“DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL ….

… I have only slipped away into the next room. I am, I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that, still we are.” Death prayer, attributed to St. Augustine.

We read words of great truth and depth in the Book of Wisdom: “Honorable age does not depend on length of days, nor is the number of years true measure of life. The upright was pleasing to God, who loved him, and since he was living among sinners, he was taken up. Though his life soon ended, he travelled far. Because his soul was precious to the Lord, he was quickly removed from the wickedness around him”. Yes we find these words in the Book of Wisdom, chapter 4, verses eight to fourteen. Very often this text is read during the Funeral Service of a young person.

Though these are words of great wisdom, yet how soothing are they to the parents of the dead person? Yes, they will be felt as sweet as balm, after a time, when we surrender to the Will of God. Yet Jesus had pity on the widow, the mother of the dead son. Yes, He showed His feelings and He was moved. Nothwithstanding that He had no words of consolation to the mother (at least not recorded in the Gospel), nor any sign of sympathy, yet, ultimately He gave her back her son alive, and healthy according to Dr.Luke.

The first Reading, taken from the first Book of Kings, the Prophet Elijah prays to the Lord to give life back to the child, and this is very similar to the Gospel text. In both stories we find a widow with an only son, and who were both restored to life. It’s worth noting that Elijah was a Prophet, so he was obliged to turn to God for help, whilst Christ, being the Author of Life, uses His own authority and power to restore life to the son of Na’im.

We notice two opposite movements, meeting, so to say at the door of the city. One groups is led by Jesus, His Apostles and the crowd following Him. From the opposite side another crowd, made up of a funeral cortege meets Christ’s group. As was the culture, this funeral took place late in the evening, to increase the atmosphere of sadness, with a throng of women crying and wailing. We notice that Christ’s one and only word was: “Don’t cry.” But was this message solely for the mother or for the mourners present?

Christ is in full control of the situation; he gives the command of “Don’t cry”, next, against the Jewish belief and culture, He touches the coffin, an act unheard of; that is touching a coffin with a dead person in it. That was a gesture of impurity, so according to the Jewish Culture, Christ had become unclean.

Finally He gives the command: “Get up.” Christ spoke as one having power and authority. As you must have noticed Christ was not requested to perform the miracle, he did it freely as a gesture of love and mercy. He gave the ‘gift of life’. The reaction of the crowd was “A great prophet has appeared amongst us; God has visited his people!” (v. 16).

Was the crowd happy and jubilant because a young man was restored to life, or rather because a great prophet has appeared amongst them? If you recall Christ command to “Stop crying,” we understand that the reason was because ‘here is the Lord of life’ amongst you.

Yes, we should ‘stop crying’ when a beloved person in our family, a relative or any person for that matter, joins the ranks in heaven, hopefully. We have to stop crying and convince ourselves that God has conquered death once and for ever, if anything we should ‘cry for joy’.