10th Sunday of the Year, Cycle C–2016
FIRST READING 1 Kings 17:17-24
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 the life breath return to the body of this child.” The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived. Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house from the upper room and gave him 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.”
SECOND READING Galatians 1:11-19
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles, only James the brother of the Lord.
GOSPEL Luke 7:11-17
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, 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. 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 all the surrounding region.
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
More than likely, if you or I saw someone actually brought back to life after dying, we would have some awe for the person who brought them back to life. These are such unusual happenings that they command our respect and our awe. The story of Elijah in the first reading and of Jesus in the Gospel demand our attention. Our minds are always programmed not to accept such miraculous happenings. Instead, our minds work overtime to find a more rational explanation!
One of the proofs of God’s presence in a life is when a person is able to work miracles and healings. We also know that there can be deceptions. One of the ways in which the Church recognizes that a person is a saint, in the official way, is when miracles happen through the intercession of the saint. Many of us have never seen such miracles close up and so they remain sort of hypothetical realities. Some of us have seen and experiences such miracles and believe for sure that God is present and that there is some reality beyond this one and which reaches into our present lives.
The first reading today is from the First Book of Kings and is about the Prophet Elijah. His powers were to strong and remarkable that everyone recognized that somehow he was a Man of God. The closest imagine that we have today, perhaps, was Padre Pio, in Italy, who died only in 1968. His fame had spread far and wide and many people experienced miracles through him, even during his lifetime. As with all such miracle workers, however, many also doubted. With Elijah, even the power of miracles did not help him draw everyone to God.
The second reading is from the Letter to the Galatians and is Paul’s account of his own conversion. He wants his readers to be sure that what happened in him was of divine origin and was not simply a human change of mind. God worked mightily in him and made him an apostle. We also can at times feel God touching on us—and most of us resist because such a happening is too far out of our comfort zone. We are much happier living within normal life.
The Gospel from Saint Luke today tells us of Jesus bringing the dead son of a widow from Nain back to life. Once more we are in the presence of a divine reality reaching into ordinary human life. We know that these miracles of Jesus brought him many followers. Often, however, it brought a disbelief on the part of official religion.
Miracles can divide us as they did divide the people in the time of Elijah and in the time of Jesus. We are mostly skeptical about things happening from a divine origin. We don’t want to appear fools and people who see miracles all around us.
Who are you? Who am I? Are we ready to believe Jesus? Do we believe that truly there is a God who loves us and works in daily lives, even today? O Lord, open our eyes and our hearts to recognize your presence!
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip