Gospel stories give us the gift of knowing more than history. We encounter the personalities of many biblical characters. Today's Gospel opens the reader's eyes and heart to Jesus' pity, his concern for a mother, also a widow, who son has died and is about to be buried. He confronts the misery of a mother who has now lost the joy and support of her life.
This is Jesus' first bringing back to life someone who had died. Here we see the tender, softer side of the man Jesus. Is this something he learned from Mary and Joseph? Could this event have occurred after Mary had become a widow? Were his mind and heart drawn to the thoughts of his own future and the pain his mother would suffer?
We learn here as well as elsewhere that Jesus was a sensitive person. In the gospels we learn that he cried when Lazarus died. He knew that death was but the doorway to a new, everlasting life. Yet, his heart was easily turned to sympathy with a distraught widow or saddened and hurting sisters.
Perhaps these "raising from the dead" events can teach us that we should always be open to the loving care of Jesus for us. Most of us encounter different kinds of death each day. Some lose a loved one or dear friend. Some suffer other kinds of losses. The reality is that we have to walk by Jesus. We have to bring ourselves and our needs to him even though he knows them.
We have to see beyond the "things" we usually adopt to ease our pains of loss -- those realities our culture wants us to believe will be the pacifiers that satisfy our pains. Let's not be foolish. Let's not be distracted from the true cure to our pains and losses.
