Homily One on the Third Sunday of Luke*
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
Today the Gospel of Luke was read about the resurrection by the Lord of the only son of a widow from the city of Nain, who wept bitterly for his loss out of great sorrow. The Lover of mankind took pity on her and said to her, "Weep not." And He came and touched the bier; – at this the bearers of the bier stopped, and the Lord said to the dead man, "Young man, I say to you, Rise up." And - Oh, the miracle! - the dead man arose and sat up and began to speak; and Jesus gave him to his mother. Then fear came upon them all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people" (Luke 7:11–16). Here ends today's Gospel. A short reading, but how much there is in it that is instructive and edifying! What a wonderful, striking and inspiring story! The youth was resurrected from the dead by the word of the Life-giver and was handed over alive to his bitterly weeping mother, who unexpectedly received her priceless treasure, the support of her old age, the light and joy of her eyes. What a divine power, conquering death, which had held humanity so firmly in its terrible bonds for many thousands of years! What divine mercy, which returned to the mother's love the tenderly beloved child! This miracle of the resurrection of the youth, my brethren, was accomplished in the image of the future resurrection of all the dead and for the confirmation of our faith and our hope for the general resurrection.
Let us remember and rejoice that through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, death has been conquered, changed into sleep, and resurrection has been granted to us all, which will certainly follow at the time appointed by God. But, sons of the resurrection! remembering our future resurrection, let us strive unfailingly so that we all may rise again to joy and eternal life, and not to shame and eternal reproach, as the Prophet Daniel says; so that after the resurrection we may be worthy to stand at the right hand of the Lord, and not at the left, and to hear not a threatening voice sending us into eternal fire, but a voice calling us to the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us strive, according to our strength, to imitate the mercy of our Lord, to console, in whatever way we can, the grieving, to visit orphans and widows, especially the poor and helpless, to help the poor, to ease the difficult situation of the unfortunate. For almsgiving, according to the Scripture, delivers from death and cleanses every sin (Tobit 12:9). We know that each of us has his own dead man, namely, his soul, dead because of countless sins, in a living body - just as the Lord in one place called some people dead, although they were alive in the body, saying to a certain man who wanted to follow Christ, but first bury his father: "Let the dead bury their own dead" (Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60), but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God, or as the Lord says to one head of the Church: "you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead" (Rev. 3:1).
Yes, every sinner has a dead soul, which can perish forever, without ceasing to exist, but remaining endlessly in terrible torment. This dead soul of a sinner in this life can be resurrected only by Jesus Christ alone – through faith and heartfelt repentance. And this great miracle – the resurrection of the souls of sinners – the Lord often performs; sometimes in one day and even one hour He calls from death to life one and the same soul, dying through its sins and passions and rising through sincere repentance. Oh, how many great miracles the Lord performs daily in the souls of believers and repentant sinners – so many that because of their multitude these miracles sometimes seem to be very ordinary internal phenomena! Oh, the abyss of God’s mercy! Oh, the inexhaustible sea of miracles of God’s goodness and long-suffering! Glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, who takes away our sins, destroying the death of our souls and granting them life by Your ineffable goodness! But, sinners, let us not abuse the mercy of God, adding sins to sins, lingering in the same sins for many years, but let us hasten to bring sincere and unchanging repentance, let us conquer our evil inclinations and habits by the grace of God and bring to the Lord fruits worthy of repentance.
Behold, He waits for so long for good fruits from us; let us hasten to repentance, I say, lest He cut us down like a barren fig tree and cast us into unquenchable fire. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
* 20th Sunday After Pentecost in the Slavic Churches.