Luke 7: 11-17

I propose a biblical analysis with the following steps: a study of each Greek word of the gospel passage, followed by an analysis of the structure of the narrative and its context, to which is added a comparison of parallel or similar passages. At the end of this analysis and as a conclusion, I propose to summarize what the evangelist meant, and I end up with some suggestions on how this Gospel could shed light on our current situation.


 


  1. Translation of the Greek text (28th edition of Kurt Aland)

    Greek textTransliterated Greek textLiteral translationTranslation in current language
    11 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς ἐπορεύθη εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Ναῒν καὶ συνεπορεύοντο αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὄχλος πολύς.11 Kai egeneto en tō hexēs eporeuthē eis polin kaloumenēn Nain kai syneporeuonto autō hoi mathētai autou kai ochlos polys.11 And it happened in the next (day) he went into a town called Nain and were going with him the disciples of him and a crowd great.11 This is what happened when Jesus journeyed to a city named Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd walked with him.
    12 ὡς δὲ ἤγγισεν τῇ πύλῃ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐξεκομίζετο τεθνηκὼς μονογενὴς υἱὸς τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὴ ἦν χήρα, καὶ ὄχλος τῆς πόλεως ἱκανὸς ἦν σὺν αὐτῇ.12 hōs de ēngisen tē pylē tēs poleōs, kai idou exekomizeto tethnēkōs monogenēs huios tē mētri autou kai autē ēn chēra, kai ochlos tēs poleōs hikanos ēn syn autē.12 Then as he drew near to the gate of the town, and behold was also carried out a having died only begotten son of the mother of him and her she was a widow. And a crowd of the town, large, was with her. 12 And as he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, the dead body of the only begotten of a widow mother was brought to the ground, accompanied by a great multitude from the city.
    13 καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὴν ὁ κύριος ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπʼ αὐτῇ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ• μὴ κλαῖε.13 kai idōn autēn ho kyrios esplanchnisthē ep" autē kai eipen autē• mē klaie.13 And having seen her the Lord was move with compassion upon her and said to her, Do not weep.13 When he saw her, the Lord was moved to the bowels and said to her, "Stop crying."
    14 καὶ προσελθὼν ἥψατο τῆς σοροῦ, οἱ δὲ βαστάζοντες ἔστησαν, καὶ εἶπεν• νεανίσκε, σοὶ λέγω, ἐγέρθητι.14 kai proselthōn hēpsato tēs sorou, hoi de bastazontes estēsan, kai eipen• neaniske, soi legō, egerthēti.14 And having approached, he touched the coffin. Then those bearing (it) stood (still), and he said to the young man, to you I say, wake up.14 And when he came near, he touched the litter. The bearers stopped then. He said, "Young man, I tell you, wake up!"
    15 καὶ ἀνεκάθισεν ὁ νεκρὸς καὶ ἤρξατο λαλεῖν, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ.15 kai anekathisen ho nekros kai ērxato lalein, kai edōken auton tē mētri autou.15 And sat up the dead (man) and he began to speak, and he gave him to the mother of him.15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak. Jesus then gave him to his mother.
    16 ἔλαβεν δὲ φόβος πάντας καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν θεὸν λέγοντες ὅτι προφήτης μέγας ἠγέρθη ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ ὅτι ἐπεσκέψατο ὁ θεὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ.16 elaben de phobos pantas kai edoxazon ton theon legontes hoti prophētēs megas ēgerthē en hēmin kai hoti epeskepsato ho theos ton laon autou.16 Then fear seized all and they were glorifying the God saying that a great prophet woke up among us and that the God has visited the people of him.16 And everyone was upset, and one was recognizing the extraordinary quality of God's being with these words, "A great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited his people".
    17 καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ λόγος οὗτος ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ.17 kai exēlthen ho logos houtos en holē tē Ioudaia peri autou kai pasē tē perichōrō.17 And came out this word in whole of Judea concerning him and all the surrounding region.17 This news about him spread throughout Judea and all around.

  1. Analysis of each verse

    v. 11 This is what happened when Jesus journeyed to a city named Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd walked with him

    Literally: And it happened (egeneto) in the next (hexēs) he went (en tō eporeuthē) into a town (polin) called (kaloumenēn) Nain (Nain) and were going with (syneporeuonto) him the disciples (mathētai) of him and a crowd (ochlos) great.

egeneto (it happened)
We have here the Greek verb ginomai which means: to be, to become, to be born, to come into existence; to come into existence refers to an event, to something that happens. It is a very frequent verb in the gospels and Acts, but Luke is particularly fond of it: Mt = 76; Mk = 54; Lk = 132; Jn = 50; Acts = 110. Here, the verb is in the aorist tense, a Greek tense which refers to the past. It is a bit like our introductions to a story: "Once upon a time...". We should not be surprised, because the gospels are stories. Here again, let us note Luke's infatuation with ginomai in the aorist, i.e. egeneto: Mt 13; Mk = 18; Lk = 45; Jn = 14; Acts = 41.

