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There are three stories in the Gospels where Jesus raises someone from the dead. We have the story of Lazarus being raised (John 11:38-44), Jarius’ 12-year-old daughter being raised as recorded in (Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40 and Matthew 9:18-26) and now in today’s Gospel we hear about Jesus raising the son of a widow in a town called Nain. What is interesting in this Gospel is how few facts we have about the story. In the two previous resurrection stories we have names, and we are made aware of some background information, and we are provided teachings but not here. It’s clear that this resurrection was not planned. If Jesus had arrived an hour earlier or the funeral was an hour later there would have been no miracle.

What does this mean?

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So, we overhear the prayers of two very different men. One man, the Pharisees has done a lot and includes what he has done in a list expecting I guess to impress God. He was doing okay until he compared himself to the tax collector. The second man, the Tax collector has said little but admits to his wrongdoing and is truly sorry. It must have come as a shock to the first listeners to this parable. There are several points to this story. Appearances can be deceiving. It’s important not to rush to judgement. Also, despite the tax collector’s past he did have one thing the Pharisee lacked and that is the awareness of who he was. I wonder if being aware of where we need to grow and change in our lives is important for the development of our spirituality. I am not talking about being self deprecating but choosing rather to seek self awareness and humility that might be critical in the development of our spirituality. Likely the Pharisee was not aware that he had completely missed the values of the practice of his faith. Because of his lack of self-awareness, it is likely that he will not see the need for personal growth or recognize opportunities in his life to grow.

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In the Gospel of Luke 18:6-8 Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray always. He uses a short parable of a woman seeking justice from a corrupt judge. The woman successfully hassles the judge, wearing him down to finally getting the justice she was seeking. Jesus makes the interesting point that how much more will God grant what we ask if only we remain steadfast in our prayers. This raises many questions. Why does God often delay in answering our prayers? I seriously doubt that God enjoys watching us wait. I wonder then if there is some value in waiting.

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