The Widow of Nain
(Is.25:6-9; Rom.5:5-11; Lk.7:11-17)
According to Scripture, Jesus brought three dead people back to physical life. There was his friend Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus, and in today’s Gospel there’s the son of the Widow of Nain.
The town of Nain is not far from Nazareth, about a day’s walk from Capernaum. Its name means ‘pleasant,’ perhaps because of the scenic mountains nearby.
However, it wasn’t so pleasant for this widow. She’s already lost her husband, and now her only son is dead. This means she’s lost her only means of support.
It was tough for women in those days, for they had few rights. In that patriarchal society, widows could not inherit anything significant. So, she was going to lose her land and her capacity to earn a living, and she was also unlikely to marry again. Her life was effectively over.
The best she could hope for was charity from neighbours and distant relatives.
It’s no wonder, then, that she’s crying as she leads the funeral procession to the burial ground. Behind her, pallbearers carry her son’s body while the townspeople follow with mourners wailing loudly.
Along the way they meet Jesus coming the other way from Capernaum, followed by his own large crowd. When Jesus sees her tears, he understands her suffering and says ‘do not cry.’ Then, without being asked, he touches her son’s funeral bier and brings him back to life.
Everyone there is stunned. No-one doubts that this is the work of God.
Today’s version of Luke’s story tells us that Jesus ‘felt sorry for her.’ However, a better translation of the original Greek would say he ‘had compassion.’ In the New Testament, the word compassion is only used in connection with Jesus and the Good Samaritan, and every time it’s used, it doesn’t just mean kind words or a general concern. It means positive action.
For compassion isn’t the same as pity or sympathy. Pity and sympathy are things you feel, but compassion is something you do. Compassion is linked with mercy and it describes the motivation behind great acts of love. It’s the desire to do something to alleviate suffering. It’s the outward expression of charity.
Jesus’ compassion, therefore, isn’t about feeling sorry for anyone. It’s much deeper than that.
Jesus fully understands pain, suffering, and tears; he understands grief and abandonment. He understands agonising sorrow, and it’s because he understands all this that he has devoted his life to doing something about them, even to the point of dying on the Cross.
Now that’s real compassion.
When you see someone in pain or trouble, how do you respond? With pity or sympathy? Or do you have real compassion for them, like Jesus?
When Jesus performs a miracle, he doesn’t do it to show he’s the Messiah. Jesus doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone. Rather, he performs miracles because he cares. As he says in John 10:10, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.’
Jesus wanted this Widow to have life; he wanted Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, to have life. And he wanted Jairus and his wife to have life. That’s why he brought their loved ones back from the dead.
So, we know that Jesus has power over physical death. But he also has power over spiritual death, and that’s what he demonstrates with the Widow of Nain. He has given her new life and fresh hope.
Today is All Souls’ Day, when the whole Church stands with the Widow of Nain at the threshold of mystery, as we accompany our loved ones to the grave.
We know the pain of separation, just as she did. But we also recognise that our prayers for the dead are not empty rituals, for they are joined with Christ’s own compassion. We know that Jesus cares deeply for every departed soul and for every grieving heart.
At Nain, Jesus restores that young man to earthly life, but this is only a foretaste of what is to come. On All Souls’ Day, we affirm that our deceased loved ones await not just a temporary return, but eternal resurrection in Christ.
So, our prayers today are like the Widow’s silent plea. She doesn’t even speak, but her tears cry out. We, too, pray and entrust our departed loved ones to the merciful heart of Jesus, who we know has conquered death.
Thanks to his great mercy, life will always shine through.
For just as Jesus raised that young man in today’s Gospel, so too will he raise all who have died in him.