Verb ginomai in the Gospels-Acts
hexēs (next)
The adverb hexēs means: in succession, after, the next day, next. It is used to describe a sequence of events following one another. In the whole New Testament, Luke is the only one to use it: Mt = 0; Mk = 0; Lk = 2; Jn = 0; Acts = 3. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word rarely appears. Since it is found three times in Acts, especially in the "I" passage where Luke seems to be quoting from his travel notes (Acts 27:18), it can be seen as a feature of Luke's pen. The same is true of its twin kathexēs (with order, successively, next): Mt = 0; Mk = 0; Lk = 2; Jn = 0; Acts = 3, which is totally absent from the Septuagint. It has been translated by "then". But after what? In the previous scene, we were in Capernaum where Jesus healed the slave of a centurion.

en tō eporeuthē (in the he went)
The preposition en (in, on, at) followed by the dative article (the), then by a verb is a known construction in the Greek world. It is used to introduce the context of an event by specifying what action is taking place. Most of the time the verb introduced by en tō is conjugated in the infinitive; a typical case is Luke 2, 6: Egeneto de en tō einai autous ekei, i.e. it arrived in (en) the () being (infinitive) them there (Joseph and Mary), which is translated in good English by: Now it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) they were there (in Bethlehem). When we look at all the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, we see that the en tō + verb construction belongs primarily to Luke's style: Mt = 2; Mk = 2; Lk = 28; Jn = 0; Acts = 3. Let us make a brief review of its use by the 3rd gospel.

Of the 28 instances of the en tō + verb construction in Luke, 19 times the construction is introduced by egeneto, followed by en tō with an infinitive verb. Of course, in good French, we can't translate this construction as it is; en tō is often translated as "as", and the infinitive as an imperfect verb, or "when" and a past tense verb. Let's take a closer look.

  • 1: 8: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he fulfilled the priestly functions before God
  • 2: 6: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) they were there (in Bethlehem)
  • 3: 21: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) all the people had been baptized
  • 5: 1: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) the crowd held him close
  • 5: 12: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) it was in a city
  • 9: 18: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he was praying
  • 9: 29: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he prayed
  • 9: 33: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) these separated from him
  • 9: 51: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) the time when he was to be taken away was fulfilled
  • 11: 1: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he was somewhere praying
  • 11: 27: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he spoke thus
  • 14: 1: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he had come on a Sabbath
  • 17: 11: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he was on his way to Jerusalem
  • 17: 14: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) they went there
  • 18: 35: Then it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he was approaching Jericho
  • 19: 15: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he returned
  • 24: 4: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) they were perplexed by it
  • 24: 15: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) they conversed
  • 24: 30: And it happened (egeneto), as (en tō) he was at the table with them

As can be seen, this construction allows Luke to establish the context of a story.

There are seven instances in Luke where in tō is still followed by an infinitive verb, but not introduced by egeneto. The emphasis then seems less on presenting the context of a narrative, but on determining the timing of an action or the existence of an action, so that en tō could be translated as when, at the time when, due to the fact that.

  • 1: 21: and the crowd was astonished when (en tō) he lingered in the sanctuary
  • 2: 27: and when (en tō) the parents brought the baby Jesus
  • 2: 43: while (en tō) they were going back
  • 8: 5: And as (en tō) he sowed
  • 9: 34: and they were afraid when (en tō) they entered the cloud
  • 9: 36: And when (en tō) the voice rang out
  • 10: 35: I, when (en tō) I return, will pay you back

Finally, two cases stand out from the others by the absence of an infinitive verb. And this is found only in Luke. Yet these two cases are introduced by egeneto. Why didn't we use the infinitive as we would have expected? It is possible that the infinitive here is too imprecise a form about the time of an action and would not have conveyed the idea that the action is past and over (7:11) or still going on (8:1), unless Luke is dependent on a source he intends to respect.

  • 7: 11: And it happened (egeneto) then (hexēs) that he (in tō) went (verb in the aorist tense, i.e. past tense) to a city
  • 8: 1: And it happened (egeneto) then (kathexēs) that he (in tō) was walking (verb in the past continuous tense) through towns and villages

polin (town)
The word polis (city, town) is common in the gospels, but Luke outshines all the others in its use: Mt = 27; Mk = 8; Lk = 40; Jn = 8; Acts = 43. This probably reflects his effort to update the gospel message: his audience is probably very urban, whereas Jesus' ministry took place in villages, small and large. A typical example is Lk 8:1, which echoes Mk 6:6 (And he went about the villages round about, teaching) by writing: he went by city and village, preaching; Luke probably insisted on adding city so that his audience would better identify with the narrative.

kaloumenēn (called)
Again, with the verb kaleō (to call, to name, to invite, to summon) we are faced with a favorite expression of Luke: Mt = 24; Mk = 4; Lk = 44; Jn = 2; Acts = 18. But there is more. He is the only one to use it in the present passive participle, in the sense of 'called', to designate a person or a place: Mt = 0; Mk = 0; Lk = 5; Jn = 0; Acts = 6.

