Homily by Fr. Myroslav Vons on the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Glory to Jesus Christ!

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that Jesus Christ is going to a small, unremarkable town called Nain, the name of which is translated as “green pastures.” At the very beginning of the story, Luke seems to show that the Shepherd is coming to His flock to lead them out of darkness and save them. “The Lord is my shepherd; I will not lack anything. He lets me lie down in lush pastures. He leads me to still waters. He nourishes my soul; He leads me in the paths of His righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1–3). Jesus approaches the city and sees a funeral procession. A widow who had lost her husband. A mother who had lost her only son. A woman who has lost hope in her grief.

What does Jesus do? Jesus does not hide, saying, “It’s not my problem.” Jesus does not miss the funeral procession. He sees the weeping widow. A mother who has lost her only son. He feels her pain, her sadness, and her despair. He empathises with her. As the Apostle Paul says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). The Lord weeps with this mother, who has lost her child. He shows her great mercy. Jesus Christ does not ask her, “Do you believe that I can raise him?” He does not say, “Because of your sins, this has happened to you,” as the legalists might have claimed—those who said God was punishing her for her sins by taking her husband and now her son while she was still young. Let us recall here the Book of Ruth, where in chapter 1, after the death of her husband and two sons, Naomi says, “The Lord has come against me, and the Almighty has made me talentless” (Ruth 1:20–22).

After these words, the Lord acts. He breaks all stereotypes and laws. He stops the funeral procession and touches the bier, which was a rather bold and unclean act according to the customs of the time. He looks at the widow’s dead son. He says, “Young man, get up.” He revives and begins to speak. The evangelist Luke emphasises once again that Jesus Christ is our Lord. He speaks a word, and the dead come to life. He sees sadness and dispels it. He sees darkness and illuminates it. He sees death and sets us free.

Then we read that Jesus Christ gave him to his mother. He gives the mother her child, who was dead but now has life. Every child is a gift from God. A gift given by the Lord. And He gives this gift back to the mother.

Why did the mother walk in front of this terrible procession?

Let’s remember Eve, who sinned and through whose sin death came. According to the law of that time, all women were considered responsible for the fact that death came through sin. That is why she walked in front of her son’s body. And when Christ says, “Do not weep,” and raises the widow’s only son, He shows that it is through this widow that the resurrection comes to this house. Christ does not perform this miracle because of the young man. It is through the mother’s tears that the Lord gives her son back to life. Death met life. And life has won. For the Lord is the Creator of life. For Him, there are no dead. For Him, we are all alive.

Why did Christ raise the young man? But it is more correct to ask: Why did He have mercy on the widow?

We can guess to some extent. Perhaps it was because this widow was very poor and doomed to begging. Since we learn from the Gospel that the young man was buried in an open tomb, he was not wrapped in shrouds, for he stood up and began to speak. He was the only son who was supposed to take care of his mother in her old age. But because of his death, she was condemned by law to a life of poverty and hardship. Perhaps the Lord felt the great loneliness she was experiencing in her heart, as the Lord Himself felt when He said, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). Or perhaps, in this grieving woman, He saw His mother, the Most Holy Theotokos, who in time would also bury her son.

The most important thing is that Jesus Christ once again shows who He is! The Lord who gives life. The Lord, who is so compassionate towards sadness and tears. The Lord who comes to help people at unexpected times and places. According to His word, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor” (cf. Luke 7:22).

In conclusion, there are several important lessons from this Gospel that we should remember for ourselves:

1. Jesus comes on time. Let’s note that Jesus came just as the funeral procession was leaving the city. Scripture scholars say that in order to get to that city on time, the Lord had to walk all night from Capernaum to Nain. Sometimes when we think that God is not with us or has abandoned us, let us remember that the Lord walked all night to come to the aid of a widow who had lost her son.

2. We are not immune from suffering. The Lord is with us, for “He is our help, our shield, our heart rejoices in Him, for we trust in His holy name” (cf. Psalm 33:20–22). He is always in solidarity with our grief and with our pain. He comes to meet us and stops us. Just as He did in today’s Gospel. He met a widow, had mercy, and stopped the funeral procession. Jesus Christ acts to assure us: “For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not leave you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers…” (cf. Deuteronomy 4:31).

3. The power of motherhood is more powerful than the laws of nature (Barbara Kingsolver). The Lord had mercy on a mother who had lost her only son. He did something that is impossible according to the laws of nature. He raised someone who was dead. This mother must have been on her knees in an empty room, sobbing and crying out to the Lord, asking Him “why?” and “for what?” and screaming in her grief, falling down from powerlessness, and getting up again to pray. The power of prayer and the love of a mother can change what seems impossible to change.

”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which God comforts us” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4).

See also

January 13 The transfers of priests in the Melbourne Eparchy August 10 Homily by Fr. Myroslav Vons on the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost August 3 Homily by Fr. Myroslav Vons on the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost