HOMILY FOR MONDAY 24TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME B
{1COR 12:12-14.27-31a; LUKE 7:11-17}
Faith without good works is indeed dead. This theme continues throughout the week. Today we see that our faith must be demonstrated on those who need our help of any kind. This help can be in form of healing someone emotionally, putting a smile on the one who is sad, comforting the one who is mourning etc. This is what we see Jesus do in our gospel pericope. Today’s Gospel presents one of the three stories in the Gospel where Jesus brings a dead person back to life. The other stories are those of Lazarus and of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader. Today’s story is found only in Luke. Nain is a village six miles SE of Nazareth, and it is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. The scene is particularly sad because the mother in this story, who had already lost her husband, has now lost her only son and her only means of support.
Jesus was visibly moved by the sight of the weeping widow, perhaps because he could foresee his own mother in the same position at the foot of his cross. His compassionate heart prompted him to console the widow saying: “Do not weep.” Then Luke reports, “He touched the bier and when the bearers stood still, he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother,” and participated in her indescribable joy. There were instances in the Old Testament of people being raised from death, by Elijah (1 Kgs 17:17-24), and Elisha (2 Kgs 4:32-37). Jesus’ miracle took place near the spot where the prophet Elisha had brought another mother’s son back to life again (see 2 Kgs 4:18-37). These miracles were signs of the power of God working through His prophets. In the case of the widow’s son in today’s Gospel, the miracle showed the people that Jesus, like Elijah and Elisha, was, at the least, a great prophet.
Dear brothers and sisters, St. Augustine compares the joy of that widow to the joy of our Mother, the Church, when her sinful children return to the life of grace: “Our Mother the Church rejoices every day when people are raised again in spirit.” 2) The event also reminds us to have the same love and compassion for those who suffer just like what we had Jesus did in the gospel.
PAX VOBIS
Catholic Diocese of Ilorin, Kwara State,
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