Word to the Wise
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - Tuesday in the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Tim 3:1-13 and Luke 7:11-17]Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. [Luke]
This very touching story of Jesus' compassion for the widowed mother of an only son by raising him from death should give us pause. Wait a minute....that sounds like what would happen to Jesus! He was the only son of a widowed mother when he died! But there is more to the story in the bigger picture of the Gospel According to Luke. The reaction of the crowd is very much in keeping with with Canticle of Zechariah with its references to God visiting his people in the person of John the Baptist, a great prophet.
The most important point of the story is about God's mercy being extended without it even being sought. Jesus worked on his own initiative and did not have to be asked, as he was by the centurion (yesterday's gospel). He could easily see the sorrow of the widowed mother, who would have been left desolate by the loss of the one male member of her family. There would have been no one else to care for her in the society of Jesus' time. The line "widows and orphans" appears often in the Bible to signify the most vulnerable and poorest people.
God's mercy is extended to all of us. Can we be alert to those who weep and suffer great loss and extend that mercy? It requires sensitivity because external evidence like a funeral procession may not be available. The weeping may not be visible. Jesus would die as the only son of a widowed mother. His resurrection would be more than the widow's son in today's gospel, who would eventually die again. But mercy calls to us from his mother's sorrow and reminds us of what may be all around us. [cf. Sept. 15, feast of the Sorrowful Mother]. AMEN