1ST READING: 1 KINGS 17:17-24
2ND READING: GALATIANS 1:11-19
GOSPEL: LUKE 7:11-17
Mercy! What a powerful word. This word is so powerful that Jesus was compelled after seeing the mother in our gospel story mourning the loss of her only son, to reach out in action.
But why does Luke tell us about the raising of the son of a widow from Nain? Because this story tells us about Jesus and reveals an action of Jesus, who in his great love for us, is Mercy itself.
It is worth our time to get clear on exactly what mercy is, especially during this Year of Mercy that we have been mentioning so much and is shown on our church wall with the banner of “The Year of Mercy.” Already we have heard the word mercy many times since the start of mass and will hear more before the mass has ended.
Ironically, today’s gospel does not include the word mercy, but it does define it and its definition is not what we are used to hearing. Customarily. We think of mercy as a negative word in the sense that it describes a non-action on our part. Let me give you an example- A police officer shows mercy to a speeding motorist when he makes a sure ticket turn magically into a stern warning.
We might think that this is the mercy the church has in mind when we say in our liturgy, “Lord, have mercy”, “Christ have mercy”, “Lord, have mercy”. In other words, Lord, do not come down on me like a ton of bricks, like I deserve, but rather spare me”.
But none of this is the mercy we hear in scripture. The mercy we hear consists of three things: Seeing, Feeling, and acting. We hear in our first reading today how Elijah showed mercy to the mistress of the house of Zarephath. He saw the sadness of the mistress in losing her only son. Elijah must have felt such compassion but Elijah believes God led him to the mistress’s door.
We can imagine him trying to make sense of this grave situation before him. However, before he can find out why he has been led there, he takes action. Elijah saw, felt, and acted just as Jesus in our gospel saw, felt and acted.
Think of Jesus today as he encounters this funeral procession led by a grieving widow who, Luke is careful to point out, has lost “her only son”. A kind of prefiguring of Mary, the mother of Mercy? “When the Lord saw her” Luke writes. Jesus sees the situation before him.
Now death, especially death of the young, was all too common in the ancient world and so it would have been perfectly understandable for Jesus and his disciples to mind their own business and keep walking. But this is not who Jesus is, this is not who God is.
“When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her”. That phrase, “moved with pity”, could be translated as a feeling deep down inside, in the gut. There was something about this scene, this profoundly sad situation that made Jesus feel deep down inside, in the gut.
His seeing was not just a glancing, it was a penetration into the heart of what was happening. One cannot look at people that way without feeling it, sometimes right in the gut.
The story concludes; “Jesus stepped forward and touched the coffin”. Coffin in those days was a long wicker basket where the cloth wrapped body would have been laid. No lid to close. Jesus went on to say, “Young man, I tell you arise, and he gave the man to his mother”.
Jesus does not see, then feel, then tuck that away to reflect upon another day. He acts! Decisively! In our moments, can we say the same for us? Do we look at the homeless on our streets and under our freeways, the marginalized of society, and feel for them and then go away saying to ourselves, “Maybe I can do something some other day?
Well, Jesus, at that moment changed everything. “Fear seized them all-they glorified God and a report about Him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region”. If that report was to be as brief as possible it would have said this: “Jesus was merciful”.
Would this same report go out about us? He is merciful. She sees, feels and acts out of love for others? Do we see and feel so deeply in the situations before us that we act? To see deeply when we could just as well turn our eyes somewhere else? To feel, in our gut, when honestly we have seen the same situation over and over again? To act decisively when we feel what little good could my action possibly accomplish?
Blessed Mother Teresa, who will be canonized on 4 September this year, said; “It is not the size of our actions but the amount of love and care that is put into them that matters”.
My Brothers and Sisters, we break open the scripture at mass not to bide our time until we get to the main event at the altar where we meet Jesus in the Eucharist. We break it open to remember again and again, and again what sort of God we place our hope in. We break open the scripture to meet Jesus in the words. Today could not be more clear; our God is a God of mercy, one who sees, feels, and acts out of love for us. You have heard Father Rick, Deacon Clark and myself speak about the seven corporal works of mercy which are seen here in our stained glassed windows. On that side we see Visit the imprisoned – visit the sick – feed the hungry – give drink to the thirsty. Over here we see, cloth the naked – give shelter to the homeless. And over here at the end we see, bury the dead.
What a better way to show Mercy as Jesus showed Mercy. God gave us his Son not to shelter in the darkness but to bring to light through our lives lived through his. To give as He gave is to see, feel and to act.
Jesus is inviting all of us in living out our faith, living a life of Mercy by being merciful to others. I would like to leave you with these words by Pope Francis from his book titled, “The name of God is Mercy”; and just a little bit more!
“We have received freely, we give freely. We are called to serve Christ the crucified through every marginalized person. We touch the flesh of Christ in they who are outcast, hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned, ill, unemployed, persecuted, in search of refuge”.
Through our scripture passages today we have come to know the meaning of Mercy. Let us now go out and experience it with Jesus at our side who is Mercy itself.