10th Sunday of Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND  FAITH(1 Kings 17,17-24; Galatians 1,11-19; Luke 7,11-17: 10th Sunday of Year C  2016).

    The first remark that can be made from the first reading is that the revival of the son of the widow by Elijah happened in a non Israelite territory, in the confines of Israel, to the north of Sidon. This fact is important, because this miracle took place in a land thought to be under the jurisdiction of another god. Thus the Lord has his sway in other lands and had universal influence. He blesses those who are not of his chosen race, Israel. God’s power and goodness disregard national boundaries. There are no limits to the healing love of God. It embraces all, regardless of race or gender.

    Both miracles in the first and Gospel readings were done in favour of widows, both having only a son. In the face of death of their sons, the widows faced double tragedy.  In a patriarchal society a woman could claim the major privileges of society only through the agency of men in her life. With no husband and no son they would not fit into the kin structure. Furthermore, with the death of the son, the family itself was at its end. There would be no descendants to inherit the estate, and the name of the father would not pass into the future and, therefore, cease to exist. In the case of the first reading, in order to heal, Elijah performed what was really a kind of symbolic prophetic act. It was not the power from the body of the prophet that restored the boy but the power of God working through the prophet. The passage itself makes this clear; Elijah prayed to the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer. When the son was restored to her alive, the woman responded with an act of faith. Her living son was proof that God’s power worked through the man of God. She testified that God’s word came from Elijah’s mouth as well. God’s life-giving power has been exercised in a foreign land for the benefit of one of the most disadvantaged of the society, a widow.

    In the issue of the miracle of bringing back the life of the only son of the widow of Nain, Jesus seemed to have performed it out of his own deep emotion rather than in response to someone else’s request or demonstration of faith. Jesus was deeply moved at the sight of the grieving mother, a widow over her only son. Jesus and his companions met the funeral procession at the limits of the town. Jesus disregarded the cultic prohibition against touching a corpse. Such an act would render him unclean. However, it was through this act that the life giving power of God was transmitted to the corpse. The same act that polluted Jesus raised the young man. He spoke giving evidence that he was alive. Jesus gave him back to his mother.

    While the prophet Elijah prayed to God and performed the rites of intercession in order to bring back the life of the dead child, Jesus rather brought back the life of the widow of Nain’s son through the prodigious force of his Word, because he is the Lord and his words are not the words of men, but the Word of God. It is understandable the wave of administration and enthusiasm which the bystanders experienced as the miracle was performed. They attested: a great prophet has risen from among us and God has visited his own people. Jesus is the last Word of God, not just any prophetic word no matter how important it could be. As Bonora holds: With Jesus God has said all his Word, in an insuperable definitive way. He has made us understand that death is neither the ultimate word, a conclusive seal nor an invincible evil. Jesus himself solemnly declared at the raising of Lazarus from the dead: I am the resurrection and life: who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will not die forever (John 11, 25-26).

    It is also necessary to mention that Jesus has not only conquered the death of the body because he is the Lord of life, but can also break into the intimacy of the most obstinate and hard heart, he can open for himself a passage even in the heart that does not allow grace to get in and change it in a most radical way. This is demonstrated in the event of St Paul who from persecuting the young church of Christ became, after the apparition of Jesus on his way to Damascus, the most fervid and passionate proclaimer of the gospel among the Jews and Gentiles. This thought makes us feel optimistic in our own case for we know that God can make us rise from our weaknesses, and cure us from our spiritual infirmities. Indeed, he wishes to do so; what we need to do is to open our hearts to him and strive to cooperate generously to his grace. In fact, what the Church invites us to ask in prayer, for ourselves and for others, is the spiritual resurrection. God is able to raise the dead even those obstinate dead who consider themselves still alive. God is able to transform us. Faith means considering it possible that God can make us new.  The true atheist is not one who affirms that God does not exist. Such are few. The real atheist is the one who affirms that God cannot transform him, who says that he is no longer able to change, and is too late to change. Real atheist is one who negates the infinite power and force of the resurrection which is inherent in the grace of God. True believers are those among us who know that it is only a genuine prayer, a sincere confession and just only one word from God that are enough for us to be renewed and to continue our Christian life. Therefore, let us in today’s Eucharistic celebration, ask God to give us the grace to be true believers. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye