The Widow of Nain
This is our life in microcosm
20th Sunday of Pentecost and/or
3rd Sunday of St Luke: Luke 7:11-16
2009
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus Christ healed thousands that we don’t know about. Only a few of His miracles are recorded in the Gospels. Therefore, the ones that are recorded are particularly important; we must take careful notice.
This is one of my favorite ones because it is very deep. There’s a reason why the Evangelist Luke says the things he does. The miracle could have been described much more laconically, but he gave certain very specific details that are very, very important.
This miracle is really our life in microcosm.
The Lord is going through Nain. Many people are flocking about Him, and while so many people are joyfully receiving Him, a woman is full of sadness, who is a widow; her son is dead and they are burying him today.
This is in microcosm our life, because there is a lot that is dead in us.
You know, only the Orthodox, as far as I know, talk about this. It’s not really a pleasant subject to know that there’s darkness in us, to speak of it often, to speak of the death that is in us. People who do not feel this darkness think that such talks is “negative” or shows “poor self-esteem”, or even indicates a “lack of faith”. But it’s true. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll see it. When your heart turns and has that constricting feeling when something happens, that’s darkness. So this woman’s sadness let us equate to the darkness that is in our hearts.
So now she is going with a large group and they are going to bury her son; they are doing the funeral procession. And our Lord, Who’s a complete stranger to this woman, tells her, with absolutely no explanation, cease weeping, don’t weep, don’t cry. Only our Lord can say these words, because only our Lord can heal.
And this also is our life in microcosm because there are many times when we don’t understand why we should do something, or we don’t feel that there is progress being made. But the Lord is telling us, not only “Don’t cry,” but “Follow me.”
Simon Peter, when he was asked by the Lord to fish after the full day of preaching and the sun was high in the sky and the fish were far away and not catchable, he said, “Nevertheless, I will let down the nets.” [1] He had no idea why the Lord would give such a command. It didn’t make any sense but he did it.
The Lord says things to us that are unintelligible all the time such as saying to this woman, “don’t cry,” or to Peter, “let down the nets”, or “love your enemies.”, but they will make sense in the end. They will make sense if we listen and if we obey. And the only way we will understand is through gaining wisdom through experience.
So the Lord says to this woman, “Don’t cry.” Now, sometimes there’s a long time between the Lord saying something to us and it coming to fruition. The Lord says that we will be perfect. Well, we’re not very perfect looking, are we? So it must be a long time before that is fulfilled. The Lord says that we will have treasure. Well, we don’t have a lot of treasure. And of course I’m not speaking of anything that is material. But there’s still a lot lacking in us. It takes a long time for some of these things to be fulfilled.
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The Icon “Sweet Kissing” teaches the exact same dogma concerning our Lord Jesus Christ as the action of our Lord touching the bier: He is a man, and understands man, and loves mankind.
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In this case, because it is one event, the fulfillment happens very quickly. The Lord puts His hand on the bier. This is a very significant action – it shows that the Lord is Man and God. Not only does He love man because He has become a man, but he understands what it is to be a man. That’s what that action of touching the bier means. He loves mankind, and He understands mankind.
So when He says, “Stop weeping,” He knows from experience that His words make sense.
When He says, “Love your enemies,” He knows from experience that this is the only way that we can have peace and happiness.
And all the rest of His commands, He commanded and He fulfilled the command in His flesh. So He speaks with authority like nobody else can. Because He understands what is the result of the things that He says to us. We only understand them darkly, as it were, in a glass. But the Lord sees clearly what His commands will bring if we obey them.
We must just trust Him that His commands are good and that, as He said, His yoke is not burdensome. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We must just follow Him, even though it doesn’t always make sense.
So He touches the bier to show us not only His love for mankind but His understanding of mankind. His way IS the only way to happiness, to peace, to security. There IS no other option and He knows it. And He will share it with us.
So what happens when He touches the bier? Another very important action that the apostle tells us. They stand still, which perhaps at first glance seems to be an obvious and irrelevant point. I don’t think it is obvious at all. I think most of the time we keep just right on going because the Lord is touching us all the time. He is always saying to us, weep not, or some other words of encouragement or rebuke, and we are not hearing Him. And perhaps He touches us and we don’t feel Him. But these people did and so they stopped and stood still.
I always recall, when I read these words, the Prophet Elijah [2]. After forty days of travel he went to the mountain. And the Lord was not in the earthquake or the flood or the fire; but there was the still small voice like a rustling wind, and the Lord was in the wind. But he was still in order to be able to hear it, because you can’t hear a little tiny rustling wind if you’re making noise yourself.
So the people stood still, but not understanding why the Lord had given the command, why He had told this woman who had lost all of her living, as a widow having no substance anymore because her son was dead, why she would be told not to weep anymore. In fact, I would dare say that many people would have thought that to be a cruel comment, a cruel remark. And then He stops the procession, prolonging the woman’s agony, in the minds of some. But no, He was to heal the boy. He was to raise him from the dead. This is our life in microcosm.
When you read — This is why I tell you so often — When you read the Scriptures, personalize them. This is you. You could say you’re the boy. I’d say more that we are the woman with sadness, with difficulty, with passions, not understanding really what we’re going to do the next day and having the Lord tell us things that we really don’t understand.
And yet in the end our son will be raised; we will become perfected. This is our life. I hope you feel this deeply in your soul how powerful this is. The only way to peace, to happiness, is to follow Christ.
