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The Second Sunday after Pentecost |
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THIS IS APPARENTLY THE WEEK FOR FUNERALS. AFTER WE HAD THE CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF BEA HEMPSTEAD ON THURSDAY, WE FIND THAT THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY TAKES US TO ANOTHER FUNERAL. THE STARK CONTRAST BETWEEN THESE TWO FUNERALS IS PROFOUND, AND IS A BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATION OF THE GREAT GOOD NEWS IN CHRIST JESUS. THE SERVICE FOR BEA WAS, IN SPITE OF THE SAD OCCASION, ONE OF QUIET JOY AND HOPE. BEA HAD LIVED A LONG AND BLESSED LIFE, FILLED WITH THE LOVE OF HER HUSBAND, FAMILY, AND ALL THE LIVES SHE THOUCHED THROUGH HER MUSIC AND SERVICE. AS WE CARRIED HER REMAINS TO HER FINAL REST, WE CELEBRATED WITH SONG AND PRAYERS AND THE GRACE OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST. CERTAINLY THERE WAS SADNESS, BUT OUR SORROW WAS TEMPERED BY OUR REMEMBERING THE LIFE SHE LIVED, AND THE CERTAIN HOPE OF THE RESSURECTION TO LIFE EVERLASTING. THE FUNERAL AT NAIN WAS NOTHING LIKE WHAT WE EXPERIENCED LAST THURSDAY. AS JESUS APPROACHED THE GATE OF THE TOWN, WITH A LARGE CROWD FOLLOWING HIM, HIS PROCESSION RAN INTO A FUNERAL PROCESSION COMING OUT OF THE TOWN HEADING FOR THE CEMETARY. IT WAS A LARGE PROCESSION, WITH THE PALL BEARERS BEING FOLLOWED BY THE WEEPING WIDOW, AND THEN MOST OF THE TOWN FOLLOWING IN SYMPATHY. IN THE MIDST OF LIFE WE ARE SURROUNDED BY DEATH, BUT SOME DEATHS ARE MORE TRAGIC THAN OTHERS. NO DEATH IS MORE TRAGIC THAN THE LOSS OF A CHILD. WHEN SOMEONE DIES AT AN ADVANCED AGE, WHILE SORROWFUL, IT IS TO BE EXPECTED, AND WE MOURN THEN LIFE GOES ON. WHEN A CHILD DIES BEFORE HIS PARENTS, THE NATURAL ORDER OF LIFE IS SHATTERED, AND, NO MATTER HOW LONG THE PARENTS LIVE AFTER THE DEATH OF THE CHILD, THEY NEVER RECOVER. IN THIS CASE, THE TRADGEDY WAS EVEN MORE PITIFUL, BECAUSE THE MOTHER OF THE YOUNG MAN WHO DIED WAS A WIDOW. AT THIS TIME, WIDOWS COULD NOT INHERIT, AND WOMEN COULD NOT OWN PROPERTY, SO SHE WAS COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON HER ONLY SON. WHEN SHE BURIED HER SON, SHE WOULD BECOME A BEGGAR ON THE STREETS OF THE CITY, SINCE THERE WAS NO MAN LEFT TO PROVIDE FOR HER. IT IS NO WONDER SHE WEPT AS SHE FOLLOWED THE BODY OF HER SON. AS THE TWO CROWDS COLLIDED, JESUS TOOK IN THE SITUATION IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, AND HAD COMPASSION FOR THE PLIGHT OF THE POOR WIDOW. HE ASTONISHINGLY TOLD THE WIDOW, “DO NOT WEEP.” THEN HE CAME FORWARD AND TOUCHED THE BIER AND THE PALL BEARERS STOPPED IN THEIR TRACKS. NO ONE COULD TOUCH A DEAD BODY, OR THE BIER ON WHICH IT WAS PLACED, WITHOUT BECOMING RITUALLY UNCLEAN, EXCEPT FOR THE DESIGNATED BEARERS. IN HIS COMPASSION FOR