Performing
miracles was an important part of Jesus proclamation of God’s kingdom. Amongst the miracle stories in the Gospels, there are 3 instances where Jesus
brings a dead person back to life. Most
famous of these 3 stories is the account of the raising of Jesus’ friend
Lazarus in John’s Gospel. Then,
both Matthew and Mark recount the story of the raising of the daughter of
Jairus, a leader in the synagogue. Today, we hear about the raising of the son of a widow in the city Nain. In
the case of the raising of Jairus’ daughter and of Lazarus, Jesus is
specifically asked to help, to heal them and to bring them back to life. Yet,
in today’s Gospel, the scenario plays out very differently. Jesus sees the dead man being carried out of
the gate of the city and he sees the man’s mother weeping. Yet, no one approaches him. Somehow, Jesus seems to know that this woman is a widow and that this is her
only child who has died. Jesus
is moved with pity and compassion for her. Without
anyone recognizing Jesus, without anyone asking him for help or
showing any sign of faith in him, Jesus initiates this miracle and raises the
dead man back to life.
So
often in the Gospels, we see Jesus reaching out to those who are overcome with
grief and sadness, to those who are broken and who need healing. He has
pity on the widow of Nain as he sees her pain and grief. Sometimes,
we can be like the son from Nain in our lives of faith. We can be asleep or like the walking dead in
regards to our spirituality, being on autopilot or just going thru the
motions. Maybe
we need Jesus to wake us up as well, to enliven our faith in a new way.
So,
what are some ways that we need to be awakened in our lives? Maybe
we are trying to hide our true selves from God, not admitting who we really
are, not wanting to look at some difficult things we are going through in life. But
no matter how we try to hide, God knows us and is there to help us, just like
he knew what the widow of Nain was going through without her having to explain
her situation. God knows when we are doing our best, but he
knows when we are just coasting or getting by. God
knows when we are thinking things
that a Christian should not be thinking. God
knows when we’re committed to
doing what’s necessary to grow in our lives of faith. Are we trying to hide something from God because
we are ashamed or embarrassed? Well, we
shouldn’t be. God is God - he can take whatever reality we have to
give him. But we have to be real about
it. We have to be real to him.
We may need to be awakened from our cynicism, our
sarcasm, or discontent – that may be another way we are asleep in our lives of
faith. Have you noticed that it almost unpopular to be
content or happy in our society today? So many in our world just want to complain,
rather than try to make things better. Sometimes, someone makes a nice comment to us, but instead of reciprocating with kindness or a gracious spirit, we are sarcastic and try to
make a joke about it. We can be trapped in a vicious cycle where we can
never find happiness, making that state of discontent the new norm. And yet the psalmist says: “I will praise you,
Lord.” Yes, no matter where we are on our journey, we
have things to be grateful for. We have
reasons to give thanks. We can praise
the Lord and find peace in our hearts.
Do we need to be less critical and judgmental and be more grateful and
content? Perhaps that is true if we really look at the state of our
lives.
We can be asleep in that we afraid to search for
the destiny God has for us, unwilling to see our journey of faith as our true
destiny. Do we see our lives as a spiritual journey and a
pilgrimage with God accompanying us every step of the way, or are we just in it
for adventure and for pleasure? We can get in a rut, not motivated and just
walking in circles. Those who are spiritually asleep are not
motivated by love, but disciples of Christ certainly are. Those who are spiritually asleep are not
concerned with being a servant just as Jesus was a servant, not concerned with
living out acts of mercy and charity with our brothers and sisters. Those who are spiritually asleep are not motivated by
their faith. If we allow our faith to guide us in our lives,
God’s grace and the Holy Spirit will work in us and guide us in way that we
could never imagine, in ways that we could not figure out on our own.
The late Jesuit priest Father Anthony de Mello
says that by its very definition, spirituality means waking up. Sometimes we don’t every realize that we are
asleep or like the waking dead. Being asleep, we may never understand the
loveliness and the beauty that God has in store for us in our human existence. In our lives of faith, let us allow God awaken
us.
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