Luke § 30

And it happened afterward, he went to a city called Nain. Nain is a city of Galilee in the second mile of Mount Tabor towards the south near Endor, which is a large village in the fourth mile of the same mountain to the south.

And his disciples were going with him, and a great crowd. As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother. This deceased, who was being borne out of the gate of the city with many looking on, represents a man lulled by the lethal funeral of sins, and this same death of the soul, no longer hidden in the chamber of the heart, but made known to many by the indication of speech or action, as if disclosed through the gates of his city. He is rightly said to have been the only son of his mother, because, although composed of many individuals, the one perfect and immaculate virgin is the mother Church, and each individual among the faithful rightly acknowledges himself as a child of the universal Church. For any chosen one, when instructed in faith, is a son; when instructing others, a mother. Was he not acting with maternal affection towards the little ones who said: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you? (Galatians 4:19). The gate of the city through which the deceased was being carried, I believe to represent some bodily sense. For he who sows discord among brothers, he who speaks iniquity in high places, is dragged out dead through the gate of his mouth. He who looks at a woman to lust after her (Matthew 5:28), produces the marks of his death through the gates of his eyes. He who willingly opens his ear to idle tales or obscene songs or slander, makes this gate of his soul a passage of death, and to those who do not guard their senses, he himself provides the way to death. I beseech you, Lord Jesus, to make all the gates of my city gates of justice, so that entering into them I may confess to your name (Psalm 118:19), and to your majesty, frequently visiting it with heavenly ministers, let not the stench of a decaying corpse meet you, but let salvation occupy its walls, and praise its gates.

Nain is a city of Galilee, within two miles of mount Tabor. But by the divine counsel there were large multitudes accompanying the Lord, that there might be many witnesses of so great a miracle. Hence it follows, And his disciples went with him, and much people.

And it came to pass, afterwards etc. After the miracle of the healing of one about to die, there is here subjoined the miracle of the raising of one dead: in which the demonstration of the excellence of the Savior is made more expressly. For the full description of this miracle, three things are introduced by the Evangelist. The first is the moving reason with respect to the miracle to be performed: the second is the efficient cause with respect to the miracle in its being performed; the third is the subsequent efficacy with respect to the miracle already accomplished. Now the reason moving the Lord to miraculously raise the dead man is shown in the text to be twofold, namely the instruction of the ignorant in the intellect and the consolation of those who mourn in the affections. And according to these, two groups are introduced in the first part, namely those accompanying him on the way, that they might be directed by his teaching, and those meeting him at the gate, that they might be consoled by his grace.

First, therefore, as regards the company of the multitude to be instructed, it is said: And it came to pass afterwards, Jesus went into a city called Nain: he went, namely to teach, according to that passage in Matthew 4: "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues." And because those wishing to learn accompany the teacher, therefore he adds: And his disciples and a great multitude went with him. For they knew that to be true which is written in Deuteronomy 33: "They who draw near to his feet shall receive of his teaching"; and that passage of Proverbs 13: "He who walks with the wise shall become wiser." And therefore it is said in Ecclesiasticus 8: "Do not despise the discourse of wise elders, and be conversant with their proverbs: for from them you shall learn wisdom and doctrine." And therefore the crowds accompany the Lord and his disciples, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Draw near to him, and be enlightened."

According to the spiritual understanding, note that a threefold state is designated in the course of this miracle, namely the state of justice in the Lord's company; the state of injustice in the dead young man; and the state of penance in the same one raised to life.

The state of justice is designated in Christ and his company. For the state of the just is threefold, namely of contemplation, prelacy, and action. The state of prelates is designated in Christ, of whom it is said in John 10: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep"; where he shows in himself the form of right prelacy. — The state of contemplatives is designated in the disciples, who are admitted to the mountain at the transfiguration of the Lord, according to that passage of Matthew 17: "Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them"; and below, in chapter 10: "Turning to his disciples he said: Blessed are the eyes that see what you see"; this is said to contemplatives. The state of actives is designated in the crowd, which is tossed about in the waves of the world; below, in chapter 10: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things"; because, as is said in John 16, "in the world you will have tribulation: but take courage, I have overcome the world." — Concerning this threefold state of justice it is said figuratively in Ezekiel 14: "If Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of it, they indeed will deliver their own souls," etc. By Noah are understood prelates; by Daniel, to whom was given the understanding of visions, contemplatives; by Job, actives.

