Luke 7, Widow of Nain

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to God. Jesus went to a city called Nain.

St. Luke says, as he drew near to this gate of

the city, a man who had died was being carried

out, the only son of his mother, and she was

a widow, and Jesus had compassion on her. At

this time of the account of St. Luke, if we were

looking down from above, we would see a road

between the town of Capernaum, where Jesus had

just healed, St. Luke tells us, the servant of

a righteous Roman centurion. In fact, it says

that that Roman centurion had more faith than

anyone that Jesus had actually met before. Between

Capernaum, there was a road going to the village

of Nain. And Jesus was on that road. There's

two processions that we would have seen looking

down from above. One with Christ in the center,

joyful. People hanging on to his every word,

I imagine. Expected at what Jesus would say and

what he would do. And heading towards him, coming

out of the gate of the city. Where many who are

grieving with a widow for her dead son, think

of that at that time, a widow with no son. Basically

helpless, having to depend upon her relatives

if she has them. The procession is one of death,

sorrow, grief, sickness, despair. It's a traffic

jam at the city gate. We're looking down at this.

But we're not looking down. Actually, each one

of us knows something about that widow's condition.

The family that she was in. The sorrow. The grief.

We know something about that. Maybe some of you,

exactly the same here, know about that from your

life. And that's... See, the gospel is always

extremely clear about reality. When Jesus is

born, yes, the shepherds are joyful. The wise

men are rejoicing. They've got no place to be

but a cave. And what happens after that? Herod,

afraid of losing his position to a new king,

kills children. The gospel is extremely clear

about the condition that we live in. Nothing

is sugar -coated. It's not easy to carry the

cross. It's much easier to just let it all go

and pretend, you know, and put an electric blanket

over our head for the rest of our life. But this

is reality. The gospel is about what's real.

The procession of death. Meets the procession

of life. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, I

am the gate. He's at the gate of that city. Jesus

touched the open coffin. And those who carried

him stood still. It says. Those who carried him

stood still. Jesus touched the coffin. Everything

stopped. I imagine the bird stopped. Total silence.

Nothing moved. The clouds stopped in the sky.

The wind stopped. Everything waiting for what

the Son of God would do. Equally impossible but

true is like, who is this Son of God that has

come? Sometimes people have said to me, well,

Father, why are our prayers so long? They are

long. Listen to this portion of a prayer, a long

prayer, I won't read it all, from the baptism

this morning. I congratulate the grandparents,

Gunella and Lena's parents, Gunella and... Why

can't I remember your name all of a sudden? Ingmar

and the mother, Lena. And the grandparents. I

was saying, we have long prayers because we speak

to the God, the Most High God, the only true

God. We're not speaking to any other powers.

St. Paul says, we're in a fight, not with flesh

and blood, but with wickedness, spiritual wickedness.

In powerful and high and heavenly places. So

we speak to God to remind ourselves who we are

members of. Who is our God? Not to remind God.

So we say this. Oh God. Lord, the moon glorifies

thee. The stars meet together before thee. The

light hearkens to thee. The deep shudder before

thee. The springs of water serve thee. Thou hast

stretched out the heaven as it were a curtain.

Thou hast established the earth upon the waters.

Thou hast bounded the sea with sand. Thou hast

spilled out the air for breathing. The angelic

powers serve thee. The choirs of archangels worship

thee. The many -eyed cherubim and the six -winged

seraphim standing and flying round about cover

themselves with fear at thine unapproachable

glory. For thou who art God, inexpressible, without

beginning, and ineffable. Doth come down upon

earth, taking the form of a servant, being made

in the likeness of man, for the sake of thy tender

mercy and compassion. And compassion is the word

in the New Testament used only of Jesus. Only.

That word is only used of Jesus. Multiple times.

Ten, thirteen times. For thou, Lord, couldst

not endure to behold the race of men tormented

by the devil, for thou didst come and save us.

It is that one that came to that city gate and

put his hand on the coffin and said, young man,

we speak to dead people all the time in the middle

of the church, they don't arise. But Jesus says,

young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he rose

up and he gave him to his mother. It was for

the sake of the mother that this man was raised.

And fear and joy came upon all that were there.

For that man, it meant a temporary continuation

of life for the sake of his mother. Not for his

own sake. For us, what does this miracle mean?

Cyril of Alexandria says it's a sign of what's

to come. It's the pledge of what God's going

to do at the consummation of the age. That those

persons who were restored to life by the power

of Christ, the young girl, this man, Lazarus,

we take as a pledge of the hope prepared for

us for the resurrection beyond the grave. Christ

is the gate. We've gone through that gate. He

is our gate. The world is full of sorrow and

grief. Brothers and sisters, we are to be witnesses

not of something nice, something comfortable,

something soothing, but witnesses of the new

life that we saw in the baptism today given to

Alvig Elizabeth. that we are now partakers of.

If Christ is the only compassionate one, then

you and I have to be compassionate with the compassion

of God to those around us. Not judgmental, not

angry, not argumentative, but giving and loving

and witnessing to what we have here. to the new

life in Christ, which we are going to partake

of shortly when we receive his body and his blood,

that we are members of the kingdom. Now, now,

through liturgy, through prayer, to faithfulness

of commandments, through trust in Christ's words,

Christ promises his disciples this, peace I leave

with you, my peace I give unto you. This is what

we give to other people too. Christ gave it to

us, we give it to others. Not as the world. Peace

in the world is just the subtraction of violence.

Not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not

your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

And you heard his words to the apostles, to the

Lord, to Lord God, his Father, in the prayer

that he gave. Father, that they may be one, even

as we. are one. Let me conclude with a prayer

composed by a holy abbot rather than try and

explain all this more. The prayer is this. Weep

not, O Mother, for the father of orphans and

the judge of widows is here. I adopt from my

own the orphan and the widow. I will never let

them go unprotected or unassisted. Weep not,

for your son is only sleeping, for in my presence

death is as evanescent as sleep. Weep not, for

before you stands the resurrection and the life,

which life is the light of all. Weep not, for

with me is the fountain of life, and in my light

your son shall again see the light of life. Weep

not, for I call the things that are not as though

they are. Out of nothing I brought all things

into being. Is it a great thing then for me to

call your dead son back among the living? Weep

not, for I hold the keys and the power of death.

I put to death and make alive. I bring down into

Hades and bring back up again. The lifespan of

all men is in the light of my face. Death and

hell cower and quail in my presence. Weep not,

O woman, your son shall rise again. Those words

are directed to you and to me. To our Lord, risen

from the dead, be glory now and ever, to ages

of ages. Amen.