Homily on the Third Sunday of Luke (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily on the Third Sunday of Luke

On the Miraculous Resurrection of the Son of the Widow of Nain

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1963)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Beloved brothers and sisters! In today's Gospel reading we heard the wondrous story of the miraculous resurrection of the dead son of the widow of Nain by our Lord Jesus Christ. Among the many miracles performed by the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly life and recorded by the Evangelists, we are especially amazed by those in which the dead were resurrected by one word of the Savior. So it was in the present case.

The Lord Jesus Christ, accompanied by a large crowd of people, was approaching a city called Nain. At that time, a dead young man, the only son of a widowed mother, was being carried out of the city gates. The mother was grieving greatly. Many people were following the coffin with her. And behold, the Lord, seeing the grief of the mother, took pity on her and said: "Do not weep" (Luke 7:13). And then He came to the bier, touched it and commanded the dead man: "Young man, I say to you, arise" (Luke 7:14)! And the young man immediately arose, sat up and began to speak, and the Lord Jesus Christ gave him back to his mother.

Dear brothers and sisters! See how easy it is for the Lord to turn human grief into joy. The mother of the dead young man was tormented by grief: she had lost her only beloved son and was thus left alone, helpless, inconsolable. She had lost her only hope and support in her old age, but in one moment her sorrow turned into an extraordinary, amazing joy, a joy combined with reverent gratitude to the Lord. One word from the Savior, and the dead man comes to life and rises, to the horror and amazement of the numerous crowd. So almighty is the Lord and so good and merciful is He to us sinners.

Let us be comforted, dear brothers and sisters, by today's Gospel reading and never give in to excessive sadness, despondency, melancholy, despair; no matter how hopeless our situation, we must never lose hope: God is omnipotent, for Him it is never difficult or too late to turn trouble and sorrow into joy.

Each of us experiences many sorrows, troubles and problems at work and in family life. Do not grieve, do not be sad, do not lose heart, but pray to God - and everything will be settled. Just believe and hope in God firmly, and do not close yourself off and do not isolate yourself in your grief, but open up to someone, for prayer is stronger if it is not alone. "Truly I say to you," says the Lord, "that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven" (Matt. 18:19).

We often grieve and even cry when we lose a close, dear person, who was snatched away by death. Do not be sad, do not cry. God is able to resurrect any dead person, as He resurrected the son of the widow of Nain. If He does not resurrect him, then it means there is no need for it, it means it is better for the dead person not to be resurrected, it is better for him to live beyond the grave than on earth, it is better for you to save your soul without Him.

But at the same time we must remember that death does not exist, and what we see in the dying pertains only to the death of the body. Man does not die, he is only temporarily separated from his flesh, from the present world, and moves to another, invisible world. There are no dead with God, for "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Luke 20:38). And the time will come when, at one commanding word of the Savior, all the dead will awaken and all will rise again for the future life. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. And they shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:25:29), so saith the word of the Lord.

And if death does not exist, then believe that the one you are grieving for is alive and can communicate with you, and can even appear to you if it pleases God. After all, there have been many cases when the dead appeared to those living on earth, thereby proclaiming the certainty of immortality, and thus brought them comfort and peace, or reconciled with them, or encouraged them to pray, or warned them about something.

Very often we think with sadness about our own death, even the very thought of it frightens us. But no matter how terrible death may seem to us, we should not be afraid of it, dear ones. First of all, we must believe that God will take us from this world when it will be most useful and salutary for us, since God arranges everything for our good, and not for our harm.

The Holy Apostle Paul was not saddened by the thought of death, but rejoiced; he did not fear death, but desired it. "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ," he writes in his Epistle to the Philippians, "for this is far better" (Phil. 1:23). All Christians should think in a similar way, because Christ has destroyed the sting of death, and now it is not an evil for us, but a gain (Phil. 1:21). Truly, dear brothers and sisters, we have nothing to fear. After all, if death is not terrible for us, then what else should we fear?

True, there is one thing we should fear – sin, which can cast both soul and body into the fiery Gehenna. Truly, sin is an evil that darkens the soul and brings sorrow and oppression instead of joy and peace. However, brothers and sisters, there is a saving medicine for Christians even against sin: the Mysteries of Penance and Communion. Confess your sin and receive communion – and your soul will revive again and you will be joyful and glad, because "the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin" (1 John 1:7).

So, dear brothers and sisters, amid the sorrows of this raging sea of life, let us place all our hope in God and never be despondent, sad, afraid or fainthearted. "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1), says the Lord Jesus Christ. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). "I will not leave you orphans" (John 14:18), "for I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.