THE POOR WIDOW, JESUS MADE HIMSELF APPARENTLY UNCLEAN, AND STUNNED THE CROWDS BY HIS ACTION. IT WAS EVEN MORE SHOCKING WHEN HE SPOKE TO THE DEAD MAN AND SAID, “YOUNG MAN, I SAY TO YOU, RISE!” WHEN THE YOUNG MAN SAT UP AND BEGAN TO SPEAK, I AM SURPRIZED THAT THE BEARERS DID NOT DROP THE BIER. THE STUNNED CROWDS WATCHED JESUS HELP THE YOUNG MAN GET OFF THE BIER, UNWRAP THE GRAVE CLOTHES, AND HAND THE YOUNG MAN TO HIS MOTHER. THE REACTION OF THE CROWDS WAS A MIXTURE OF FEAR AND AWE, BUT THEY GOT THE MESSAGE AS THEY GLORIFIED GOD AND PROCLAIMED, “GOD HAS LOOKED FAVORABLY ON HIS PEOPLE!” CERTAINLY, NOT ALL FUNERALS HAVE SUCH A HAPPY ENDING, BUT THIS ONE DID FOR ONE VERY IMPORTANT REASON; JESUS WAS THERE, AND WHERE JESUS IS THE COMPASSION OF GOD IS PRESENT. THE INSTANCES RECORDED OF JESUS RAISING THE DEAD TO LIFE ARE VERY FEW, BUT WHEN HE DID IT WAS TO DEMONSTRATE THE POWER, LOVE AND COMPASSION OF GOD FOR HIS PEOPLE. THE CROWD WAS RIGHT IN PROCLAIMING THE GOD HAS LOOKED FAVORABLY ON HIS PEOPLE, BECAUSE GOD HAS SENT JESUS TO SHOW US IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS THAT THE LOVE OF GOD FOR HIS CHILDREN KNOWS NO BOUNDS; NOT EVEN DEATH. THE LORD OF LIFE MADE HIMSELF UNCLEAN TO RAISE A YOUNG MAN FROM DEATH AND RETURN HIM TO HIS MOTHER, JUST AS HE TOOK ON ALL OUR SIN, AND OUR OWN DEATH, TO RETURN US ALL TO GOD. WHERE JESUS IS PRESENT, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF DEATH, THERE IS LIFE. WHERE JESUS IS PRESENT, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF DEATH, THERE IS THE POWER, THE LOVE, AND THE COMPASSION OF ALMIGHTY GOD. WHEN WE ARE IN CHRIST, AND HE IS IN US, GOD IS WITH US, AND WE CAN BEAR ANY BURDEN, SUFFER ANY LOSS, IN THE SURE AND CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT NOTHING, NOT EVEN DEATH, CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD. THIS IS WHY WE CAN SING WITH JOY AT THE FUNERAL OF THOSE WE LOVE, BECAUSE GOD IS WITH US IN JESUS. NO LONGER DO WE WAIL AND WEEP AND TEAR OUR CLOTHING WHEN A LOVED ONE DIES. WE STILL GRIEVE, AND IT IS RIGHT TO DO SO, BECAUSE WE MISS THEIR PRESENCE, THEIR COMPANIONSHIP, AND THEIR LOVE. WE DO NOT GRIEVE LIKE THE POOR HOPELESS WIDOW IN THE GOSPEL ACCOUNT, BECAUSE WE ARE NEVER WITHOUT HOPE, AND WE ARE NEVER ALONE IN OUR GRIEF. OUR GOD, IN CHRIST JESUS, IS ALWAYS WITH US, AND OUR GRIEF IS TEMPERED BY THE JOY WE HAVE IN THE LOVE AND COMPASSION OF OUR GOD. FOR THOSE OF US IN CHRIST, A FUNERAL IS A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF THE DEPARTED, BECAUSE JESUS HAS SHOWN US THAT DEATH IS NOT THE FINAL ENDING, ONLY THE GATE TO LIFE EVERLASTING WITH GOD. INDEED, GOD HAS LOOKED FAVORABLY ON HIS PEOPLE, AND THIS IS THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD. AMEN.
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