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| The raising of the widow's son. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Qui Lazarum cum filio:
viduae suscitavit:
puellam cum prodigio:
ad vitam revocavit.
Who Lazarus and the widow's son
With mighty word did quicken;
And back to life and parents won
A maid with sickness stricken.
[11] And it came to pass afterwards, that he went into a city that is called Naim; and there went with him his disciples, and a great multitude.
Et factum est : deinceps ibat in civitatem quae vocatur Naim : et ibant cum eo discipuli ejus et turba copiosa.
[12] And when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow: and a great multitude of the city was with her.
Cum autem appropinquaret portae civitatis, ecce defunctus efferebatur filius unicus matris suae : et haec vidua erat : et turba civitatis multa cum illa.
[13] Whom when the Lord had seen, being moved with mercy towards her, he said to her: Weep not.
Quam cum vidisset Dominus, misericordia motus super eam, dixit illi : Noli flere.
[14] And he came near and touched the bier. And they that carried it, stood still. And he said: Young man, I say to thee, arise.
Et accessit, et tetigit loculum. ( Hi autem qui portabant, steterunt.) Et ait : Adolescens, tibi dico, surge.
[15] And he that was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
Et resedit qui erat mortuus, et coepit loqui. Et dedit illum matri suae.
[16] And there came a fear on them all: and they glorified God, saying: A great prophet is risen up among us: and, God hath visited his people.
Accepit autem omnes timor : et magnificabant Deum, dicentes : Quia propheta magnus surrexit in nobis : et quia Deus visitavit plebem suam.
[17] And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the country round about.
Et exiit hic sermo in universam Judaeam de eo, et in omnem circa regionem.[Luke 7]
Notes, after Cornelius a Lapide
Ver. 11.—And it came to pass the day after that He went into a city called Nain. A city of Galilee two miles distant from Mount Tabor, situated on the river Kison, and called Nain, from the Hebrew word which denotes beauty. Thus Naomi says, “Call me not Naomi,” i.e. fair or beautiful, “call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20)—words which the widow of Nain, mourning the loss of her only son, might well make her own. So also Ps. 133., “Behold how good and how pleasant (Nain) it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” and therefore how sad and sorrowful for brother to be separated from brother, mother from son, by the hand of death.
The place is specially mentioned for the confirmation of the miracle, and also because “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (S. Matt. 9:35); and to show the bitterness of the mother’s grief, for the death of her son at Nain was a greater trial to the mother than if they had been living in some country place. Just as it seems more hard for a man to be cut off in youth than in age, in health than in sickness, in prosperity than in adversity, in the springtide rather than in the winter of life, as it is written (Ecclus. 41:1), “O Death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions, unto the man that hath nothing to vex him, and that hath prosperity in all things. O Death, acceptable is thy sentence unto the needy and unto him whose strength faileth, to whom everything is a care.”
Ver. 12.—Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, &c. “Behold.” i.e. by accident, humanly speaking, Christ met the bier; but the meeting was foreseen and fore-ordained of Christ, that He might raise the dead to life He willed, however, that it should seem accidental and not designed, in order that it might be the more esteemed; for as the proverb runs, “that is of little value which is voluntarily offered for sale.”
“There was a dead man carried” without the city. Because, for sanitary and other reasons, the Jews had their burial places without the walls.
So the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathæa, in which the body of Christ lay, was without Jerusalem. So also the valley of Jehoshaphat, the scene of the judgment to come and the general resurrection, is the common burial-place of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with the exception of the kings, for whom David had provided a sepulchre in Zion. 1 Kings 2:10. For similar reasons the Romans, who were forbidden by the twelve tables to bury their dead within the city, used the Campus Martius as a place of sepulture, until Theodoric revoked the law; and there is abundant evidence to show that the Christians also, in the time of the persecution, used the crypts which they had excavated without the city for purposes of interment, but afterward, when peace was given to the Christians, they consecrated burial places within the walls near the temples in which they were wont to worship:
1. That the remembrance of death might be continually presented to the faithful as an incentive to a holy life. Like as the Spartans were commanded by Lycurgus to bury their dead within the city, in order to teach their young men that death was to be honoured and not to be feared.
2. That by their consecration they might be secure against the wiles of the devils, who are wont to dwell in the tombs and possess the bodies of those departed. S. Luke 8:27.
3. And also that the faithful when on their way to worship might be led to pray that those who lay buried around might be released from purgatory, and counted worthy of a glorious resurrection at the last day, and also that they might be partakers in the holy sacrifices offered in the temples and might benefit by the merits and by the prayers of those Saints who either lie buried, or are in some way especially commemorated therein. Thus Constantine the Great wished to be buried in the porch of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, and Theodosius in the Church of S. Peter at Rome. And so, as most of the churches at Rome show, the Christians built altars over the tombs of the martyrs, for reasons which I have given in my comments on the text, “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain.” Rev. 6:9.