  • Luke 1: 36: And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was called (kaleō) barren.
  • Luke 7: 11: Soon afterwards he went to a town called (kaleō) Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him..
  • Luke 8: 2: as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called (kaleō) Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out
  • Luke 9: 10: On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called (kaleō) Bethsaida.
  • Luke 10: 39: She had a sister called (kaleō) Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying
  • Acts 1: 12: Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called (kaleō) Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away.
  • Acts 3: 11: While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called (kaleō) Solomon's Portico, utterly astonished.
  • Acts 7: 58: Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man called (kaleō) Saul
  • Acts 8: 10: All of them, from the least to the greatest, listened to him eagerly, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called (kaleō) Great."
  • Acts 9: 11: The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called (kaleō) Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying
  • Acts 10: 1: In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called (kaleō).

Verb kaleō in the Gospels-Acts
Nain (Nain)
This is the only mention of this village in the entire Bible. The name is probably a translation of the Hebrew: nāʾîn, which would mean a place of pasture. This village is located in southern Galilee, about 4 miles southwest of Mount Tabor, and almost 31 kilometers south of Capernaum (see map).

syneporeuonto (they were going with)
The verb symporeuomai (to go with, to walk with, to gather) is formed from two words, the verb poreuō (to walk, to make way, to go) preceded by the preposition syn (with, in the company of, at the same time as, with the help of). Except for one passage in Mark (10:1), Luke is alone in using this verb in the entire New Testament (7:11; 14:25; 24:15): Mt = 0; Mk = 1; Lk = 3; Jn = 0; Acts = 0. Moreover, the verb poreuomai itself is in frequent use by him: Mt = 29; Mk = 3; Lk = 52; Jn = 16; Acts = 37. The ministry of Jesus, especially its last part, is presented as a long journey to Jerusalem, the place of his death and resurrection. It is also for him the symbol of the Christian life, i.e. a long journey following him. That is why it is while walking that he explains in Lk 14:25 the demands of the life of following him, and in Lk 24:15 that he meets the disciples of Emmaus and interprets the Scriptures.

mathētai (disciples)
The word disciple means to be a student of a teacher. John the Baptist had disciples as did the Pharisees (5:33; 7:18). On a few occasions, Luke suggests that the disciples of Jesus refer to a very broad group of supporters (6:17; 19:37). But from this rather large pool he chooses twelve (6:13) whom he names apostles, i.e. sent ones, and later seventy-two whom he will send out to preach two by two (10:1). Of course, this group is taught by Jesus (8:9; 9:18, 43; 10:23; 11:1; 12:1.22; 16:1; 17:22; 20:45). But they are called to follow him physically, to borrow his ways and to do the same things as he did (5:30; 6:1, 20.40; 7:11; 9:40.54; 22:39.45). But above all, they must be capable of certain actions about which Jesus is very clear: to distance themselves from their family and be ready to renounce their own life (14: 26), to carry their cross (14: 27), to renounce all their possessions (14, 33). Finally, let us note that Jesus delegates to the group of disciples a number of tasks: to lead him in a boat (8:22), to feed the crowd (9:14-16), to fetch a colt for the entry into Jerusalem (19:29), to prepare the room for the last supper (22:11) (On this subject, see Meier).

ochlos (crowd)
A large (polys) crowd (ochlos) walked with Jesus, Luke tells us. Of the 41 times the word crowd appears (Mt = 50; Mk = 38; Lk = 41; Jn = 20; Acts = 22) in Luke, 7 times he stresses the adjective "large". Moreover, 16 times the word is in the plural: the crowds. If we ask the question: did Jesus really attract large crowds during his ministry? We should probably answer: yes (see J. P. Meier). In some ways, Luke's gospel is not original in the role it has the crowd play, except in one respect: he is the only one to write that "there was a large crowd of his disciples there, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon" (6:17); he is also the only one to write that "that his disciples as well as a large crowd were walking with him" (7:11; see also 14:25). In his case, the boundary between the crowd of well-wishers and his disciples is more nebulous. First, by speaking of a "great crowd of disciples" he means a much larger group than the twelve. Second, by attributing to them the same action as the disciples, i.e., walking with him, he gives them a similar identity. Let's think of people in this crowd, such as a Zacchaeus, whose lives will be changed by Jesus. Let us conclude with a brief analysis of the crowd in Luke that allows us to establish four categories.

