Arise and Live
The Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity // Video //
The spiritual life isn’t static but is always on the move. We are either moving towards God or away from Him. To be human is to be in motion; we are moveable creatures. Mobility allows us to physically move from one location to another. But movability more deeply means that we are movable in the sense that we can be changed, formed, or reformed. We are moveable because we are imperfect. God is immovable because he is perfect and doesn't need to be reformed or changed.
We are progressing; we are becoming. On the contrary, in God, there is no variation. He isn't a shifting shadow (Js 1:17). We are creatures. He is the Creator. We did not make ourselves but were fashioned by Divine craftsmanship; every person is made in the image of God; crafted in the Divine likeness. Yet, we are not Gods. We carry attributes and characteristics analogous to the One who made us. For there is One God, and we are the people of his pasture and sheep of his hand. We are moveable, in process, but the Triune God is immovable because, in a real sense, He's already arrived. He's already there and has been since before eternity. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Rev 22:13).
Whether one follows Christ or the world, every person is on a pilgrimage headed for eternity. We are either processing toward the Lord or processing away from him. There are only two processions in this world: the way of life and the way of death. In a consumer age fraught with never-ending options, this two-path view of spirituality is restrictive, oppressive, and certainly unaccommodating. It's not customer-centric. Yet the fact is that life only affords two paths: the way of life or the way of death.
Both paths, these processions (towards God or the world), are filled with challenges, dangers, and sorrow for both Christians and non-Christians. Life's tragedies affect anyone. However, the fundamental difference lies in the presence of the Lord Jesus. As Christians navigate life's pilgrimage, it's essential to remember that a Divine pilgrimage is also taking place. My friends, as we journey towards the Lord, He is journeying to meet us on life's difficult road.
In today’s Gospel, two different processions converge in a city called Nain: a procession of death and the processional of life. The first procession is a funeral cortege (a very solemn procession) involving a large crowd of the city residents (Luke says, "most of the city") transporting a young man's body to the cemetery, whose life has been cut short in the springtime of life. The mourning is intense, as it always is, whenever someone with so much life ahead of them tragically and suddenly dies. And what could be more moving than a mother's weeping over the death of her only child? She is utterly alone. The city is saturated with sorrow. But another procession has entered the city with many people and disciples is being led by Jesus. Luke writes, “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier; and they that bare him stood still. And he said, young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.” With just a touch, Jesus halted the procession of death and turned sorrow into joy.
What might we learn from this dramatic scene to help us travel our lifelong pilgrimage of faith? First, we learn of God's incredible compassion for those mourning the loss of loved ones. Jesus himself wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, even though he knew he would raise him from the dead. Likewise, for any of us who have buried a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a son or a daughter, a brother or sister, or a good friend, Jesus has compassion on us.
We need to remember that he never intended death. Death is unnatural. It is a consequence of sin. But Jesus didn't leave it there. He entered our world, took on our human nature, and even took on human death to redeem it all and make eternal life possible. Just as the multiplications of the loaves and fish were foreshadowing the far greater miracle of the Eucharist, so these physical resuscitations of Jairus' daughter, the beloved Lazarus, and this widow's son portend a greater miracle: that Jesus can resurrect the dead. Resuscitations are temporary, but resurrection is forever.
Jesus, rich in mercy and compassion, refuses to let us grieve in solitude but graciously shares his compassionate touch with us. Only Divine compassion can provide us with the true and only hope for our beloved departed: the hope of bodily resurrection. And this great hope comforts and alleviates the fear of our own death. "For it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb 9:27). But for those upon whom the divine gaze has been received by faith, who trust in the healing touch of grace, Jesus says, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" Although the procession of death marches on, the procession of life is greater.
The second point from today's Gospel is this: if we want to walk in the procession of life, then we need to walk with Jesus. The procession of life is one in which Jesus seeks to bring us fully alive. Our Lord's triumph over death is what he desires to give us: life. And the way of life is not an event, a philosophy, or even an approach to living. No! It is a relationship. Jesus says, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," for us to experience his risen life, both now and in the future, we must enter into a deep relationship with him. We must respond to grace, trust by faith, humble ourselves, turn from sin, and unto holiness and virtue. It means not just hearing him but following him, step by step, word by word, thought by thought.
The path of death is to order our lives apart from Jesus Christ. So many people are as dead men walking; multitudes are hollow on the inside and faint as ghosts on the outside, wasting away, decaying daily from sins and vice, full of hatred, envy, lust, and anger towards their neighbor and often against God. They find themselves numbered among a great multitude following the wake of death, not realizing they have removed themselves far from Jesus.
The most tragic among these walking dead are those who mistakenly think they're alive because they have some intellectual knowledge of Christ and his teachings, attaining a knowledge of the Scriptures. They pray and regularly attend church, but the love of the Lord Jesus Christ isn't really alive in them as they go through the motions of faith, while at the same time are far from Him because their hearts are running after the world. They are white-washed tombs, spotless on the outside, but on the inside, selfish, wicked, and corrupt. They have the appearance of life while standing on the precipice of death.
Jesus describes, however, the path unto life. Humility and repentance halt our death-march and turn us back towards life. Friends, Jesus wants to halt the procession of death. He wants to raise us from the bier of sin and back to life. When your conscience finally compels repentance, and you confess your sins, pardons, absolves, heals, cleans, and reconciles you back to Himself. The immovable God removes your guilt and washes away your sins when you cast yourself upon his mercy because he loves you.
What sweet and soothing music to the ears of imperfect pilgrims like us. He offers comfort when we stumble on the journey towards eternal life. Your God rejoices over and embraces every prodigal pilgrim prodigal who returns, declaring, "My son was dead and has been brought back to life again." Realize, dear Christian, a glorious type of resurrection.
The third and final lesson is this: the walk with Jesus on the procession of life demands death. We know that Jesus was journeying to Jerusalem, where another mother would watch her son die and carry him to be buried outside the city walls. But it was through his loving death that he made resurrection possible for all of us, teaching us the principle that to save our life, we must lose it and that unless we fall to the ground and die like the grain of wheat, we will bear no fruit.
The path of life, the journey of true faith, is a path in which we, too, lose our lives for God and others, in which we love others as Jesus has loved us first, in which we sacrifice our own needs and desires so that others may live. The path with Jesus, the relationship with Jesus, always involves this type of self-emptying love. Jesus says, "Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt. 16:25). We must die if we want to live.
But don't fear dying to yourself, for Jesus takes what is dead and makes it live because He is love and full of compassion. He will not leave you in death, for he saw your great need, left the glory of heaven, "who came near to the city." By his death, he halted the procession of death in which you and all of humanity were numbered. Friends, open your mouth and sing his praise!
For this Jesus we worship is the blessed One who reached out and touched you when you were dead in sins and trespasses. He is the One who called you out of darkness, and this same Jesus will mercifully resurrect you today if you confess your sins and trust him with your life. He is here and calling us out of the parade of death: "Young man, young woman, I say unto thee, Arise, rejoice, and live. Speak his praises; tell all you meet of the deep, deep love of Jesus. Amen+
