I heard a story that happened at a funeral home in this part of the country some years back. It seems they had a janitor who was a bit skittish about being around dead people.
So skittish, in fact, that as he swept up the place, he’d cautiously approach any occupied casket, sweeping gingerly while keeping his eye on the dead person the whole time.
On this particular occasion, an undertaker the janitor didn’t know had dropped by from another funeral home. The janitor’s undertaker buddies decided to seize this opportunity to pull a prank on him, so they talked the visiting undertaker into getting into an empty casket in one of the empty rooms.
It wasn’t long before the janitor came along with his broom and saw the casket with the undertaker laid out playing possum. Ever so cautiously, he began to ease his way up to the casket, sweeping with both eyes fixed on that undertaker. And just as he got up to the casket, that undertaker smiled from ear to ear. I’m told the janitor took the screened door out of its frame as he left the building!
‘Young man, arise!’
In chapter 7 of the Gospel of Luke, we find Jesus arriving at the gates of the city of Nain, a small village about six miles southeast of Nazareth. He was coming from Capernaum, some 25 miles away, where he’d just healed the centurion’s servant with only a verbal command. As he approached, he saw a funeral procession with a large crowd of people coming out of the town. They were taking the body of a young man, the only son of his widowed mother, to be buried.
In that day and age, a widow with no one to care for her was in a desperate situation. Not only had she lost a son, but her very survival was in question. When Jesus saw the woman, he was moved with pity. He approached her and told her not to weep. He stepped forward and touched the coffin, which was open, and the pall bearers immediately stopped. Then Jesus said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. The people were terrified!
I’m sure they were. The mere thought of a dead person in a casket smiling or rising up and saying a few words is terrifying enough, much less if we saw such a thing happen.
Or thought we saw it happen, like that poor janitor in the funeral home.
In the gospel, the people who saw it were terrified at first, but then they immediately glorified God and exclaimed that a great prophet had arisen in their midst and that God had visited His people. They made the connection from the Old Testament, where Elijah raised the son of the widow of Zarephath and Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman. These great prophets healed by praying to God, but Jesus was much, much greater. He healed people, performed miracles, and raised the dead, including Himself, by His own command! Because He is the Son of God.
‘God has visited his people’
In keeping with Old Testament commandments directed at caring for widows, Jesus shows compassion for a widow and at the same time demonstrates the keeping of his own command to be merciful. All of which indeed shows that “God has visited his people,” just as He did in the days of Moses and as was prophesied in chapter 1 of Luke’s gospel in the Canticle of Zechariah, where Zechariah says, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has come to His people and set them free.”
In His love for us, God has truly visited His people by sending us His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. By His compassion, He leads us to salvation through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead at his own command! May we follow Him in our own lives, always remembering to show the same compassion to others that he has shown us.
Lift high the cross!
Deacon William S. “Bill” Melton Jr. serves at St. Michael Parish in Gastonia. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 704-862-8982.