Our gospel text for this evening tells us that Jesus had “compassion” on a widow who was in deep distress.
This poor woman was about to bury her only son, so Jesus raises him from the dead.
Jesus actually stops the processional – touches the bier and says: “Young man, I say to you, rise!”
Now, this could have been the most embarrassing moment of Jesus’ entire ministry, had the body of the boy not responded.
After all, this was Jesus’ first raising from the dead experience—it was pretty early in his ministry career. But of course, the boy did get up. Jesus was putting everything on the line…here.
The fact that it mentions that the mourners were overcome with fear sounds realistic enough.
Imagine if you yourself would witness something like this at a funeral you were attending; imagine the corpse would start twitching, then sit up and then, start walking around.
Joy “would only set in” after the initial shock wore off. I bet people would go running and screaming, not knowing quite what to do! There are only few things “creepier” than the thought of a casket opening and a dead person staggering out. This is the stuff that “horror flicks” are made of.
So, what does this story teach us?
Well, this account shows us how God comes through at a moment of “great distress” and “human suffering” in the life of a “widow.” A nobody…one of the marginalized…
It reveals to us and for us God’s heart, God’s compassion, God’s love and care for… very “common and ordinary people.”
Widows in first-century Israel were women on the edge of society. Without a social security system in place, these poor people relied on their extended families for support.
Again and again in the scriptures we hear about the poor widows and orphans in Israel…and the need for someone to care for them…
Jesus had probably just learned about the specifics of the death and about the mourning woman…as the two groups met on the roadway.
He was so “gripped with compassion” and “love” toward this woman that he “spontaneously decided” to intervene in a “dramatic way.”
Keep in mind, his mother, Mary, was also a widow!
He first attempts to comfort the woman and then he heals her son. The first words out of his mouth are: “do not weep.”
When Jesus said, “do not weep” he knew that there would soon – be no reason for weeping…unless we are talking tears of joy!
Jesus’ words, “do not weep” should remind us of the question Jesus asked Mary Magdalene shortly after he rose from the dead. He asked her: “Woman, why do you weep?”
Once again, when Jesus asked this question, he was saying: you don’t have any reason to weep – I have removed the cause for your pain, suffering and mourning.
Jesus is definitely “compassionate” the scripture is saying…
The meaning of which, according to the dictionary is: one’s “innermost self” or feelings, heart, affection, love and …here it is: the word for entrails – is related to the word compassion, perhaps best rendered in the English with “the pit of the stomach.
Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you heard some really shocking news, perhaps about the illness or death of a loved one? Well that’s the feeling Jesus experienced.
He did not even know this woman, really. He just saw her for (what we assume was the first time) and yet….he feels for her loss like she was his own family member.
Now that’s compassion!
That’s “divine compassion” like only God can have it for a perfect “stranger.”
It is also “the kind of compassion” that we are too long to have…
Finally we hear about the reaction of the people. The text says that the people of the village glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and God has looked favorably “on his people!”
Note here that the people did NOT say:
“God has looked favorably on this daughter, of Israel.”
The people sensed …that this “compassion, this love, this favor” was extended to all of them, as well.
They instinctively knew that this was “divine love and compassion” and they knew that Jesus would have helped any one of them in a similar situation.
It was beyond amazing!
It was a “great reversal” of tears of sadness being turned into tears of joy.
And the son was given back to his mother.