The Gift of Life [Luke 7:11-16]

   Glory to Jesus Christ!

It’s hard NOT to take life for granted!  Every day the sun rises.  Every day we awake, get dressed, go to work or to church.  Every day we eat meals, some of us browse the Internet, some read magazines.  All of these things are part of “everyday life,” and we seldom stop to consider what would happen if (or when) something removes them from us.

These days the news brings it all a little closer to home as we ponder the plight of our brothers and sisters in the southeast who have lost everything to Helene.  I heard an interview today of a man who drove nearly 6 hours from his home in North Carolina to a destination in South Carolina where he could buy the necessities to just keep on living—food, water, fuel.

Thank God it’s still warm, otherwise these unfortunates would be freezing as well!

Although percentage-wise the number of fatalities was small, it was large for any ‘storm’!  When it’s all said and done, over 200 will be dead, their families impacted forever, some unable to wash from their memories the terrible visions of seeing their loved one washed away before their very eyes in the raging waters of the storm.

We can’t bring them back.  Much as we’d like to, we don’t have that kind of authority over life and death.

But we serve One Who does have such authority.  And in being such a servant, we must live in that hope, and we must share that hope with others who we know are feeling quite hopeless right now.

In today’s Gospel, the widow of Nain had lost all hope.  She lives as an old woman.  In Jewish society in that time, women didn’t “earn a living” - they were provided for by their husbands.  If they were widowed, they relied upon male children to provide for them, or they would be destitute.

For the woman in today’s Gospel, she IS a widow.  She HAD only one son.  Now, he has died.

And so she walks with a funeral procession from the town of Nain out to a destination where she will lay the dead body of her only hope in this world into the ground.

She feels the grips of hopelessness tear her from the world she knew.

But our Lord knows all of this.  As always, He is at the right place at the right time.  As far as we know, neither the young man nor his mother ever expressed any faith in Jesus.  It doesn’t matter.  God can do as He wills!

And on this day, He wills to restore life, to give the gift of life.  He does so with His Word.  Young man, I say to you, arise!

Do we understand the power of those words?  They’ve been uttered before by our Lord.  At the home of Jairus, Jesus gives the gift of life to a little girl by saying, Little girl, I say to you, arise!  At the tomb of His friend Lazarus He speaks, Lazarus, come forth!

We don’t know if there were other instances of such raisings.  We know from the Gospel of St. Luke that disciples of St. John the Forerunner were present to see today’s raising.  St. Luke records that they returned to John and told him what they witnessed.  John in turn sent them back to Jesus with a question: ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’

John didn’t give them this question because HE needed the answer.  He sent them knowing that he would be murdered, and this was his way of securing his own disciples to their new Master.  In His response, Jesus says to them, Tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor receive the Gospel.

With the first of these, the Lord blesses those who are suffering in this world.  With the proclamation about the dead, they receive the gift of life still in this world.  With the Gospel, all of us, then, now, and until He returns, are granted the gift of life for eternity—if only we follow where He is leading us.

You see, the gift of life isn’t just for the physically dead—it’s mostly for the spiritually dead.  Let us embrace the gift before it’s too late.

Glory forever!

"Over the Top!" [Luke 6:31-36]

   Glory to Jesus Christ!

Isn’t it totally characteristic of our Lord to give us instruction such as this?  Do unto others…..!

I mean, I don’t ever think about what I’d “prefer” for others to do with/to/for me.  But when the idea is couched in the way that Jesus does today, it forces us to think in those terms.  “Is what I’m about to do with/to/for this person something that I would be pleased about if it were coming to me?”

Now all of a sudden there’s meaning to my actions that I’d never before considered.

But this is not YET “Over the top.”

If we go to the topic of this piece, let’s look first at the Lord’s words about love.  If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?

Well, I guess I never thought about being given ‘credit’ for loving.  But I can see where He is leading me.  I mean, I’m EXPECTED to love people who love me. 

Who “gives” me love?  Again, it’s expected from family, from spouses, from parents, from children,….. Love is something associated with family, certainly.

But where else is “love” found?  Perhaps some of us have friends who fall into the category of being loved by us, and us by them.  But if this is true, how do we define love?  Webster says that it is ‘a strong feeling of affection and concern toward another.’  OK, that makes sense in both the family and the friend example.

But now Jesus takes us “Over the Top”.  How?

Love your enemies.

Does He really mean that?  YES!  He does! 