  1. The crowd represents sympathizers, quasi-disciples
    • It looks for him, waits for him, comes to him, welcomes him, holds him and does not want him to leave it (4: 42; 8: 40; 9: 11.37)
    • It serves him closely, listens to his word and wants him to intervene (5: 1; 8: 4.42; 9: 12; 12: 1.13)
    • It comes to hear him, tries to touch him, and asks him to cure it of its illnesses (5: 15; 6: 19; 9: 38; 13: 14)
    • It expresses its admiration for what he does and rejoices to see him triumph over his opponents, to the point of being ready to defend him (11: 14. 27; 13: 17; 22: 6)
    • It considers Jesus as a prophet (9: 18-19)
    • Faced with the drama of passion, it beats its breast (23: 48)
    • Jesus feeds this crowd (9: 12-16)
    • It walks with him and his disciples (7: 11; 14: 25; 18: 36)

  2. The crowd becomes Jesus' opponent
    • Jesus calls it an evil generation that demands signs (11: 29)
    • He calls it a hypocrite (in Mt 16:1 it is the Pharisees and Sadducees) unable to discern the signs of the times (12: 54)
    • Among this crowd, there are Pharisees (19: 39)
    • A crowd accompanies Judas to arrest Jesus (22: 47)
    • In front of Pilate, it puts pressure on him to condemn Jesus (23: 4)

  3. The crowd is an obstacle
    • It prevents a paralytic from going directly to Jesus, so he has to go through the roof (5: 19)
    • It prevents the mother and brothers of Jesus from having access to him (8: 19)
    • It prevents Jesus from knowing who touched him (8: 45)
    • It prevents Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus (19: 3)

  4. The crowd is a neutral group, i.e., no specific claim the evangelist makes about it
    • Object of Jesus' teaching (5: 3; 7: 9.24)
    • Participates in the feast of Levi in honor of Jesus (5: 29)
    • Simple event witness (7: 12)

Note that John the Baptist also attracted crowds (3: 7.10)

Let us conclude our analysis of v. 1 by saying that Luke sets up a very large audience made up of the crowd and his disciples who are all following in Jesus' footsteps and preparing to be taught.

v. 12 And as he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, the dead body of the only begotten of a widow mother was brought to the ground, accompanied by a great multitude from the city.

Literally: Then as he drew near (ēngisen) to the gate (pylē) of the town, and behold (kai idou) was also carried out (exekomizeto) a having died (tethnēkōs) only begotten (monogenēs) son (huios) of the mother (mētri) of him and her she was a widow (chēra). And a crowd of the town, large (hikanos), was with her.

ēngisen (he drew near)
With engizō (to approach, to draw near, to be close to), we continue with Luke's favorite vocabulary: Mt = 7; Mk = 3; Lk = 18; Jn = 0; Acts = 6). Seven times he uses this verb to describe the action of Jesus approaching a place or someone: he approaches Nain (7:12), Jericho (18:35), the descent from the Mount of Olives (19:37), Bethpage and Bethany (19:29), Jerusalem (19:41), Emmaus (24:28), two disciples (24:15). Luke thus seems to introduce an important event by giving us the context.

pylē (gate)
Contrary to what one might think, pylē is very infrequent and occurs only here in Luke's gospel: Mt = 4; Mk = 0; Lk = 1; Jn = 0; Acts = 4). In Matthew, the word has a symbolic meaning (narrow is the door that leads to life, the gates of Hades). In Luke, the word refers to physical doors: here, the gate of the village of Naim, which must therefore have had a wall, in the Acts of the Apostles, there is the Beautiful Gate of the Temple where an impotent man was begging from birth (3: 10), there are the gates of the city of Damascus that were guarded to arrest Paul (9: 24), there is the iron gate of the prison in Jerusalem where Peter is (12:10), and finally there is the gate of the city of Philippi in Greece which the Christians passed through to go and pray by the river (16:13). In the rest of the New Testament, only the letter to the Hebrews refers to a gate, that of the city of Jerusalem, to indicate that Jesus was crucified outside the gate (13:12). What information should we retain about the gate of a city? First, it presupposes that the city has a wall; it cannot be a simple hamlet. Secondly, it is an obligatory place of passage, and therefore it is there that the beggars stood. Moreover, it was outside the gate that the dead were buried or, as in Jerusalem, crucifixions took place. In short, the presence of a funeral procession at the gate of life is quite logical.

kai idou (and behold)
The expression idou (behold) is very frequent in Luke and Matthew: Mt = 62; Mk = 7; Lk = 57; Jn = 4; Acts = 23. And here we have the variant kai idou (and behold) found only in Matthew and Luke: Mt = 28; Mk = 0; Lk = 26; Jn = 0; Acts = 8. This observation calls for two comments: we are in the world of narrative, and this expression invites the reader to pay attention to the coming event; secondly, there is a kinship in the linguistic universe of the Greek world of Matthew and Luke, which brings justification to the proposition that the writing of their gospel belongs to the same period.

exekomizeto (he was carried out)
There is little to say about this word except that it is unique in the whole Bible. The word originally means: to put in a safe place. When we are faced with a unique word, two hypotheses are possible: either the unique situation commands a unique word, or Luke inserts elements of a narrative that he did not compose. We do not have sufficient information to make a decision.

