Road to Beautiful
Jesus,
his disciples, and the multitude that followed him headed towards the city of
Nain.
Nain
has two meanings: green pastures and beautiful. Those are images I like. The
Lord is my shepherd; he leads me to green pastures. Those who know Jesus are on
the road to Beautiful. Amen.
Instead
of Nain, I will use the word Beautiful.
At
the gates of Beautiful, two processions come upon each other. One, a procession
of life, follows Jesus. A large crowd does not know Jesus and follows death
away from the gates to Beautiful; away from green pastures.
In
those days, people avoided the dead. The dead were unclean. Today, if we come
upon a funeral procession, we pull to the side of the road and let it pass. It’s
a habit. Maybe, the pious among us will offer a prayer.
We
don’t know the people. We don’t reach out to them. That’s not Jesus.
Jesus
has compassion for the widow. Jesus shows mercy.
The
Lord saw the widow and moved in grace and power. He brought life to replace
death. He bore hope instead of fear. He gave everything needed to turn that
procession around and with joy in their hearts return to the gates to Beautiful!
Jesus’
compassion is the mercy of God, mercy for those trapped in hopeless and
helpless situations.
The
widow was in a hopeless and helpless situation. She was in a desperate time
having buried her husband and burying her only son. She was a wreck.
She’s
not alone in being hopeless and helpless. You will be like this. I will be like
this. There is going to be sometime we find ourselves in a desperate position.
That’s life. We should appreciate this widow.
Jesus
comes to her. She doesn’t go to him. The widow doesn’t ask for help. Jesus sees
her and comes to her. Jesus didn’t move to the side and let the funeral and
this widow pass. Jesus sees her need and goes out of his way to come to
her.
Jesus
touched the coffin, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” That’s
what Jesus does. He touches dead people and brings them life.
Even
though Jesus revitalized that young man from a physical death, He didn’t come
to abolish physical death but to abolish spiritual death. Jesus touched so many
more than just that young man. The people cried God has
visited his people.
Rising
from physical death we die again. When we rise from spiritual death, we have
eternal life. Jesus brings us out of death into eternal life. The presence of
the Lord brings life.
Just
like the presence of Christ brought Paul to new life. Paul wasn’t looking for
Jesus. Paul was trying to destroy Christ’s church. The world made Paul
spiritually dead and Christ Jesus saved Paul bringing him to new life.
In
the same way we are called to be Christians. The world can make us spiritually
dead. Christ comes to us, in the mass, in the Eucharist, in his body and blood.
He brings eternal life. We are to be like Jesus.
A parent is bringing a child to school.
The parent, a doctor, has a stethoscope on the seat of the car. The child picks
it up. With pride the parent thinks, my child is on the road to being a doctor.
The child puts it on and then using it like a microphone says, “Welcome to
McDonalds. May I take your order?”
If
we are on the road to beautiful, with Jesus, the disciples and the great
multitude, then reach out to those traveling in the opposite way. We are to
bring them the life giving presence of Jesus.
The
scripture tells us what to do to bring people to new life. Pray like Elijah.
Pray fervently for those on the path to death and darkness. Share the gospel like
Paul. The gospel will reveal Christ to those who hear it and believe.
Those
who know Jesus are on the road to Beautiful.
Y’all be good. Y’all be holy. Preach
the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.
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