20th Sunday after Pentecost

 (Luke 7:11-16)

In today’s Holy Gospel we hear the account of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. Christ and His disciples and a large crowd of followers were traveling from one city to the next and, as they approached the city of Nain, their path crossed with a funeral procession. A young man, the only son of a widowed mother, had died and the dead man was being carried out for burial. When our Lord saw this scene, His heart was filled with compassion for the grieving mother and He approached her and said, ‘Do not weep.’

Then He touched the coffin of the deceased and said to Him, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ Immediately, the young man was revived and sat up and began speaking. The shock and consolation and joy of the mother must have been indescribable!

What are we to learn from today’s Gospel reading?

Well, the first thing that strikes us is the love and compassion of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here was our Lord, traveling along on His important mission of preaching, surrounded by a large crowd of His disciples and followers – and He notices and His heart is moved by the scene of this little funeral procession and the tears of the mother who is now alone without a husband or son to care for her. How many times do we see in the Holy Gospel the manifestation of the compassion Christ? Our Lord’s entire earthly ministry was filled with demonstrations of this practical and heartfelt compassion for people. Christ not only raised the dead, but He spent great time and great care in visiting and healing the sick, the lepers, the lame, and the downtrodden. No-one was insignificant to our Lord. And the same goes true to this day… God looks upon each one of us as a unique and unrepeatable person. Take consolation, dear brothers and sisters! God is near and He cares for you. But if that is true, then why does God seem so distant from me sometimes? I call out to Him, but I get no answers! Well… as Metropolitan Anthony of Sorouzh so pointedly put it – isn’t it really the case that we are the ones who are absent, not God? How many times does God knock on the door of our heart and we do not answer? We must work to be attuned to God and then we will see how close He is to us – even in our sufferings, especially in our sufferings.

Today’s Gospel also shows us the tremendous power and authority of Jesus Christ. Let us make no mistake and let us never doubt the life-giving creative power of Jesus Christ. Our Lord, in His earthly ministry not only healed the sick, but on several occasions we see Him calling back to life those that had died. This should surely come as no surprise, that Christ, Who is God, can heal the sick and raise the dead, for He is the source of all life and Creator of the heavens and the earth.

What is most remarkable is not the power and authority of Christ, but the love and compassion of Christ. St Isaac the Syrian said, ‘Do not fear God because of the greatness of His majesty, but fear Him because of the greatness of His love.’

This is a very profound statement… ‘Do not fear God because of the greatness of His majesty, but fear Him because of the greatness of His love.’

It is true that God is above all, that He reigns in majesty, that He is worthy of our awe and trepidation. We stand in His presence and gaze into the abyss of infinity and we fear because we are unworthy to look upon the height of His glory.

But there is something so much more intimate happening in God’s relationship with mankind. When we realize the life-giving power and authority of God it emphasizes to us the humility and compassion of God that He deigns to give us such freedom. God does not demand our love, for how can true love be demanded of another? Instead, He offers Himself to us… extending His love and His invitation to enter into a relationship with us. This is an astounding thing! This is the overwhelming greatness of the love of God!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our fear of God should transcend beyond the trembling before His majesty… we must fear the possibility of falling short of the love which God extends to us. This is the true fear of the Lord! That we understand His intimate and loving compassion and patience for us and yet we fall short of valuing and holding this treasure of God’s love.

Christ said if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And what are the commandments of Christ? He tells us that all the Law and the Prophets are summarized in the following… that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength and that we love our neighbor as our self. Let us therefore strive to love God above all else and to do our best to keep His commandments – not out of slavish obligation, but flowing from a heart of gratitude and enthusiastic love for the One Who has first loved us.