tethnēkōs (having died)
The verb is not very frequent: Mt = 1; Mk = 1; Lk = 2; Jn = 2; Acts = 2. In Matthew it refers to the death of Herod, in Mark to Jesus, in John to Lazarus and Jesus, in Acts to Paul and Jesus. But in Luke it refers to the death of a widow's son, and in the next chapter to the daughter of the synagogue ruler. Also it is worth pointing out two things about these two examples: in both cases the verb is in the perfect tense to signal a totally past action, i.e. the person is really dead, then we have in the first case a man, and in the second case a woman, which fits with Luke's effort to have a fair balance of scenes with a man and those with a woman.

monogenēs (only begotten)
Only two evangelists use monogenēs (unique begotten): Mt = 0; Mk = 0; Lk = 3; Jn = 4; Acts = 0). But we are in two different universes: in John this word refers only to the situation of Jesus, uniquely begotten of the Father (1: 14.18; 3: 16.18), whereas in Luke it designates either the only son of a parent (7: 12; 9: 38), or the only daughter of a father (8: 42). Moreover, in the two accounts he takes from Mark (8:42; 9:38), it is he who adds the mention that the child is unique. Why does he do this? Probably to emphasize the dramatic element and thus the compassion of Jesus.

huios (son)
We will not be surprised to learn of the predominant place of a son in Jewish society, and therefore in the gospels: Mt = 89; Mk = 35; Lk = 77; Jn = 55; Acts = 21), compared to a daughter: Mt = 8; Mk = 7; Lk = 9; Jn = 1; Acts = 3). But these numbers are somewhat skewed by the very fact that the gospels focus on Jesus, who is a man. For example, of the 77 uses of "son" in Luke, 47 refer to Jesus as either the son of Joseph or Mary (5), the son of David (3), the son of the Most High God (14), the son of man (25). In Luke, the word "son" refers 18 times to a biological being from a father. We do not know the age of this son in our account, and we do not know if this widow had daughters, but the context suggests that he was her sole breadwinner.

Noun huios in the Gospels-Acts
mētri (mother)
What prompts the action of Jesus is a mother. The comparison we just made between son and daughter also applies to the comparison between father and mother, i.e. 293 mentions of "father" in the Gospels-Acts, for 75 mentions of "mother", more specifically: Mt = 26; Mk = 17; Lk = 17; Jn = 11; Acts = 4. But again, the very fact that God is called "Father" skews the comparison (for example, 75 times in John). In Luke, because of the place of Mary in his gospel, especially in the infancy narrative, of his 17 uses of "mother", 7 refer to Mary, 5 to a particular mother as here in our narrative, and 5 to the mother in general.

Noun mētēr in the New Testament
chēra (widow)
Luke gives some importance to widows: Mt = 0; Mk = 3; Lk = 9; Jn = 0; Acts = 3. Of his 9 uses, 3 are taken from Mark, but 6 are particular to him. And in the Acts of the Apostles he emphasizes the place of widows in the Christian community (6:1; 9:39.41). Given the fact that women had no social status in Jewish society, the absence of a man made their situation even more precarious financially. Thus, the early Christian communities provided for the needs of widows.

hikanos (large)
The word hikanos means literally: sufficient, in the sense of sufficient capacity or ability. It is a word found especially in Luke: Mt = 3; Mk = 3; Lk = 9; Jn = 0; Acts = 18. However, this word has several different nuances:
  1. it may be a sufficient quantity which our Bibles often translate as the equivalent of "great number" (for example, Lk 7: 12: large crowd; Lk 8: 32: large herd; Lk 23: 9: a lot of talk; Acts 12: 12: they were numerous), or by the equivalent of "a certain number", especially when coupled with "days" or "time" (for example, Lk 20: 9: some time; 23: 8: long enough; 9: 43: some time), by the equivalent of "sufficient quantity" (only one case, Lk 22: 38: it is enough)
  2. it may be a sufficient quality that our Bibles translate as "being worthy of" (for example, 3: 16: I am not worthy; 7: 6: I don't deserve)
  3. it may be sufficient content or sufficient action. (for example, Lk 22: 38: Pilate wanting to do what is enough for the crowd (wanting to please the crowd); Acts 17: 9: they took what was sufficient (required a deposit) )

In short, there is a nuance between polys, the usual term for many, and hikanos, which has more of a sense of a certain number or a significant number. In Nain, there is a large crowd, but not a considerable one.

syn (with)
The word syn (with) is worth mentioning simply to point out that this preposition is widely used by Luke and represents a feature of his style: Mt = 4; Mk = 6; Lk = 23; Jn = 3; Acts = 51.

v. 13 When he saw her, the Lord was moved to the bowels and said to her, "Stop crying."

