We Need To Be Raised Anew

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟏𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐔𝐒, 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐘𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍, 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐬

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏 𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝟑:𝟏-𝟏𝟑

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟏:𝟏-𝟔 “𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟕:𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟕

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞.” (𝐯.𝟏𝟒) 

Today we have a beautiful Gospel passage in which we can easily identify ourselves with because a deeper reflection of the account depicted in this Gospel will ultimately lead us to a conclusion that there are many among us who may be alive or look as if we are alive but whose nature are dead that needs to be brought back to life.

Our brothers in the political field from the President down to the lowest worker in the government might as well find time to read this Gospel passage because the corruption that had been exposed in recent days would not have happened if only our public servants kept their faith and their belief in God.

          This passage brings to life what salvation is. Just as the son of the widow in this passage was dead and so is the world that is also dead to sin (𝑬𝒑𝒉 2:1) “𝑨𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒔” and there are no exceptions even among the ranks of the leaders of the Church and or Community. (𝑬𝒑𝒉 2:4) “𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔, 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚, 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 – 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅.”        

This event was actually the first time that God through Jesus raised a dead person back to life took place as Jesus left Capernaum where he healed the servant of the Roman Centurion and was entering the town of Nain when they were met by a funeral procession in which the young son of a widow was being brought to his grave.

         As it was customary for Jewish funerals there were a lot of weeping and crying from the group of professional mourners but beyond the grief that permeated the air in this burial procession, Jesus saw the grief that filled the mother of the dead man who was a widow.

         Mention of the widow is particularly important because unlike today when widows can either be taken care of by their relatives or can find work if they are able to, widows in the olden times have no future to look forward to unless they have other children or relatives to take care of them. But this widow had only one child – the son who was being buried and so she faced an uncertain future that is gloomy and desolate.

         And Jesus who is a Jew was very much aware of this scenario and his heart “𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓.” (𝒗.13). Other translations say “overflowed with compassion,” or “moved to the depths of his heart.” Nonetheless, what is evident is that Jesus was so moved and felt so great a compassion that he said to the widow “don’t cry.”

         As there were still no caskets during the time of Jesus the dead was usually placed in a bier that is made of wicker that could fit the mortal remains of the person to be buried. The dead was usually wrapped with burial cloth with only the head exposed and the men take turns in carrying the bier.

         And as Jesus came near the bier, He did not even ask that the bier be put down. What He did was he merely touched the bier saying (𝒗.14) “𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑” and the young man sat up, spoke and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

         What happened next is important (𝒗.16) “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒅.” The people did not praise Jesus, but they praised God which is actually what we all should do and the people at that time knew this as they said “𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞.” The raising of the young man shows the power of prayer in the life of the believer.

          Indeed, God comes to the aid of those who pray earnestly as did the widow in this Gospel and the Scriptures is replete with many accounts of people whose prayers for help were granted. This Gospel also shows that God intervenes in the normal course of life if He wills it as Jesus did in this account of Luke.

          There are times, however, when our prayers are not being answered and we should not blame God as some do but times such as these give us an opportunity to examine our own lives and see if the way we live fits into the standards of God for the “𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆.” (𝑱𝒂𝒎 5:16)        

God is a God of compassion as Jesus showed in this Gospel and the only thing that God cannot do is not to love and Jesus is asking us to make it a habit to call on Our Father in prayer: "𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇. 𝑵𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑮𝒐𝒅." (𝑱𝒏 16:26-27)       

And for all intents and purposes, this Gospel also speaks about us for there are many among us who walk around as if we are wrapped in burial cloth with only our head exposed. Let us not kid ourselves and go on a denial of our sinfulness. Each and every one of us have sinned and have been deprived of the glory of God and at that very moment when we are at the pit of our depravation, we suddenly find ourselves in the bosom of God who in fact has not stopped looking for us.

          Unless we live a cloistered life in a monastery, we will always be infected by the perversion in this world we live in. And as we go through life, we unknowingly wrap ourselves with the sin of pride and arrogance, self-exaltation, insatiable appetite for fame and fortune, immorality, jealousy, selfish ambition, hatred, discord, dissension, factions, envy, unforgiveness, impurity, idolatry (𝐆𝐚𝐥 𝟓:𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟏) and these are the things that put our spirits to death. 

          But as with the dead man in this Gospel, we should remember that we can also be saved and raised back to life but this is “𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 (𝑬𝒑𝒉 2:8) and this is also contingent on our prostrating ourselves before the throne of Grace and pray that Jesus will meet us as He passes by during our journey of faith as “𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” (𝑯𝒆𝒃 7:25)        

And when Jesus raises us back to life, we must not forget the mission that has been entrusted to us “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑, 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐.” (𝑬𝒑𝒉 2:10) That mission is to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and to make disciples of all nations.

Let me end with these words from the 2nd Book of Chronicles 7:14 which is what we need to do as a nation:  ^"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 16, 2025)