Daily Gospel Reflections
Today’s Scripture Readings
Luke 7:11‐17
Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
Compassionate God
‘He had compassion for her.’ (Luke 7:13)
In today’s gospel we have a very public miracle – a man is restored to life at the busiest and most public place in a town – at the town gates where travellers, merchants and ordinary people go in and out, about their daily lives. In the midst of this, Jesus encounters a funeral procession – an open bier – of a man who had recently died, and of his grieving mother, now a widow with an uncertain financial and social future in Jewish society.
Jesus felt her pain and loss and ‘had compassion for her’ and, breaking all the Jewish purity laws, touched the bier to bring the man back to life. What does this say about our God?
Amid our pain, sorry and loss, God is intimately involved. God does not abandon us but rather leans into our pain and shares it with us. For me, it means that God is always close to me, not only when I feel good or ‘doing’ something religious like attending mass or praying. This reality gives me palpable consolation and strength to endure the pain or sadness and draw closer to God.
Today we celebrate two saints: Cyprian – bishop and martyr and Cornelius – pope and martyr. They remind us that we belong to a church, spanning over two thousand years, of people who offer their lives for the love of God. May we, like Cyprian and Cornelius, devote each day to God who loves us and cares for us unconditionally.
