To read: Luke 7:11-18
Soon afterwards [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
To think about:
This text was the Sunday lesson used by the 26 communities of the Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope) Lutheran Church of Nicaragua on the Sunday I was present there. I traveled with the group from Ascension Lutheran Church, Towson, for whom this is a sister parish. The Lutheran Church in Nicaragua has only two ordained pastors. All these communities have worship led by lay leaders who come to Managua for training on Monday and Tuesday of each week.
My overwhelming sense of Nicaragua was that it is a place of poverty. Many of these communities had no electricity. Some had to go as far as two kilometers for water. We ate rice and beans three meals a day for ten days, a diet they eat year round. Some of the communities in which there might be one vehicle (a pick-up truck) were 10 miles on rutted dirt roads from public transportation.
The lesson of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain is about bringing new life in the face of death. Where could that possibly happen in this situation? The stories soon began to be told.
The pastor and members of one of the communities had gathered at the hospital bedside of the sister of a lay pastor in critical condition from a cancerous tumor. They prayed. On next check, the tumor could not be found. A miracle.
A whole village had been destroyed in Hurricane Mitch. The people (and one cat) who survived had stood on their rooftops for four days without food until boats came. One farmer (Dom Chico) had watched 300 head of cattle, selectively bred over his lifetime, drown. Through the Lutheran church acting with other church bodies, new houses have been built and each family given two cows or some chickens. They celebrated this new life in worship under a shelter of banana and palm leaves created anew each week. They thanked God for what they had rather than bemoaned what they lacked. A miracle.
Since I have returned I have asked in different groups what signs of the power of God bring new life, and answers seem much more difficult to come by. We rely upon our own efforts rather than upon God to secure what we think is important. Jesus' assertion that the poor are blessed because they know their need of God had been demonstrated before my eyes.
To pray:
For providing hope in the face of extreme need, we give you thanks, O God. For displays of your power to bring new life where there is death, we long. For compassion that evokes a desire to see the world's goods more equitably shared, we pray; through Christ, our Lord. Amen.