Literally: And having seen (idōn) her the Lord (kyrios) was move with compassion (esplanchnisthē) upon her and said to her, Do not weep (klaie).

idōn (having seen)
The verb "to see" is very frequent in the gospels: Mt = 76; Mk = 60; Lk = 81; Jn = 83; Acts = 72. It is understandable, it is the most usual action of daily life. However, our account specifies that it is Jesus who sees, and from this we can expect a particular event: looking is not neutral with Jesus. This is the case for Luke. Of the 81 uses of the word horaō, nine have Jesus as the subject. And when we consider the nine instances where Jesus is the subject of the act of looking, we note that two things follow:

  1. People see their lives transformed:
    • Jesus sees 2 fishermen's boats, an event that will lead Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee into miraculous fishing and discipleship: 5:2
    • Jesus sees the faith of people who carry a paralytic through the roof of a house, and he will be healed: 5:20
    • Jesus sees the widow whose son died, and the son will come back to life: 7:13
    • Jesus sees the woman bent over for 18 years, and heals her of her infirmity: 13:12
    • Jesus sees 10 lepers, and these are healed of their infirmity: 17:14

  2. The act of seeing leads to a teaching or a prophetic word
    • Jesus sees the rich man refuse his offer to follow him, which leads to his teaching on wealth: 18: 24
    • Jesus sees Jerusalem and weeps over it, foretelling its destruction: 19:41
    • Jesus sees the people making offerings in the temple treasury, rich people and a poor widow, which leads to a teaching about the meaning of their action: 21:1-2

Thus, when the evangelist writes that Jesus "sees", it is to be expected that an action will follow.

kyrios (Lord)
The term kyrios (lord, master, owner, husband) is well known to us, and in fact it is found almost everywhere in the Gospels and Acts: Mt = 80; Mk = 18; Lk = 104; Jn = 52; Acts = 106; 1Jn = 0; 2Jn = 0; 3Jn = 0, and in a particular way under the pen of Luke (210 times). On the meaning of the word, we will refer to the Glossary. Let's summarize what it says by saying that originally the word simply means "master." It was the Jews who, in their Greek translation of the Bible, used kyrios to render the Hebrew ădōnāy, master, this word which was used to avoid saying: Yahweh, that name forbidden to be uttered. After the death-resurrection of Jesus, Christian communities will understand the exaltation of Jesus in the light of Psalm 110, which speaks of the kyrios God who invites the king-messiah kyrios to sit at his right hand. Thus, God the Father is called kyrios, Jesus exalted is called kyrios, and even the Holy Spirit will be called kyrios (see 1 Cor 12:4-6).

When we examine Luke's gospel carefully, we note that kyrios is given a multitude of meanings: from the adjective (6:5: The Son of Man is lord (kyrios) of the Sabbath) to the term for God himself (37 times; e.g. 1:16: and he will bring many sons of Israel back to the Lord (kyrios), their God), to titles attributed to Jesus himself (40 times; e.g., 5:8: "Depart from me, Lord (kyrios), for I am a sinful man! " ), or titles to indicate a social role, such as owner or teacher, and which our Bibles translate as "master" and "teacher" (24 times; e.g., 19:33: And as they were untying the colt, his masters (kyrios) said to them, "Why are you untying this colt?" ), not to mention instances where the word seems to refer more to the messiah (2 times, when referring to Psalm 110; 20:44: David therefore calls him Lord (kyrios); how then is he his son?" ). Thus, it is not a technical, univocal, or specific term.

Further insight into kyrios in Luke is gained when we ask the question: on whose lips does the term appear? Thus, we can establish a grid where five categories can group the source of the word kyrios: the disciples of Jesus, Scripture, Jesus himself, Luke as narrator, a character in the gospel (such as Elizabeth or Mary or Zechariah). All five of these sources use kyrios to refer to Jesus, or God, or master, or teacher or some other reality (as messiah or as an adjective). Here are the statistics.

Who speaks \ Referring toOtherMaster / teacherGodJesus
Disciples00011
Scriptures2080
Jesus12314
Narrator011413
Character001412

What does this grid tell us? Luke, as narrator, uses the title kyrios almost equally to designate sometimes God, sometimes Jesus. We must recognize here a certain anachronism in speaking of Jesus as Lord during his ministry, when he will receive that title after his exaltation. But let us not forget that we are around the year 80, therefore 50 years after the death of Jesus, and that Luke is addressing a community of believers who have integrated the title of Lord in their reference to Jesus.

In the same vein, there is anachronism in having in the mouth of some characters (12 times), such as Elizabeth, the title of Lord to speak of Jesus, when he was not yet born, addressing Mary: "And how is it given to me that the mother of my Lord (kyrios) comes to me? » (1: 43). We have the perception of things in the year 80, not in the time when it happened.

The same can be said of the title Lord in the mouth of the disciples (11 times).

