a dead man was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a
widow; there followed a large crowd of townspeople. On seeing her, the Lord had pity
on her and said, “Don’t cry.” Then he came up and touched the stretcher, and the
men who carried it stopped. Jesus then said, “Young man, I say to you, wake up!” And
the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
A holy fear came over them all, and they praised God saying, “A great prophet has
appeared among us. God has visited his people.” This news spread throughout Judea
and the surrounding places.

Reflect

“He had pity on her.” We have reflected on the point that Jesus would perform miracles
for people who have explicitly expressed their faith. Nonetheless, the Gospels also record
miracles performed by Jesus for people who did not explicitly express their faith. Today’s
Gospel narrates the widow of Naim, narrating how Jesus raised her son back to life. In this
story, Jesus was not merely generous. Jesus appeared to be benevolent. The widow was
silent. We need not elaborate on the poor condition of widows in Jesus’ time. Jesus had
pity on her. Jesus must have had felt the strong faith of the widow even if she did not explicitly
express it. Concerning this widow who then lost a son, we may presume that she must
be a woman of strong faith. She must have already placed her life in God’s loving hands.
Furthermore, the passage tells nothing of the widow’s reaction after her son was raised to life.
We can only presume that she would have been overjoyed. A great joy then, so as a great faith,
can always be expressed even in silence.

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