But Christ did not give us some sort of exact outline, as you would in some sort of lecture class, exactly what you need to know. He says, follow me, do what I do. And because of our passions, because of our sins, we don’t understand a lot of times why we should do a thing or we don’t feel any satisfaction from it. Intellectually we can say why we should love, why we should become compassionate, why we should not lust or we should not gossip; or we should pray when we are tired. We know these things intellectually, but it has not penetrated every ounce of our being as it did our Lord. So we don’t have a full understanding.
There’s a lot in which we’re in the dark not because the Lord will not reveal it to us, but because we cannot take it in, because the only way to become good is to follow the Lord.
From the moment He was born to the time He died, His face was set to Jerusalem. He came for one purpose and one purpose only, to save us. And EVERYTHING He did was for that purpose. And He understands us, more than we understand ourselves.
So let’s trust Him, not in a superficial way, but completely and totally.
Let’s believe Him when He says: There will be a time when you will no longer weep.
Let’s believe Him when He says: You will become perfected.
Let’s believe Him when He gives us the Commandments and that they will be the only path to happiness.
There is no other.
So this miracle is our life in microcosm if we choose to live it.
May God grant us the wisdom to see as He reveals to us the truth. You have to stand still for the truth, brothers and sisters. You have to listen for the truth. You have to follow things even that don’t make a lot of sense. May God help us.
Priest Seraphim Holland 2010.
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The Gospel in context, always! Reading the scripture with purpose.
Thursday, October 28th, 2010The Gospel in context, always!
Reading the scripture with purpose.
The Wordly NEVER understand Holy Things!
Luke 9:7-11. 21st Tuesday of Luke and/or the 4th Tuesday of Luke
Today’s gospel, like most Gospel selections, must be read in context in order to be understood.
Luke 9:7-11 7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead; 8 And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. 9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him. 10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
When we hear this selection in church, we are not reading the surrounding verses which often help elucidate the passage, but if we are students of the scripture, we will remember the context. We should know the scripture better than any book. It should be intimately familiar to us.
There is only one way for that to happen! We must read the scripture often, with purpose!
Actually, there are two more ways to make this happen. The Scripture is particularly “understandable” when it is read in the services (all of them, and not just liturgy). I have experienced this countless times myself. Somehow, the Holy Spirit especially enlightens us concerning the Holy Scriptures when we are standing in prayer in the temple.
These may be particular passages which are read verbatim, or paraphrases and allusions to scriptures passages and themes which abound in our services. If we want to truly understand the Holy Scriptures, we must hear them used in worship, and participate in this worship with inner effort. When we are worshipping with the Scriptures, we are training ourselves how to think concerning them. This activity is more profitable to our souls than the reading of a thousand biblical commentaries by the Fathers; without it we will never understand those commentaries!
Of course, enlightenment is not possible in anything pertaining to God without our personal effort. This is the “third way” to understand the scriptures.
What does reading the scripture “with purpose” entail? We are reading the word of God, and at that moment, God is speaking directly to us. There is something that we are to learn, at the very moment we are reading (or listening). What is it? We must be a seeker after “goodly pearls”[1] when we read or hear the scriptures. There is something precious that God wishes to communicate with us. Being aware of this, and eager is what “reading (listening/praying) with purpose” entails.
In this passage, Herod epitomizes the typical person in the world, which in another place, the scripture calls the “wayside” or sometimes, the “shallow, rocky ground”[2]. He is a little bit interested in spiritual things, much as he might be interested in the latest news at 10 or what his favorite sports team did the previous night, but because he is not really seriously trying to amend his life, he does not understand these things. Herod had spoken with John many times – the scripture says he “heard him gladly”[3], and yet he still is confused about who Jesus is. This is because understanding about holy things only comes to those “who have ears to hear”.
Most of the world is like this. Many who are Orthodox are like this! We cannot understand holy things unless we strive to live with holiness. This is a lesson we had better learn.
The subsequent verses from the Evangelist Luke (and also John) help elucidate this passage and provide an important lesson.
Immediately after his passage is the “Feeding of the Five Thousand”. This miracle is recounted in all the Gospels, but is particularly striking in the Gospel of John, where it precedes Jesus’ teaching: “… I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” [4], and “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (56) He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” [5]
Many people, after they heard Jesus teaching concerning His body and blood, the Holy Eucharist, left Him and never came back. They were like Herod – worldly and fleshly and not attuned to spiritual things.
The Christian should tremble when he reads: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”[6], because the same passions that operated in these people’s souls and rendered them incapable of understanding holy things operate in us to a greater or lesser degree.
May reading about Herod and the Lord’s former disciples who left him, and the people of the Gergesenes, and all the rest who had God in their midst and did not understand Him or follow Him humble us so that we pursue the way of humility and do not repeat their errors.
God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud[7]. If we are proud, there is nothing that protects us from becoming just like Herod. May God preserve us from this fate!
After the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Luke relates the Lord asking the disciples the question that Herod had in today’s selection:
“And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? (19) They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. (20) He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:18-20)
Herod should have known this. The reason he did not know it is warning to us.
“Having become God-bearing heralds, the Magi returned to Babylon, having fulfilled Thy prophecy; and having preached Thee to all as the Christ, they left Herod as a babbler who knew not how to sing: Alleluia!”
(Akathist to the Theotokos, Kontakion 6)
Priest Seraphim Holland 2010. St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas
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[1] Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: (46) Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
[2] The parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:3-9, and its explanation Matthew 13:18-23 (Also in Mark and Luke)
[3] Mark 6:20 “For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”
[4] John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
[5] John 6:54-56
[6] John 6:66
[7] 1Peter 5:5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
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