he Raising of the Widow’s Only Son Jesus was moved with great compassion
Lk 7,11-17

1. OPENING PRAYER

O Holy Spirit, soul of my soul, I adore you. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, teach me always to do the will of the Father. Help me to know what you desire: I promise to submit to everything that you want from me and to accept all that you allow to happen to me.

Amen.

 (Card. Désiré Mercier)

2. READING

 a) A Key to the Reading

Today’s gospel gives us the story of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. A look at the literary context of the 7^th chapter of the Gospel of Luke will help us to understand this episode. The evangelist wishes to show that Jesus opens the way for us by showing us something of what is new about God as it comes to us in the proclamation of the Good News. This is how  transformation and openness come about: Jesus listens to the prayer of a foreigner, a non-Jew (Lk 7:1-10)  and raises the son of a widow (Lk 7:11-17) The way in which Jesus reveals the Reign of God comes as a surprise to the Jewish brethren who were not used to this kind of openness. It is a surprise also to John the Baptist who sends messengers to ask, Are you the one who is to come or are we to  wait for another (Lk 7:18-30). Jesus mocks the fickleness of his contemporaries: They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another,“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.”’(Lk 7:31-35). At the end we see Jesus’ openness to women (Lk 7:36-50)

b) Reading

From the Gospel according to Luke (7:11-17)
11 Soon afterwards^* he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.¹²As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’¹⁴Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^* gave him to his mother.¹⁶Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’¹⁷This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

c) A division of the text that will help our reading

Lk 7,11-12:    The meeting of the two processions

Lk 7,13:        Compassion in action

Lk 7,14-15:    "Young man, I say to you, rise!"

Lk 7,16-17:    The repercussions

c) The Text: Luke 7,11-17

11 Soon afterwards^* he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.¹

²As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.

¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’¹⁴Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’

¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’¹⁷This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

3. A MOMENT OF PRAYERFUL SILENCE

So that the Word of God may enter us and give light to our lives.

4. SOME QUESTIONS

To help our meditation and prayer.

 - The text tells us that there were two groups of people. Which of them caught the attention of Jesus?

- Compassion moved Jesus to raise the son of the widow to life. Does the pain of others move me to the same kind of compassion?

- What do I do to help others to overcome their pain and open out to a new life?
- God visited his people. Am I aware of the many visits of God in my life and in the life of the people?

- Am I appreciative, and do I praise and thank God for the very many good things I have received?

5. FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO HAVE A DEEPER GRASP OF THE TEXT

a) Commentary on the text

Lk 7,11-12: The meeting of the two processions

” Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town”.

Luke is like a painter. With very few words he manages to paint a very beautiful picture of the meeting of two crowds or processions, the funeral procession that leaves the city and accompanies the widow bringing her only son to the cemetery; the procession of the crowd that was heading for the city accompanying Jesus. The two meet in the small square near the gate of the city of Nain.

Lc 7,13: Compassion in action

“¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep”.It was compassion that moved Jesus to speak and to act. Compassion means, literally, to suffer-with, to take on the pain of the other person, to be identified with the other person and to feel the other person’s pain. It was compassion that ignited the power in Jesus, the power of life over death, the power of creation.

Lc 7,14-15: "Young man, I tell you, rise!"

Jesus went nearer to the bier and said, “Young man, I tell you, rise”. The dead man “sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother”. Sometimes, when there is great suffering because of the death of a loved-one, people say, “In the time of Jesus, when Jesus walked on this earth, there was the hope of not losing a loved-one because Jesus could bring people back to life”. Such people think of the raising of the widow’s son in Nain as something that happened in the past, that makes us think about the past and have a certain envy. However the intention of the Gospel is not to get us thinking about the past or to produce any kind of envy, but rather to help us come to a better experience of the living presence of  Jesus among us. It is the same Jesus, who has power to overcome death and the pain of death, and who continues to be alive in our midst. He is with us today and in the face of the problems that are capable of dragging us down he says again, “I tell you, Rise!”

Lk 7,16-17: The repercussions

“¹⁶Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ ¹⁷This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country. This was the prophet that was foretold by Moses (Dt 18,15).The God who comes to visit us is “the Father of orphans and the protector of widows” (Ps 68,6; cfr. Jud 9,11).

6. PRAYER – Psalm 68,4-8

⁴ Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds^*—
his name is the Lord—
be exultant before him.

⁵ Father of orphans and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
⁶ God gives the desolate a home to live in;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious live in a parched land.

⁷ O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain
at the presence of God, the God of Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

 

7. CLOSING PRAYER

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your Word that has helped us to see the will of the Father more clearly. Let your Spirit enlighten our actions and enable us to carry our  what your Word has helped us to see. May we, just like Mary, your Mother, not only listen to your Word but also put it into practice. You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.