The only son, μονογενὴς, i.e. the only child of his mother, and therefore the sole object of her love. For he was to her her hope and her future, the support of her declining years, and the light of her eyes. Hence the mother’s grief was of the bitterest kind, like to that which the prophets tell of: “They shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son,” Zech. 12:10. And again, “O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation.” Jer. 6:26.
And much people of the city was with her. This widow seems to have been a woman highly esteemed by her fellow-citizens, “out of respect for whom they joined in the funeral procession.” S. Ambrose. Furthermore, there is generally at the gate of a city a great crowd of people going in and coming out, particularly as formerly the gate was not only the market-place, but also the seat of judgment.
Hence God willed that the miracle should be thus publicly wrought, that many being witnesses of it, many might be led to give praise to Him. Bede.
Ver. 13.—And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not. Nay, rather begin to rejoice, for I will restore your son to life again, mourn not as dead one whom thou shalt soon see brought back again to life. Bede. He forbids her to weep for him, who was about to rise from the dead, S. Ambrose.
Ver. 14.—And He came and touched the bier: and He said Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. The bier, an open bier surely, as is common amongst the Jews.
Arise. Elijah, Elisha, and others restored the dead to life by means of prayer to God, but Christ at a word, as Lord of life and death, and therefore very God. He touched the bier, says Cyril, to show that his body was effectual for the salvation of men, for as iron heated in the fire does the work of fire, and kindles the chaff, so the flesh united to the Word gives life to mankind.
Ver. 15.—And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. Sat up, raised himself up into a sitting posture, and so returned to life; for to sit up and to begin to speak are sure signs of returning animation.
And He delivered him to his mother, i.e. He took him by the hand and placed him on his feet, then led him to his mother. [As when from death through sin, a man rises unto life through baptism and later through Confession, and is then led by the Lord to his mother, Maria, Virgo et Mater, gloriosa et benedicta] Behold thy son! Take him home with thee, that thou mayest rejoice over him, and that he may render thee true filial obedience.
Ver. 16.—And there came a fear on all.
Ver. 17.—And this rumour of Him went forth throughout all Judœa, and throughout all the region round about. Fear, i.e. reverence, and a sacred awe, mixed with admiration and joy.
A great prophet. The Messiah, of whose coming all were in anxious expectation.
Allegorically. The widow is the Church who mourns her sons—those who have fallen into mortal sin and forfeited the grace of God—as dead, and seeks by her tears for their restoration; and in answer to her prayers, Christ—1. Causes the bearers to stand still, checks those evil passions which gain the mastery over the young, and breaks their power. 2. Touches the bier, i.e. the wood of the Cross, and by it raises the dead to life. For by virtue of Christ sinners are moved to repentance, and restored to favour with God. Hence, 3. The dead man sits up and begins to speak, begins to lead a new life and give praise unto God, so that those who are witnesses of this marvellous change are filled with admiration and are led to give glory unto God. So S. Ambrose and others.
Of this we have a living example in S. Monica, for she mourned unceasingly for her son, who was dead in trespasses and sins, but recalled by her prayers to such holiness of life that he afterwards became a chief doctor of the Church. S. Augustine, Confessions.
Again, more particularly, the widow is the Church, the son the people of the Gentiles enclosed in the bier of concupiscence, and borne along to hell as to a sepulchre. By touch of the bier, i.e. by the wood of the Cross, Christ gave life to the world.
Figuratively. By the example of the widow we see how a priest or director should act when any of his spiritual children have fallen into mortal sin and are being borne to the grave of everlasting misery. He should follow the bier with weeping and much lamentation, for thus he will receive comfort from the Lord who—(1.) Touching the bier will cause the bearers to stand still, i.e. cause evil lusts and passions to cease; (2.) will recall the dead to life; and (3.) will raise him up to the performance of good works, so as to confess his sins and tell of the loving-kindness of God.
Thus at last he is restored to the Church, his mother, whose past sorrow will be eclipsed by her present joy, and thus also many will be led to extol the goodness of God.
Again, the widow represents the soul, her son the understanding, inactive and dead. When such a soul laments her spiritual death, especially if others also join in her mourning, Christ will grant an awakening. The bier is a conscience in a state of false security. The bearers, the evil enticements and flatteries of companions which stand still, i.e. are restrained at the touch of Christ. Bede. Or, as Theophylact interprets it, the widow is the soul which has lost its husband, i.e. the word of life; the son is the understanding; the body, the coffin or bier.
To sum up. We read that Christ on three occasions recalled the dead to life.
1. The daughter of the ruler of the synagogue in the house, i.e. one who sins in thought and intention.
2. The son of the widow at the gate, i.e. one who sins openly, and imparts his guilt to others.
3. Lazarus in the tomb, the habitual sinner who lies as it were buried in sin without hope of recovery or release.
The first, Christ raised to life by secret prayer apart from others; the second by a word; the third by crying with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Hence different degrees of sin have different remedies, but to rescue the habitual sinner from the death of sin there needs no less than the voice of Christ speaking loudly to the sinner’s heart.
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