Raising the Widow’s Son

One

The Raising of the Widow’s Son

One of Christ’s extraordinary miracles, one that doesn’t get a lot of description, was His raising of a widow’s son. It was actually in the middle of the funeral procession. They were taking the body out of the city, taking him to bury him, to put him in the ground, and Jesus came and raised the corpse back to life.

Can you imagine it? It would be like if a funeral procession today stopped at a traffic light, and a stranger went over behind the hearse and raised the dead person to life. That would make the coffee and donuts afterward more cheerful, wouldn’t it? The person you were planning to bury is there chatting it up, having a good time?

Now this wasn’t the only person Jesus raised from the dead but there weren’t many. What patterns were there? Was there something this widow’s son had in common with the other people Jesus brought back? And if so, what would it be? And what might it teach us?

Two

The Three People Christ Raised from the Dead

Jesus raised three people from the dead before His own resurrection, just three. At first, when you look at these three cases, what jumps out is the difference between them. One of them is a little girl, Jarius’ daughter who just died maybe minutes before Jesus got there. She’s barely dead. Another, Lazarus, has been dead so long, he’s starting to rot. He’s really dead. And then this widow’s son, he’s been dead longer than the little girl, but he’s not buried like Lazarus. So he’s kind of in the middle. 

So in themselves, these three people Jesus raised seem very different. But they do have one thing in common. They all have someone who loves them. And, it turns out, that has a lot to do with why Jesus raises them from the dead.

Three

Christ’s Compassion for the Survivors

When Christ healed the widow’s son, St. Luke actually gives an insight into why Jesus chose to bring her son back to life. Here’s how Luke narrates it, “As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.  When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”

So who does Jesus do it all for? Who is He moved with compassion for? Whom does He tell not to weep? To whom does Jesus give the risen man? It’s the mother! It’s for her sake that He works the miracle. Her only son, the only man left in her family, is dead. Jesus takes pity on her. He brings her son back from the dead.

And, it turns out, in the other cases when Jesus brings people back from the dead, there are always family survivors who are connected to Christ.

Four

Family with connections to Christ

When Jesus raises the dead man in the funeral procession, it’s because He feels a pull of the heart toward the man’s mother. When Jesus raises the little girl from the dead, it’s precisely because her father, Jairus, asked Jesus to come save her. When Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, it’s Lazarus’ sisters, and particularly Martha, who expresses her grieving to Christ. In fact, the Gospel specifies that Jesus loves not only Lazarus but also his sisters.

What’s the takeaway? Well, apparently, that if you maintain a close connection with Jesus, it will be good for your family.

Five

Pray that your son or daughter, brother or sister, be raised up

All Jesus’ physical miracles are meant to be signs of his power to save spiritually. Every healing of the body, or of bodily death, is a sign of his power to heal the soul and save us from spiritual death. In these miracles of the greatest physical healings, Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the widow’s son, when Jesus brought the dead back to life, there were always family members involved. A father, a mother, siblings.

So, do you have a family member who is spiritually dead? A son? A daughter? A brother? A sister? Then pray to the Lord. Beg Him for your child’s life. Ask Him to take pity, not only on your child, or your sibling, but on you! The Lord will be moved with compassion. And if He wills it, sooner or later, He will bring them back to life.