The state of fault, however, is designated in the dead youth, of which there is a threefold degree: the first in interior affection; the second, in exterior operation; the third, in habit or obstinacy. These three states are designated by the three dead persons raised by the Lord, both by reason of places and by reason of ages. For the state of those sinning in the heart is designated by the girl who died in the house, of whom we read in Mark 5. The state of those sinning in deed is designated by the youth who was found at the gate of the city, because sin has already gone forth and become manifest; of whom we read here. The state of those sinning through habit and obstinacy is designated by Lazarus, already lying in manly age, already four days dead and stinking in the tomb, in John 11. To these three correspond three dead persons raised in the Old Testament, namely the little boy raised by Elisha, the son of the Shunammite woman, in Fourth Kings 4; the youth, the son of the woman of Zarephath, raised by Elijah, in Third Kings 17; and the man, raised by the dead Elisha, in Fourth Kings 13. In these three are designated the three aforementioned states. Also in these three, the three roots of sins can be designated, because one died from the languor of illness, in which is signified the concupiscence of the flesh; another from the heat of the sun, in which is signified the cupidity of the world; the third invisibly, in which is signified the pride of life.

Now the state of penance is designated in the raised youth, of whom it is said that he sat up and began to speak and was restored to his mother. He sat up indeed through contrition, which lifts the head from the ground: in the Psalm: "Rise up after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow"; and according to that passage of Jeremiah 15: "I sat alone, because you have filled me with bitterness." He began to speak, through confession: Job 10: "I will speak in the bitterness of my soul, I will say to God: Do not condemn me"; and chapter 7: "I will not spare my mouth, I will speak in the tribulation of my spirit, I will converse in the bitterness of my soul." He was restored to his mother, the Church, through satisfaction, because to make satisfaction is to render what is owed, not only to God the Father, but also to mother Church: in whose figure it is said in 4 Kings 4: "Take this child and bring him to his mother." And just as a mother gladly receives her raised son, so Christ and the Church joyfully receive the penitent sinner: below in chapter 15: "It was fitting to feast and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life."

Observe how he joins miracle to miracle. In the former instance, the healing of the centurion's servant, he was present by invitation, but here he draws near without being invited. No one summoned him to restore the dead man to life, but he comes to do so of his own accord. He seems to me to have purposely made this miracle also follow upon the former.

The Lord joins one miracle upon another. In the Former instance He came indeed when called for, but in this He came self-invited; as it is said, And it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain.

The Virgin's son met the widow's son. He became like a sponge for her tears and as life for the death of her son. Death turned about in its den and turned its back on the victorious one.

If, indeed, He had been its antagonist, He would have preferred finding it to be such faith, having come to weaken and destroy it rather than to approve of it. He raised also the widow's son from death. This was not a strange miracle.

For this widow surrounded by a great multitude of people seems to be more than the woman who was thought worthy by her tears to obtain the resurrection of her only son, because the Church recalls the younger people from the funeral procession to life by the contemplation of her tears, who is forbid to weep for him to whom resurrection was promised.

And this woman was a widow, and a large crowd of the city was with her. Every soul acknowledges the Church to be a widow, which remembers herself redeemed by the death of her spouse and Lord. By divine command, a great crowd followed the Lord, and a great crowd the widow, so that upon seeing such a miracle, many witnesses, many would become praisers of God.

But the dead man who was carried without the gate of the city in the sight of many, signifies a man rendered senseless by the deadening power of mortal sin, and no longer concealing his soul's death within the folds of his heart, but proclaiming it to the knowledge of the world, through the evidence of words or deeds as through the gate of the city. For the gate of the city, I suppose, is some one of the bodily senses. And he is well said to be the only son of his mother, for there is one mother composed of many individuals, the Church, but every soul that remembers that it is redeemed by the death of the Lord, knows the Church to be a widow.

As regards the encounter with the multitude to be consoled, it is added: When he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; concerning whom there was grief and mourning, because he was dead, according to that passage of Sirach twenty-two: "Weep over the dead: for his light has failed." The mourning was even greater, because he was an only-begotten son, over whom the lamentation becomes all the more bitter as he was all the more dear; Jeremiah six: "Make for yourself the mourning of an only-begotten, a bitter lamentation"; and 2 Kings one, David mourning the dead Jonathan: "As a mother loves her only son, so I loved you." But the mourning was greatest, because the mother was utterly desolate; on account of which it says: And she was a widow, and thus already utterly desolate, lacking the consolation both of a son and of a husband. This the woman of Tekoa alleges to obtain mercy, 2 Kings fourteen: "Alas! I am a widow woman." And therefore Jeremiah lamented the widowhood of Jerusalem, Lamentations one: "How does the city sit solitary that was full of people" etc. And for this reason many had compassion on her; whence it adds: And a large crowd of the city was with her, namely to grieve together and to console, because this was the custom of the Jews, according to that passage of John eleven: "Many of the Jews had come to Mary and Martha, to console them concerning their brother." To all of whom this widow could say: "O all you who pass by the way, attend and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow"! shortly after: "He has made me desolate, consumed with grief all the day." And therefore she was in need of consolation.

