The Lord Jesus begins His ministry by traveling around where He had grown up, ministering to the people who lived close to Him. He travels throughout the region of northern Israel, and many accounts mention the Sea of Galilee, as well as cities like Capernaum and Nazareth. These sites still exist in the Holy Land and can be visited today. In this passage, while Jesus walks not far from where He had grown up, He comes to the town of Nain.
As the Lord approaches the gates of the small town, there is a funeral procession and a commotion. Family and friends help a mother as they carry her dead son’s casket, also known as a bier. The situation is deeply sorrowful and provides parallels to Christ’s work and its implications for our lives. The mother has lost her only son (in Greek, μονογενὴς), and she is also a widow. This means that, having lost her husband and only son, she was left destitute. In that society, the husband provided for the family. If the husband died, the sons would take on such responsibility. The widow is left without a husband and without her only son. There is not only the deep grief of the loss by death, but also the distress of being left alone with no provision. The widow contemplates her losses with a sense of devastation and fear for the future. In a real sense, she is carrying her own death sentence.
Jesus, however, sees her and approaches her. He has compassion for her. The Greek word used for compassion in the original Gospel reading (the Greek verb σπλαγχνίζομαι) carries a strong meaning of being deeply moved in one’s inward parts. It means having a deep, heartfelt sense of sharing another’s pain and a readiness to come to their aid. We are told of Jesus’ compassion several times in the Gospel, when He feeds the multitudes and heals lepers and blind men.
Our Lord is gracious and compassionate, and He is deeply moved when He comes to the widow who has lost her only son. He lovingly tells her, “Do not weep.” In many ways, the scene, prefigures the situation in which Jesus will find Himself, not too long after this. He, the only Son of God, will be crucified. Standing by His Cross, His Mother, Mary the Most Holy Theotokos, is also left without her only Son. Her tears were shared by the Apostle John and others who stood with them at His Holy Cross. In the service of Lamentations on Holy Friday (evening), we chant, “Tearful lamentations did the pure Lady pour over You, O sweetest Jesus, maternally crying out, ‘How can I bury You, my Son?’”
Mary the Theotokos wept as Jesus Himself wept at the death of His friend, Lazarus. Jesus shared in the sorrowful condition of humanity, feeling its pain and loss. And yet, death does not have the last word because He has destroyed death by His death. Therefore, He comforts the widow by raising her only son. The Word of God raises the young man when Jesus Christ speaks to him directly, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” What is
more powerful than the Word of God? He needs only to speak to exert His Divine Will. The widow’s son sits up in his casket and begins to speak. Jesus then gives him back to his mother. The Lord, Who is the source of life, defeats death. As Saint Cyril of Alexandria says, “He performs the miracle not only in word, but also touches the bier (a type of casket), to the end that you might know that the sacred body of Christ is powerful to the saving of man . . . For as iron applied to fire does the work of fire, so the flesh, when it is united to the Word, which quickens all things, becomes itself also quickening, and the banisher of death.”
Remarkably, Jesus does not ask (as He sometimes does with other people) if the mother has faith, nor if she wants Him to resurrect her son. He knows not only the feelings but also the disposition of her heart. He gives back to her that which is needed for her earthly life, that is, her son. With this miracle, He cures her soul’s despair, strengthens her faith, and leads her to salvation. We can all experience resurrections in our lives when we experience God’s compassionate help and His Divine plan for our salvation.
Jesus is, in a real sense, saying, “Woman behold your son; and, young man, behold your mother,” just as He did at the Cross. The son’s life is restored. The mother’s life is restored. He also restores our lives when things seem hopeless, and we feel alone. He
comes to us in our pain and turns our sorrow into joy. This story is an example and proof of the two natures of Christ — human and Divine. In His human nature, Jesus feels the pain of loss and death. In His divine nature, the Son of God raises the son back to life, as He does with us.
Jesus calls light out of darkness, creates all things, and makes all things new again. He is the only begotten Son who died and rose to restore life. We are the ones who, without Christ, are dead in sin but, with Him, are resurrected and given new life. As He says, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Even though we separate ourselves from God when we sin, God comes to us so that He may raise us from the death of sin, just as he did for the young man of Nain. God does not shy away from us when we shy away from Him. He will take us by the hand and restore us to health and salvation.
Right before Jesus died on the Cross He gave John the Apostle to Mary to care for her, since she had no other sons. In this way, the Lord ensured that His Mother would be protected in a society hostile to widows without children. In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus raises only three people from the dead: Jairus’ daughter, Lazaros, and the son of the widow of Nain. These are extraordinary examples of God’s great mercy and great power. The same Lord Who protected His Mother at His own Crucifixion by ordaining her the Mother of the Apostles, now raises the only son of the widow of Nain. He does this so that the widow of Nain might also be protected and honored, just as He did with His own Mother at the Crucifixion. The Lord has raised the son of the widow so that He may continue to protect her in this life, and He will raise him again for everlasting life at the
Second Coming. The Lord comes to us at our lowest point, and lifts us with His loving arms, even when we have distanced ourselves from Him.
Jesus destroys humanity’s death — sin — and He restores us to true life. Christ makes all things new because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is our Creator, and compassion for us as a loving Father. Through His love, we are called to be compassionate to one another. With deep faith, we pray for the salvation of every human being.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created all thing out of nothing. He also recreates us in the darkest hours of our life, when we feel furthest from Him. Christ, who died and rose from the dead, gives us His life in exchange for our despair when we offer it to Him in prayer. Through the Church’s Holy Sacraments, we receive His life — new life — that transforms us from within. God cleanses us through the Holy Baptism. He gives us His own Holy Spirit at Holy Chrismation. We become one with Him through Holy Communion. We are reconciled with Him in Holy Confession. And He heals us of our physical and spiritual infirmities with Holy Unction.
His compassion for us is limitless, and because of His love, He is ready to meet us in our darkest hours, just as He met the widow of Nain in her darkest hour. Through His love, He resurrects us, lifting us out of the casket of despair. He is our Life and the Life-giver by nature. In every circumstance, Christ sees us and comes to us, as He does to the widow, to wipe our tears and restore our lives.