But the title Lord appears in Jesus' own mouth in reference to himself (4 times): "And if any man shall ask you, Why do you untie him? You will say this: It is because the Lord needs it." » (19:31; see also 6:46; 13:25). Again, this is the year 80, and it is a community of believers who are listening to this gospel. Otherwise, the title kyrios appears in Jesus' mouth to refer primarily to the householder (23 times), especially in his parables (e.g., 12:36), except once as he begins to pray to God (10:21: I bless you, Father, Lord (kyrios) of heaven and earth). Of course, for the Scriptures the title Lord is reserved for God alone.

Here, in v. 13, when Luke writes: "the Lord", he addresses us as believers, we who believe in Jesus exalted to his Father.

Noun kyrios in the Gospels-Acts
esplanchnisthē (he was moved with compassion)
The term splanchnizomai (to have bowels, to have pity on, to be moved with compassion for) is infrequent throughout the New Testament: Mt = 5; Mk = 4; Lk = 3; Jn = 0; Acts = 0; it appears only in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the Old Testament, it appears only in the 2nd book of Maccabees (2 Mac 6, 8), but in the active form with the meaning of eating entrails or meat. The three passages in which the verb appears in Luke are his own and follow the same structure: 1) the person sees; 2) he is moved in his heart; 3) he intervenes.

  1. 7: 13: When seeing her (horaō), the Lord was moved with compassion (splanchnizomai) at her and said to her, "Do not weep."
  2. 10: 33: But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came near him, seen him (horaō) and was moved by compassion (splanchnizomai).
  3. 15: 20: So he left and went to his father. "While he was still far away, his father saw him (horaō) and was moved with compassion (splanchnizomai); he ran to his neck and kissed him tenderly

Of course, Luke did not invent this term, which he takes from Mark, who uses it above all to speak of Jesus who has pity on the crowd. But the way he integrates it into three particularly strong scenes allows him to emphasize it and to make it a typical behavior of Jesus and of the Christian: Jesus in front of a widow who is socially destitute with the loss of her son, a Samaritan in front of a stranger who has been the target of evil-doers, a father in front of his son who had cut the ties. For Luke, it is clear that we have here three pictures of God and Jesus, and a model for the Christian.

klaie (weep)
It is said of the Gospel of Luke that it is a gospel of joy. It should be added that it is also the gospel of tears with the frequency of the verb klaiō (weep): Mt = 2; Mk = 4; Lk = 11; Jn = 8; Acts = 2. For there is a dichotomy in him between laughing and weeping as seen in the discourse of the Beatitudes: "Happy, you who weep (klaiō) now, for you shall laugh" (6:21); "Woe, you who laugh now! for you shall know mourning and weep (klaiō) " (6:25). In no other gospel do we find so many scenes around tears; one could have the impression that John comes close (8 mentions), but in fact in him two scenes monopolize almost all the tears, the story of the raising of Lazarus (Jn 11:31-33) and the story of the empty tomb (Jn 20:11-15). In Luke, of the 11 passages where klaiō appears, 7 are his own. We must therefore assume that he wants them to play an important role, that of the reflection of a dimension of life.
  • It expresses the sufferings of life from which one will be freed one day (6: 21; 7: 13)
  • It expresses the deep repentance of the person who regrets his past or of a crowd who regrets the events they witnessed (7: 38; 23: 28)
  • It expresses the disappointment of a deep love, like this scene where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem (19: 41)

Thus, Luke's "don't weep" fits in with his theological plan where all is not lost, where we must take the time to accept weeping, and where Jesus' role is precisely to come and dry our tears.

v. 14 And when he came near, he touched the litter. The bearers stopped then. He said, "Young man, I tell you, wake up!"

Literally: And having approached (proselthōn), he touched (hēpsato) the coffin (sorou). Then those bearing (it) stood (still) (estēsan), and he said to the young man (neaniske), to you I say (soi legō), wake up (egerthēti).

proselthōn (having approached)
There is little to be said about proserchomai (to approach, to come, to arrive) which appears here under Luke's pen, but which plays a much smaller role than in Matthew: Mt = 51; Mk = 5; Lk = 10; Jn = 1; Acts = 10. In the latter, the word expresses openness, especially in the case of the disciples who approach Jesus to begin a dialogue. Nevertheless, it is part of his vocabulary, as evidenced by its presence in four passages of his own: 7:14; 10:34; 13:31; 23:36. Most importantly, there is an interesting connection between our scene where Jesus approaches and touches the coffin and the scene where the Good Samaritan approaches (proserchomai) the victim and binds his wounds (10:34): the action of approaching is intended to express compassion.

hēpsato (he touched)
The word haptō (attach, turn on, touch, reach) occurs a number of times in the synoptics: Mt = 9; Mk = 11; Lk = 13; Jn = 1; Acts = 1). It appears most often in a healing context: Jesus touches to heal, or people seek to touch Jesus in the hope of being healed. This is typical in the context of the Greco-Roman world and the ancient Near East. Luke is no exception. In the 13 passages where we note the verb haptō, 6 are simply a reworking of Mark's text. But in three passages of his own, he extends the same approach about Jesus touching to heal, or being touched:

  • 7: 14: Then he came up and touched (haptō) the coffin, and the bearers stopped. And he said, "Young man, I tell you, get up."
  • 22: 51: But Jesus answered and said, "No more of this." And touching (haptō) his ear, he healed him.
  • 7: 39: At this sight, the Pharisee who had invited him said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is who is touching him (haptō), and what she is: a sinner!"

