dead man at Nain. Jesus was especially sympathetic because the mother was a widow with only her son to support her. Luke stresses the compassion of Jesus as well His power.

Jesus’s arrival at Nain corresponded with the departure of a funeral procession. Luke puts the meeting near the gate of the city, a place which would normally have its quota of citizens, for it was the regular meeting place. The woman was now all alone in the world. Without someone to protect her and a provider she must have been in difficulties. There were few openings for a woman to earn her living in the first century, and besides the hardship and the sense of loneliness and sorrow there was the knowledge that the family line had ended. The large crowd accompanied her shows that her plight was widely appreciated and that there was a depth of sympathy for her.

Ignoring the fact that touching a dead body would make him religiously unclean, Jesus stopped the funeral procession and commanded the young man to get up. The simple word of command was sufficient to bring him back to life. Nobody asked Jesus to do anything, but he moved with compassion, He acted on His own initiative. First, he addressed himself to the weeping widow and told her to dry her tears. She would have been walking Infront of the bier, so Jesus encountered her first.

Jesus’ touching, it meant pollution according to the ceremonial laws, but where human need was in question Jesus never worried about ceremonial trifles. When He touched the bier the bier bearers stood still. No word was spoken to them, but plainly they saw that something unusual was happening. Jesus continued to address the corpse with the words ‘Young man, I say to you, arise’. Jesus simply spoke the word and the miracle took place. Jesus’ concern comes out in the detail that He gave the young man to his mother.

Those who saw this, reacted as men in the presence of God. Fear, which we must understand as awe, took hold of them. They glorified God, not Jesus. They recognized the hand of God in what had happened and gave praise where it was due. They did salute Jesus, naming Him a great prophet. This is an adequate view of Jesus, but it probably represented the highest title the townsmen could give anyone.

The woman came to a crossroad realizing that she lost everything, and she was all alone. Jesus came and a miracle took place and he gave her back her son. How many crossroads did we also maybe had to endure in our lives , maybe still are and we do not know which way to turn, sometimes maybe we also felt/feel alone, then Jesus came with compassion and made us realize in Him there is always hope. What seems impossible to us, with God anything is possible. He lifts us up from our darkest moments and make us see the light again, he turns our ‘nights’ into ‘days’, our sorrows into joy, our fears into courage, our weaknesses into strength.