The dead man was being buried, and many friends were conducting him to his tomb. Christ, the life and resurrection, meets him there. He is the Destroyer of death and of corruption. He is the One in whom we live and move and are. He is who has restored the nature of man to that which it originally was and has set free our death-fraught flesh from the bonds of death. He had mercy upon the woman, and that her tears might be stopped, he commanded saying, "Weep not." Immediately the cause of her weeping was done away.

These were sufferings to excite compassion, and which might well affect to mourning and tears, as it follows, And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, saying, Weep not.

(Tract. de Anima et Res. Post med.) Now the proof of the resurrection we learn not so much from the words as from the works of our Saviour, who, beginning His miracles with the less wonderful, reconciled our faith to far greater. First indeed in the grievous sickness of the centurion's servant, He verged upon the power of resurrection; afterwards with a higher power he led men to the belief in a resurrection, when He raised the widow's son, who was carried out to be buried; as it is said, Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother.

(de hom. Opif. c. 25.) He has told us the sum of misery in a few words. The mother was a widow, and had no further hope of having children, she had no one upon whom she might look in the place of him that was dead. To him alone she had given suck, he alone made her home cheerful. All that is sweet and precious to a mother, was he alone to her.

Let our opponents—that is, they who speak against their own salvation—inform us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the high priest; the widow's dead son, who was being carried out [to burial] near the gate [of the city]; and Lazarus, who had lain four days in the tomb,—in what bodies did they rise again? In those same, no doubt, in which they had also died. For if it were not in the very same, then certainly those same individuals who had died did not rise again. For [the Scripture] says, "The Lord took the hand of the dead man, and said to him, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should be given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother." Again, He called Lazarus "with a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead came forth bound with bandages, feet and hands." This was symbolical of that man who had been bound in sins. And therefore the Lord said, "Loose him, and let him depart." As, therefore, those who were healed were made whole in those members which had in times past been afflicted; and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health, and that life which was granted by the Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life to His handiwork, that His words concerning its [future] resurrection may also be believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice "by the last trumpet," the dead shall be raised, as He Himself declares: "The hour shall come, in which all the dead which are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

By the widow also you may understand a soul that has lost her husband in the divine word. Her son is the understanding, which is carried out beyond the city of the living. Its coffin is the body, which some indeed have called the tomb. But the Lord touching him raises him up, causing him to become young, and rising from sin he begins to speak and teach others. For before he would not have been believed.

But some one will say of the centurion's servant, that he was not going to die. That such an one might restrain his rash tongue, the Evangelist explains that the young man whom Christ came upon was already dead, the only son of a widow. For it follows, And she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her.

And he who was dead sat up. Here thirdly is noted the subsequent efficacy with respect to the miracle already accomplished, which indeed is twofold according to a twofold end, namely of the work and of the intention. The first efficacy is the raising of the dead man; the second, the promotion of faith.

First therefore is designated the raising of the dead man as known to the people standing by, when he says: And he who was dead sat up, and began to speak; in which it manifestly appears that he was alive, because life is recognized in two ways, namely through sense and motion. There is no doubt that he spoke words of divine praise, which indeed belongs not to the dead but to the living, according to that which is said in the Psalm: "The dead shall not praise you, O Lord, but we who live bless the Lord."

And note that the raising of the girl is proven by eating, Mark five; the raising of Lazarus by walking, John eleven; the raising of the young man by speaking, as here. And eating pertains to the act of the vegetative soul, walking to the act of the sensitive soul, speaking to the act of the rational soul, so that by this threefold proof the Lord of the soul may be shown to rule according to its every power and virtue.

Nor was it only known to the people standing by, but also pleasing to the mother who was longing for him; whence he adds: And he gave him to his mother, in which he shows that he raised him for the consolation of his mother. Whence she could say that word of Anna in first Kings one: "I prayed to the Lord for this boy, and he granted me my petition." Thus Elijah handed over the resuscitated boy to his mother, saying in third Kings seventeen: "Behold, your son lives"; but that one handed over, this one gave, because that one was the minister of the raising, but this one is the giver of life and salvation.

