Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 444


Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst,”
and “God has visited his people.”



We so often think of Jesus as the Christ and Lord we forget some of his other titles, especially that of prophet. 

Today's gospel of Jesus calling the widow's son back to life stresses his mission as prophet. First it recalls similar incidents in the lives of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha. 

I Kings 17 tells of Elijah's story: 

Some time later the son of the woman, the owner of the house, fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.  So she said to Elijah, “Why have you done this to me, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?”   

Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. He called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.” The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he lived. 

Taking the child, Elijah carried him down into the house from the upper room and AND GAVE HIM TO HIS MOTHER. 

Elijah said, “See! Your son is alive.” 

The woman said to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the LORD that you speak.”

2 KIngs 4 tells a similar story of Elisha's gratitude to a benefactor; 

When Elisha reached the house, he found the boy dead, lying on the bed. He went in, closed the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD. Then he lay upon the child on the bed, placing his mouth upon the child’s mouth, his eyes upon the eyes, and his hands upon the hands. As Elisha stretched himself over the child, the boy’s flesh became warm. 

He arose, paced up and down the room, and then once more stretched himself over him, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” He called her, and she came to him, and Elisha said to her, “Take your son.” 

She came in and fell at his feet in homage; then she took her son and left. 

The similarities of these stories to that of the Widow of Nain are quite intentional. Saint Luke wants us to understand Jesus is The Prophet. The widow's words to Elijah apply to Jesus, 

" Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak." 

This gospel story concludes with another important phrase, “God has visited his people.”

We should remember the prophecy of Zechariah, that God would "visit his people." 

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people. 

Friars Jose and Leo

Saint Luke also recalls Jesus' warning to those who ignore the opportunity he offers: 

...they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.

Woe to those who ignore Jesus' invitation. It is not wise to ignore the prophet who shows God's compassion to widows and orphans.