20th Sunday after Pentecost, Octoechos Tone 3; Holy Martyr Nestor (305); Nestor, writer of the first Chronicle of Rus’ (1114); Holy Martyr Capitolina and Her Slave Erotheides
Read
Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-16
If we were to try to describe Christianity in one sentence, it might be something like this: God, who created us, loves us so much that He became like us in all ways except sin, lived among us, died for us, and resurrected from the dead so that we might live in Him eternally. The story of the raising from the dead the only son of the widow of Nain exemplifies this for us.
It was unlawful for a Jew to touch a corpse as doing so would defile you. Yet, the great compassion that the Lord has on not only the young man who died, but also for his mother, a widow, welled up in Him, and comforting her, he touched the bier and the young man rose from the dead and returned to this life. The people recognized that God is among them – God is with us!
We find later that another widow weeps at the death of her only son at the foot of the Cross. He rises from the dead not to return this life, but glorified, transformed, so that in and through His death, we might have life. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling Death by death, and to those in the tombs, giving life!”