A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 7:11-17)
As [Jesus] drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
After Jesus raises the young man from the dead, the crowd’s immediate reaction is terror and awe . “Fear seized them all,” Luke tells us, “and they glorified God, exclaiming, ‘A great prophet has arisen in our midst’ and ‘God has visited his people.'” In this short passage, Jesus says two sentences: “Do not weep” and “Young man, I tell you, arise!” Moved with pity, Jesus seeks immediately to ease the mother’s grief. Raising her son from the dead would seem to serve that purpose instantly. Yet, Jesus first tells her not to weep, which must have been perplexing to hear. Was this Jesus’ way of allowing the mother and the crowd of witnesses a pause from grief, a means to ponder that death does not have the final word?
Father in heaven, help me understand the works that Jesus accomplished on earth emanated through the trinitarian unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The fear the crowd experienced as they witnessed the young man raised from the dead is a holy fear, a fear that caused them to glorify you. Jesus touched the coffin, the thing bearing the young man, and the dead man sat up and began to speak. Like a foretaste, the young man rises just as Jesus would rise. In his death and resurrection, Jesus destroyed death and gives life not to one but to all who believe in him.
From the Gospel acclamation: “A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people.” Lord, guide me today and show me the way to glorify you.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.