“When the Lord saw the poor
widow, He was moved
with compassion and said to her, `Do not weep.’“
(Lk. 7:13)
The Compassion of Jesus
1st reading from 1 Kings: Elijah gave the son to his
mother.
Elijah went to Zarephath of Sidon to the house of a widow. The son of the
mistress of the house fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he
stopped breathing. So she said to Elijah, “Why have you done this to me, O man
of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?”
Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Taking him from her lap, he carried the
son to the upper room where he was staying, and put him on his bed. Elijah
called out to the LORD: “O LORD, my God, will you afflict even the widow with
whom I am staying by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself out upon the
child three times and called out to the LORD: “O LORD, my God, let life return
to the body of this child.” The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah; life returned
to the child’s body and he revived. Taking the child, Elijah brought the son
down into the house from the upper room and gave the son to his mother. Elijah
said to her, “See! Your son is alive.” The woman replied to Elijah, “Now indeed
I know that you are a man of God. The word of the LORD comes truly from your
mouth.”
The word
of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.
Jesus gave the son to his mother.
Jesus journeyed to a
city called
Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him .As He drew near to
the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was the only
son of his mother who was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When
the Lord saw her, He was moved with compassion and said to her, “Do not weep.“
He stepped forward and touched the coffin. At this the bearers stopped, and He
said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead son sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave the son to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified
God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our
midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about Him spread through
the whole of Judea and in the surrounding region.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Jesus’ compassion for
widows
Evangelist Luke has a warm feeling
in his heart for widows. He mentions widows more frequently than the other
three evangelists. He tells the story of Anna, daughter of Phanuel, and a widow
for 84 years. She never left the Temple; day and night she worshiped God. She
was in the Temple when Joseph and Mary came with the infant Jesus to perform
the ceremony of purification. (Lk. 2:36-38)
Luke’s compassion for widows reflects
Jesus’ compassion for them. Jesus tells a parable about a bad judge who feared
neither God nor man, and who was greatly annoyed by a poor widow who kept begging
him to plead her case. He finally gave in, if for no other reason than to shut
the poor widow up. (Lk. 18: 1-8) Then
there are Jesus’ harsh words concerning the teachers of the Law: “They walk
around in long robes; they like to be greeted with respect in the market place;
they grab the reserved seats in the synagogues, and they take advantage of widows
and rob them of their homes.“ (Lk. 20:46-47) Then there was the occasion when
Jesus was in the Temple near the treasury, watching rich people ostentatiously casting
in sizeable donations, and He saw a poor widow dropping in her two little
copper coins. He said to his disciples: “Look at that poor widow! She gave more than all the others put
together.” (Lk. 21:1-4)
Jesus and the widow of
Nain
Today’s gospel
story (found only in Luke) is also about Jesus’ compassion for widows. One day
on his way to Nain He came upon a funeral procession coming out of the city
gate. A widow from Nain was burying her only son. The poor woman now has no means
of economic support, since both her husband and her only son are dead. When Jesus
came upon the funeral procession at the city gate, He was moved with compassion
for the poor widow who was weeping, for she now had neither a husband nor a son
to help her in her great need. And He said to her, "Do not weep!"
(Lk.7:13) We've all
said, "Do not weep!" in awkward situations." What we sometimes
mean is "Don't cry! You're making me feel uncomfortable." What Jesus
was saying when He told the widow “Do not weep” was: "Your cry for help
has been answered. So you can stop your weeping!"
The widow of Nain
telling her story
Listen to
the story of Jesus raising up the dead son of the widow from Nain, as told by
the widow herself: [1]
But then my husband suddenly died on me, and left
me in tight straights. When my son, a healthy young lad and a blessing to our
house, was finally old enough to learn a trade, I began to breathe a little
easier. But then he suddenly died, and
my world came to an abrupt end. Now I was completely alone – without husband,
without son, and yes also without means of support.
At
this very low point in my life something amazing happened. We had just carried my son’s body outside
the town’s gate, when we encountered a traveling Teacher and his disciples. He
came right up to us. Someone must have told Him I was a widow who had just lost
her only son. I half expected Him to offer some hollow words of comfort or
press a coin into my palm without quite looking me in the eye, like a few
others had done. Instead
He looked at me and seemed to understand just how utterly alone I felt. Then moved
with compassion that went far beyond awkward pity, He said to me, “Do not
weep!” And He walked over to my son’s bier and touched it. A
few people gasped, for he was obviously violating one of our many purity laws.
But that all changed quickly by what happened next: the moment He touched the bier, my son sat up and started talking to Him!
Two parables about compassion
In
the world of politics compassion is an unmentionable emotion and a dirty word.
It conjures up “the horrors of the welfare system which does for others what
they should be challenged to do for themselves.” But compassion was not an
unmentionable emotion for Jesus. He tells two very powerful
parables about compassion.
Jesus moved with compassion
Jesus
not only tells us parables about compassion He himself is also moved with
compassion. When a
leper came up to Him and begged to be healed, Mark writes: “Jesus was moved
with compassion for the leper. He reached out and touched the man, and his
leprosy left him.” (Mk. 1:40-42) - Mark also writes, “When Jesus got out of the
boat, He saw this large crowd, and He was moved with compassion for them, for
they were like sheep without a shepherd.” His compassion for the crowd then
multiplied 5 loaves and 2 fishes to feed 5000 hungry people. (Mk. 6:34-44) - When
Jesus was leaving Jericho one day two blind men sitting by the side of the road
begged Him to open their eyes. ”Jesus was moved with compassion for them. He touched
their eyes; immediately they were able to see, and they followed Him.” (Mt. 20:29-34)
Conclusion
Government that’s not ashamed of `compassion’
Compassion wasn’t an unmentionable emotion or a dirty word for
Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York State. In a very powerful address to
the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco (the city of Francis) July
16, 1984 Cuomo courageously used the C-word. “President Reagan,” he said, “told
us from the very beginning that he believed in a kind of social Darwinism - survival
of the fittest. `Government can’t do everything.’” In that city named after St.
Francis of Assisi, Cuomo said, “We would rather have laws written by the patron
of this great city (the man called the `world’s most sincere Democrat’ - St. Francis of Assisi) than laws written by
Darwin.” Then Cuomo unabashedly declared, “We want a government which is not
ashamed, but is courageous enough, to use the words `love’ and compassion.’”