So, I’m supposed to have feelings of affection AND concern for someone who at the least does not like me, and in the cases of some, one who may even hate me?  Is that what Jesus is saying?

YES!  It is!

Think about it for just a moment.  I would hope to be considered to be a child of God.  That would make me family.  Jesus spoke to His disciples and called them friends.  If I’m a dedicated follower, then I should fit into that category as well.  So I want to think that love from God ought to be easy—for Him.

But love is typically not seen as being ‘one way’.  In family and in friendships, love is a two-way street, it is given freely and returned freely.

But is this the way that I love God?  Am I a giver AND a taker, or just a taker?

How often do I offer thanks for His gifts (His LOVE) to me?  How often do I go to Him and offer heartfelt apology (repentance) for things that I know I did wrong?  How often do I return actions that in human terms could be couched as “hateful”? 

I can hear you ask, “Hateful, Father?  Do you think I ever behave in such a way?”

Only you can judge for yourself.  I can only speak for me, and my answer is, “Yes.”  There are times that my interaction with God borders on what humans would see as hateful.  When I know there is someone in need and I make the choice to ignore them.  When I schedule time to pray, then turn on the TV.  When I promise to fast and then overeat. 

Now it is I who am “Over the Top”. 

Jesus goes so far as to lovingly explain to me that I must love my enemies, I must do good, lend, hoping for nothing in return.  Do you hear those words?  He’s not saying “expecting noting in return,” but rather HOPING for nothing!!  In short, take what I give you—I don’t want anything back!

He is certainly “Over the Top” in human terms.  But He loves someone like me who doesn’t exactly show Him the love that He deserves.  And what does He promise for this?

Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, a promise that is truly "Over the Top."  What a loving God we serve!

Glory forever!

Nevertheless....

Glory to Jesus Christ!

We human beings like to think highly of ourselves.  We are confident, certain in our abilities, secure in our understanding of the world around us.

Until something unexpected happens.

In today’s Gospel, our Lord is found preaching to the crowds near the Sea of Galilee.  He sees two boats emptied of their fishermen, and so He sets about to enter one so that He could teach from a position where people would only be in front of Him.  Logical!  What He says to the crowd, we aren’t told.  It is not important to this Gospel record.

It is only when He is finished with teaching that Jesus turns to Peter and says, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Remember our starting premise—we people are certain in our abilities and our understanding of the world around us!  Peter and his companions have just labored to clean and put away their fishing nets.  The fished all day and caught nothing.  Now, even while Peter knows Jesus, and clearly respects Him, has no doubt witnessed some miraculous healings and deeds, this is now HIS turf, HIS place of expertise.  He knows that Jesus is no fisherman!  And so we can almost hear the exasperation in the voice of Peter as he responds to the Lord’s request.  Peter rightly calls Him Master.  Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;  NEVERTHELESS… 

There’s that word.  What does it mean?  What Peter is saying in essence is, “You have no experience in what You’re asking me to do.  I KNOW there’s nothing out there.  I KNOW we’ll find nothing.

NEVERTHELESS.  I will swallow my pride and do what You ask, even though I KNOW what the result will be.  He further quantifies his belief in self by saying, at Your word I will let down the net.  In other words, when we come up empty, it’ll all be on You!

St. Luke shows what a lack of faith can be turned into.  He records, And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.  So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Not only was Peter’s understanding of the world around him turned upside down, he was now the one shown to be without an understanding of the world around him.  Once you come to see the Lord as the One Who is the Creator, you come to recognize that there is nothing in “nature” that is not subject to His command.  Winds stop at His word.  Demons flee from His presence.  Blindness becomes sight at His command.  Lepers are cleansed at His touch.

As this recognition comes to Peter, his understanding is overturned by the recognition of these characteristics of a Man who stands before him as God. 

When Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Peter is not truly begging Jesus to leave him.  From this moment on, he will cling to Jesus, becoming a rock of faith.  Peter is expressing his recognition that Divinity doesn’t coexist with what is sinful.  This is Peter’s “confession”.  He recognizes the sin he has just committed in not trusting in the Lord.  He sees the other sins within his life.  For His part, the Lord gives His absolution.  Do not be afraid.  From now on, you will catch men.

And indeed, Peter and the others didn’t fish thereafter.  St. Luke records, When they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Lord, help ME to forsake the world as well, and to follow where You might lead me!

Glory forever!