JUNE 9^th 2013. TENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

GOSPEL                   Luke 7:11-17

Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. 'Do not cry' he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, 'Young man, I tell you to get up'. And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, 'A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people'. And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Don Fabio sees in this Gospel the dramatic story of the apparent futility and senselessness of human endeavour. The cortege of Jesus meets the cortege of the widow’s son at the gates of Nain. Nain represents our world. Its gate stands for the passing from this world to death. Humanity has deep sadness and grief at its core because of a feeling that everything that we value comes to an end. We expend vast amounts of energy on entertainment and activity in an effort to distract ourselves from the anguish we feel at the transitory nature of our lives. The frantic funeral procession that is human life meets the procession of Jesus at the gates of the city. The first thing Jesus does is to say, “Do not cry! Your grief is misplaced! The ultimate end of things is not death and despair!” Then he touches the corpse. This corpse represents all of us, dead, putrid and impotent as we are. Jesus wants to touch us, speak to us and restore us to life. Just as the young man is given new life, so the Church gives new life to us, its members, through our life-giving encounters with Jesus in the sacraments. Grant, Lord, that each of us may listen to the words of Jesus and be restored from death to life.

Two corteges meet each other at the gates of Nain: the cortege of life led by Jesus; and the cortege of the widow’s only son. This funeral cortege represents the grief of humanity and its attachment to that which is passing away.

This beautiful story of the restoration to life of a young man is full of significant details. Jesus enters Nain, a place-name that refers to the beauty and cheerfulness of that city. Accompanying Jesus is a crowd of followers. This cortege encounters another cortege of a very different sort at the gate of the city: the funeral procession of a young man. The city of Nain represents our world, and the gate represents the place where one exits this world of human affairs. The young man who has died is the only son of a widowed mother. This heart-rending story is the story of humanity in general who must, sooner or later, arrive at that gate; it is the story of a human race that generates children who will one day die. All of our relationships and projects will eventually meet the same fate. The weeping of the widow of Nain is the continuous lament that is present in humanity for that which passes away. The lives that we lead in this world, our accomplishments and plans, already have the principle of their own corruption inherent in them. All of the beautiful things that we value will one day enter their twilight, and this is a source of great sadness for all of us.

  

The world engages in a hive of activity and entertainment to distract itself from its grief. Christianity has a message of life for this frenzied cortege of death that characterises our world.

The two corteges meet at the gate of Nain. The funeral cortege represents humanity’s steady progression towards eventual grief and the tomb. The cortege of Jesus, by contrast, is joyful and happy, and wishes to touch the first cortege. Christianity in general is a movement of people who wish to encounter other people. It is characterised by the desire to speak words of life to those in despair. To accomplish this, Christians must first of all be compassionate of heart. In this Gospel we see the compassionate heart of Jesus, and we see that the fundamental thing is not to prolong life but to love. Jesus takes the sadness of others into his own heart. The translation merely says “Jesus felt sorry for her”, but the original expression signifies that Jesus was moved internally by pity; his very insides were affected by his compassion for her. The cortege of life has its origin in the intimate interior of God that is moved by compassion for all of the living. “Do not cry”, Jesus says to the widow. Much of human culture arises from a desperate drive to avoid weeping; to distract ourselves from the reality of death. Our thirst for entertainment, for inebriation, for physical wellbeing are all directed to divert us from the sadness and grief that lies at the heart of our mode of existence. The sadness of humanity gives rise, on an industrial scale, to a frenzy of activity that tries to help us to flee from the gloomy reality prophesized in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Everything is vanity and a chasing after wind”.

Jesus announces that life is not merely a procession towards the tomb. Our grief arises from for our mistaken perspective on what is essential in life. Jesus demands a new perspective and says “There is no need to cry!”

Jesus, however, announces to the widow that it is time to extract oneself from the cycle of grief that besets humanity. “Do not cry!” Life is not just a procession towards the tomb. The action of God is present and it can transform reality. It is essential, however, that we lift our gaze and lose our fixation with grieving for what is passing. We think we know everything about the world, and this can lead to cynicism and despair. But we must be open to God’s surprising action in our lives that can radically change the character of what we experience. “Stop crying for what is passing!” This is the first step.

Jesus reaches out and touches the dead. He does this for all of us, dead, putrid and impotent as we are.

Then Jesus touches the corpse. The bearers stand still in surprise, because it was not permitted in Jewish society to touch a corpse. According to Jewish tradition, it was forbidden for a person in state of holiness to place his hand on the dead.  Only the coffin bearers were dispensed from this stipulation. What a surprise! Jesus, the holy one, touches a corpse! The living one reaches out to the dead. There is a fundamental lesson here for all of us. The dead is incapable of reaching out to the living. It is never the case that we approach God by our own initiative. It is never the case that we can resolve our own problems by ourselves. We must allow ourselves to be touched by the compassion of Christ. Jesus comes and he touches us, putrid, naked, impotent though we may be. Jesus touches the corpse and says, “Young man, I tell you to get up”. The word of God is capable of transforming our condition.

The young man of Nain represents all of us. Like him, we must hear the transforming words of Jesus and begin life again with youth and vigour.

This young man represents all of us. He is a youth, strong and full of energy. We think we know who we are, but we continually forget that God has a plan for us. As a result we have a concept of our own identity that is mistaken. We are all youths, children of God, and the Lord wishes to speak to us. We think that we can manage our own lives, be the centres of our own identities, but we are all youths in the sight of God. We are not merely children of this mother who weeps, but called to be children of God himself, called to be brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus who says to us, “Rise! Rise!” How often we are consumed by a spirit of sadness and grief. But these words of Jesus challenge us to try to discern who we are in God’s eyes. In God’s eyes I am always a person who can begin his life again; I am always a child. There is a line in the Easter liturgy that refers to “the renewed youthfulness of the spirit”. When the cortege of the Lord encounters our cortege, everything must be renewed to the core; everything must begin again from the start. Death is not the final word. God is the Alpha and the Omega and it is He who has the final word.

When Jesus says to the young man of Nain “Rise!” he is speaking directly to a person. Jesus is not promoting a philosophy or abstract system of ideas. The young man sits up and begins to speak. Everything happens in stages. First he is empowered to sit up by Jesus, then he speaks. The fact that he speaks indicates that what we are talking about here is a relationship. Jesus then restores him to his mother. This is a summary of the experience of the Church. The Church is vested in human frailty and weakness, yet it generates sons and daughters of God who are enabled to start from zero and begin life again. That the Lord may grant us through this Gospel to hear the restoring words of Jesus, contemplate his power, and become full of life again.