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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.

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 As we have said before, Jesus was equally God and equally man, now in heaven he is, as God the son, wholly God.

But we know that as a man he felt the same emotions that we feel. We hear of him being hungry and thirsty, we know he cried when his friend Lazarus died, he went to wedding and observed Jewish festivals with his friends. He also got annoyed when the temple was not being treated with reverence, in the same way any of us would if either our own place of worship or even our homes were treated badly by people.

But in this reading we hear firstly that he’s accompanied by ‘a great number of people’.   The reason being, he had made a name for himself as a great teacher and when people gain some fame, it means more and more people want to know about them.

Shortly after getting to the town they come across a funeral, a young man, the only son of a widow.

In biblical times women did not work, most wives relied completely on their husbands, or if they were a son or even a son in law. One of the reasons we know Mary had no more children other than Jesus is because she went to live with John, when he was dying on the cross Jesus asked John to treat Mary as his mother. If she had other children, this would have been a scandal.

The mother in this story was now destitute, she would have had no one to look after her. On top of this, she had lost her child. I pray every day that I do not outlive my children, or grandchildren. This woman had not only suffered the worst emotional pain possible, but she had lost her livelihood too.

In raising the boy from the dead Jesus shows us that he, with his human side, takes pity on the woman and is in effect giving her a second chance at life.

Jesus does similar for us too, he gives us a chance of eternal life, a chance to get to heaven, he raises us from the dead too in order that we be with him in paradise, as we heard him say to one of the men he was crucified with.

As we hear in the reading, word spread throughout Judea and word continued to spread; and it does today. St Francis of Assisi once said “Christians should preach the gospel at all times, when necessary, use words”. This is similar to the Islamic tenet that we should ‘Enjoin to the good and forbid to do evil’, or the Jewish belief of Tzedakah, which means to be seen to be generous in all things.

The woman lost her son and her grief would have been unbearable, think how bad you feel when you can’[t find your phone, or you homework, or even your crisps, but she was given that life back, and he gives us our lives back too, and word of that has spread throughout the world.

Closing Prayet

Heavenly Father, in glorifying Jesus and sending us your Spirit, You open the way to eternal life. May my sharing in this Gift increase my love and make my faith grow stronger. Send Your Spirit to cleanse my life so that the offering of myself to You at Mass may be pleasing to You. May my sharing in the Eucharist, our Bread of Life, bring me eternal life.