Nain

Praise be to God the Most Holy Trinity

Today we follow Jesus to a city named Nain.

It is a city a few miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee.

The city is west of the Jordan River.

It’s far enough away that you don’t see the Sea or the River.

Nain means pleasant or green pastures.

It begins as an unpleasant story with a miracle at the end.

Remember in Mark’s Gospel Chapter 8,

Jesus asked the Disciples to Caesarea Philippi

And he asked them:

“Who do people say that I am?”

Some said that he was Elijah. 

If we go back to first Kings Chapter 17,

We hear the story about Elijah, the widow and her son.

Elijah was in hiding from Queen Jezebel.

He stayed with the widow and her son.

God also provided for them.

In 1Kings 17:14, Elijah told the widow

“For the Lord, the God of Israel says:

The Jar of flour shall not go empty

Nor the jug of oil run dry

Until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” 

Although they had very little,

God provided for them.

So the widow trusted in God

And fed Elijah with the small amounts from her jar of flour

And the jug of oil.

Now it happened that the widow’s son died.

The widow accused Elijah of killing her child. 

She said: “Why have you done this to me,

O Man of God?  Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt

And to kill my son?”

Elijah said to her: “Give me your son.”

Elijah prayed to God: “O Lord, my God, will you afflict even the widow

With whom I am staying by killing her son?”

Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times

And called out the Lord

“O Lord My God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.

The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah;

The life breath returned to the child’s body  and he revived.

Elijah brought him down into the house from the upper room

And gave him back to his mother.

Elijah said: “See, your son is alive.”

She responded: “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.

The word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth.” 

The story of Nain reminded the people of Elijah’s story.

Jesus was like Elijah who raised the Widow’s son from the dead.

That is why people gossip that Jesus was Elijah.

But the contrast is that Jesus did not ask God to raise the Widow’s Son.

He just said: “Young man, I tell you, arise.” 

And immediately, the dead man got up and began to speak.

St. Luke is describing for us

That Jesus is not Elijah or one of the prophets. 

That Jesus is truly the divine Son of God.

How many times did Jesus raise someone from the dead?  Three times.

The second time is the raising of Jairus’ daughter.

The third time is the raising of Lazarus.

One commentary described this story as such

In our culture, when we are driving and happen to see a funeral procession

Most of us would pull over out of respect for the family.

Some of us, however, try to beat the traffic and drive faster.

Because we have somewhere else that we need to be.

In that particular culture during that time,

The people, upon seeing a funeral procession

Would join the procession with the family

And pay their respects.

Jesus and his Apostles were also making a procession.

They were processing down to Jerusalem.

Where Jesus will make the ultimate sacrifice.

We are given an opportunity to process with Jesus to Jerusalem.

At the Mass, that is what we are doing.

We say to Jesus:

I can follow my own path.  I can follow other processions.

I can be another place.

But I choose to follow you.

I choose your procession to Jerusalem

Because I trust in you, Jesus.

You have the words of eternal life.

You raise the widow’s son from the dead.

When our time on earth has been completed,

You will raise us up on the last day

And give us eternal life.