(non occ.) But it is worthy of remark, that seven resurrections are related before our Lord's, of which the first was that of the son of the widow of Sarepta, (1 Kings 17) the second of the Shunamite's son, (2 Kings 4) the third which was caused by the remains of Elisha, (2 Kings 13) the fourth which took place at Nain, as is here related, the fifth of the ruler of the Synagogue's daughter, (Mark 5) the sixth of Lazarus, (John 11) the seventh at Christ's passion, for many bodies of the saints arose. (Mat. 27.) The eighth is that of Christ, who being free from death remained beyond for a sign that the general resurrection which is to come in the eighth age shall not be dissolved by death, but shall abide never to pass away.

But straightway he arose to whom the command was made. For the Divine power is irresistible; there is no delay, no urgency of prayer, as it follows, And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak, and he gave him to his mother. These are the signs of a true resurrection, for the lifeless body cannot speak, nor would the mother have carried back to her house her dead and lifeless son.

And fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying: A great prophet has arisen among us. The more desperate the death of the soul that is recalled to life, the more numerous are those corrected by the same example. Consider the prophet David, consider the apostle Peter. The higher their rank, the graver their fall. However, the graver the fall, the more pleasing the piety of the one who raises them. And the greater the piety of the Lord appeared in them, the more certain the hope of salvation appeared to all the penitent, so that all who hear may rightly say:

Because God has visited his people. Not only by once incorporating his word, but also by always sending it into our hearts, so that we must rise.

But well does the Evangelist testify that the Lord is first moved with compassion for the mother, and then raises her son, that in the one case He might set before us for our imitation an example of piety, in the other He might build up our belief in His wonderful power. Hence it follows. And there came a fear upon all, and they glorified God, &c.

But God has visited His people not only by the one incarnation of His Word, but by ever sending It into our hearts.

Secondly, the promotion of faith is designated with respect to reverence for the Creator, when it is said: And fear seized all, and they magnified God: fear, namely, of magnifying reverence: Job thirty-seven: "Men shall fear him, and none shall dare to contemplate, all who seem to themselves to be wise"; and Isaiah fifty-nine: "They shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun." And thus fearing in heart they glorified and magnified with mouth: Ecclesiasticus forty-three: "Glorifying him as much as you can, he shall still prevail beyond." "And who shall magnify him as he is from the beginning"?

But faith is not sufficiently promoted to reverence for the Creator without understanding of the Mediator: and therefore with respect to that there is added: Saying: A great prophet has risen among us, that is, Christ the Mediator, according to that passage of Deuteronomy eighteen: "The Lord will raise up a prophet for you from your brethren like me; him you shall hear." And because God has visited his people, namely through Christ the Redeemer, according to that passage of Zechariah, above in chapter one: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited and wrought the redemption of his people"; and this according to that passage of Genesis, the last chapter: "After my death the Lord will visit you and lead you out of this place"; which is understood concerning the visitation through Christ the Mediator. And thus it appears from the foregoing how he was manifested with respect to the excellence of his power.

Let it be known to people everywhere that the Lord is God, and even though he appeared in a form like us, yet has he given us the indications of a godlike power and majesty on many occasions and in a multitude of ways. He drove away diseases and rebuked unclean spirits. He gave the blind their sight. Finally, he even expelled death itself from the bodies of men, death that cruelly and mercilessly had tyrannized humankind from Adam even to Moses, according to the expression of the divine Paul. That widow's son at Nain arose unexpectedly and wonderfully. The miracle did not remain unknown to everyone throughout Judea but was announced abroad as a divine sign, and admiration was upon every tongue.

This was a great thing in an insensible and ungrateful people. For in a short time afterward they would neither esteem Him as a prophet, nor allow that He did aught for the public good. But none of those that dwelt in Judæa were ignorant of this miracle, as it follows, And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judæa.

The Creator's prophets had wrought such; then why not His Son much rather? Now, so evidently had the Lord Christ introduced no other god for the working of so momentous a miracle as this, that all who were present gave glory to the Creator, saying: "A great prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited His people." What God? He, of course, whose people they were, and from whom had come their prophets.

However, although I do not allow this sense, I may as well ask, by way of a superfluous refutation, for the reasons of the alleged temptation, To what purpose could they have tempted Him by naming His mother and His brethren? If it was to ascertain whether He had been born or not-when was a question raised on this point, which they must resolve by tempting Him in this way? Who could doubt His having been born, when they saw Him before them a veritable man?-whom they had heard call Himself "Son of man? "-of whom they doubted whether He were God or Son of God, from seeing Him, as they did, in the perfect garb of human quality?-supposing Him rather to be a prophet, a great one indeed, but still one who had been born as man? Even if it had been necessary that He should thus be tried in the investigation of His birth, surely any other proof would have better answered the trial than that to be obtained from mentioning those relatives which it was quite possible for Him, in spite of His true nativity, not at that moment to have had.