In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to God. Jesus went to a city called Nain.
St. Luke says, as he drew near to this gate of
the city, a man who had died was being carried
out, the only son of his mother, and she was
a widow, and Jesus had compassion on her. At
this time of the account of St. Luke, if we were
looking down from above, we would see a road
between the town of Capernaum, where Jesus had
just healed, St. Luke tells us, the servant of
a righteous Roman centurion. In fact, it says
that that Roman centurion had more faith than
anyone that Jesus had actually met before. Between
Capernaum, there was a road going to the village
of Nain. And Jesus was on that road. There's
two processions that we would have seen looking
down from above. One with Christ in the center,
joyful. People hanging on to his every word,
I imagine. Expected at what Jesus would say and
what he would do. And heading towards him, coming
out of the gate of the city. Where many who are
grieving with a widow for her dead son, think
of that at that time, a widow with no son. Basically
helpless, having to depend upon her relatives
if she has them. The procession is one of death,
sorrow, grief, sickness, despair. It's a traffic
jam at the city gate. We're looking down at this.
But we're not looking down. Actually, each one
of us knows something about that widow's condition.
The family that she was in. The sorrow. The grief.
We know something about that. Maybe some of you,
exactly the same here, know about that from your
life. And that's... See, the gospel is always
extremely clear about reality. When Jesus is
born, yes, the shepherds are joyful. The wise
men are rejoicing. They've got no place to be
but a cave. And what happens after that? Herod,
afraid of losing his position to a new king,
kills children. The gospel is extremely clear
about the condition that we live in. Nothing
is sugar -coated. It's not easy to carry the
cross. It's much easier to just let it all go
and pretend, you know, and put an electric blanket
over our head for the rest of our life. But this
is reality. The gospel is about what's real.
The procession of death. Meets the procession
of life. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, I
am the gate. He's at the gate of that city. Jesus
touched the open coffin. And those who carried
him stood still. It says. Those who carried him
stood still. Jesus touched the coffin. Everything
stopped. I imagine the bird stopped. Total silence.
Nothing moved. The clouds stopped in the sky.
The wind stopped. Everything waiting for what
the Son of God would do. Equally impossible but
true is like, who is this Son of God that has
come? Sometimes people have said to me, well,
Father, why are our prayers so long? They are
long. Listen to this portion of a prayer, a long
prayer, I won't read it all, from the baptism
this morning. I congratulate the grandparents,
Gunella and Lena's parents, Gunella and... Why
can't I remember your name all of a sudden? Ingmar
and the mother, Lena. And the grandparents. I
was saying, we have long prayers because we speak
to the God, the Most High God, the only true
God. We're not speaking to any other powers.
St. Paul says, we're in a fight, not with flesh
and blood, but with wickedness, spiritual wickedness.
In powerful and high and heavenly places. So
we speak to God to remind ourselves who we are
members of. Who is our God? Not to remind God.
So we say this. Oh God. Lord, the moon glorifies
thee. The stars meet together before thee. The
light hearkens to thee. The deep shudder before
thee. The springs of water serve thee. Thou hast
stretched out the heaven as it were a curtain.
Thou hast established the earth upon the waters.
Thou hast bounded the sea with sand. Thou hast
spilled out the air for breathing. The angelic
powers serve thee. The choirs of archangels worship
thee. The many -eyed cherubim and the six -winged
seraphim standing and flying round about cover
themselves with fear at thine unapproachable
glory. For thou who art God, inexpressible, without
beginning, and ineffable. Doth come down upon
earth, taking the form of a servant, being made
in the likeness of man, for the sake of thy tender
mercy and compassion. And compassion is the word
in the New Testament used only of Jesus. Only.
That word is only used of Jesus. Multiple times.
Ten, thirteen times. For thou, Lord, couldst
not endure to behold the race of men tormented
by the devil, for thou didst come and save us.
It is that one that came to that city gate and
put his hand on the coffin and said, young man,
we speak to dead people all the time in the middle
of the church, they don't arise. But Jesus says,
young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he rose
up and he gave him to his mother. It was for
the sake of the mother that this man was raised.
And fear and joy came upon all that were there.
For that man, it meant a temporary continuation
of life for the sake of his mother. Not for his
own sake. For us, what does this miracle mean?
Cyril of Alexandria says it's a sign of what's
to come. It's the pledge of what God's going
to do at the consummation of the age. That those
persons who were restored to life by the power
of Christ, the young girl, this man, Lazarus,
we take as a pledge of the hope prepared for
us for the resurrection beyond the grave. Christ
is the gate. We've gone through that gate. He
is our gate. The world is full of sorrow and
grief. Brothers and sisters, we are to be witnesses
not of something nice, something comfortable,
something soothing, but witnesses of the new
life that we saw in the baptism today given to
Alvig Elizabeth. that we are now partakers of.
If Christ is the only compassionate one, then
you and I have to be compassionate with the compassion
of God to those around us. Not judgmental, not
angry, not argumentative, but giving and loving
and witnessing to what we have here. to the new
life in Christ, which we are going to partake
of shortly when we receive his body and his blood,
that we are members of the kingdom. Now, now,
through liturgy, through prayer, to faithfulness
of commandments, through trust in Christ's words,
Christ promises his disciples this, peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you. This is what
we give to other people too. Christ gave it to
us, we give it to others. Not as the world. Peace
in the world is just the subtraction of violence.
Not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
And you heard his words to the apostles, to the
Lord, to Lord God, his Father, in the prayer
that he gave. Father, that they may be one, even
as we. are one. Let me conclude with a prayer
composed by a holy abbot rather than try and
explain all this more. The prayer is this. Weep
not, O Mother, for the father of orphans and
the judge of widows is here. I adopt from my
own the orphan and the widow. I will never let
them go unprotected or unassisted. Weep not,
for your son is only sleeping, for in my presence
death is as evanescent as sleep. Weep not, for
before you stands the resurrection and the life,
which life is the light of all. Weep not, for
with me is the fountain of life, and in my light
your son shall again see the light of life. Weep
not, for I call the things that are not as though
they are. Out of nothing I brought all things
into being. Is it a great thing then for me to
call your dead son back among the living? Weep
not, for I hold the keys and the power of death.
I put to death and make alive. I bring down into
Hades and bring back up again. The lifespan of
all men is in the light of my face. Death and
hell cower and quail in my presence. Weep not,
O woman, your son shall rise again. Those words
are directed to you and to me. To our Lord, risen
from the dead, be glory now and ever, to ages
of ages. Amen.