Note finally that he is the only one to play on the other meaning of haptō, to light, in the expression "to light a lamp" (haptō lychnon): 8:16; 11:33; 15:8; see also Acts 22:51.

What does this mean for our verse that we are analyzing. Jesus' gesture of touching the coffin is typical of his usual intervention to heal, as when dealing with a leper.

sorou (coffin)
As for the word soros (funeral urn, bier, coffin), there is very little to say except that it is a very rare word that occurs only here in the entire New Testament (Mt = 0; Mk = 0; Lk = 1; Jn = 0; Acts = 0) and in only two passages in the Old Testament (LXX: Gen 50:26; Job 21:32).

estēsan (they stood)
The verb histēmi (to stand up, place, present, establish, support, stand, stop, institute, stand firm on) is an all-purpose word found frequently in the Gospels and Acts: Mt = 21; Mk = 10; Lk = 25; Jn = 19; Acts = 32 (and thus 57 times in the work of Luke). Literally, the word means: to rise, to appear. When we go through the gospels and Acts, we can group the various meanings of the word into five categories:

  1. Appear or be in a place (the verb being in the passive or reflexive tense), e.g., Then it came to pass, as the crowd pressed him close and listened to the word of God, while he happens to be (histēmi) on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret (Lk 5:1)
  2. Placing someone or something in a place or facing a situation (the verb being in the active tense): Then he (the devil) led him (Jesus) to Jerusalem, placed him (histēmi) on the pinnacle of the Temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here (Lk 4:9)
  3. Stand (in the case of a person), hold or establish (in the case of a thing), e.g. But he knew their thoughts. So he said to the man with the dry hand, "Get up and stand (histēmi) in the middle." And he rose and stood (histēmi) (Lk 6:8), or again: So Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom hold (histēmi) (Lk 11:18)
  4. In the case of a person on the move, to stand in a place means: to stop, to halt, to stand still, e.g. At his entrance into a village, ten lepers came to meet him and stopped (histēmi) at a distance (Lk 17:12)
  5. Standing for something, thus holding fast to something, e.g., And he said to them, "You are indeed nullifying the commandment of God to hold fast to your tradition (Mk 7:9)

If we make a grid of these various meanings in the Gospels and Acts, we get this:

MtMkLkJnActs
Appear or be in a place12411167
To place someone or something31228
Stand, hold or establish438115
To stop, to halt, to stand still21502
Holding on to something01000

In this context, our verse 14 with histēmi taking on the meaning of stopping reflects a typical Lucan usage.

neaniske (young man)
Neaniskos (teenager, young man, servant) appears only here in all of Luke's gospel and is very infrequent in the entire New Testament: Mt = 2; Mk = 2; Lk = 1; Jn = 0; Acts = 2; 1Jn = 2. In Matthew the word refers to the rich young man who declined the offer to follow Jesus (19:20.22); in Mark it refers to the young man who followed Jesus to Gethsemane and fled naked (14:51) as well as to the heavenly being at the empty tomb whom the women saw when they came to complete the embalming (16:5); in Acts it refers to the son of Paul's sister (23:18.22) as well as to the men who were in charge of carrying away the dead (5:10); finally, in the first epistle of John it refers to a category of people who are distinguished from fathers and children (2:13-14). What the word suggests in our story, then, is that this widow's son was no longer a child, and so was old enough to begin working (and as Matthew suggests, some could be rich), and according to tradition, to take over his father's work and be the breadwinner for the extended family. It is therefore a tragedy that he died.

soi legō (to you I say)
It is worth noting the Greek expression soi legō (to you I say), or written in reverse order: legō soi (I say to you), as well as legō hymin (I say to you (pl.)), or more emphatically: egō legō hymin (I, I say to you). For it is found throughout the four gospels and gives us an echo of the authority of Jesus' actions and words. As we note in the gospel of Mark 1:22: And they were struck by his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. Here is a little chart of this expression:

MtMkLkJn
To you I say / I say to you3355
I tell you45152725

Usually, this expression of authority refers to the words of Jesus (e.g., Lk 12:51: Do you think that I have appeared to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division). But there are some instances where this expression of authority constitutes a healing action. Mark gives us two examples:

  • Mk 2: 11: I say to you (soi legō), he says to the paralytic, stand up, take your mat and go to your house
  • Mk 5: 41: And taking the child's hand, he said to her, "Talitha koum," which translates, "Little girl, I tell you (soi legō), get up!"

Luke also gives us two examples. The first is a reprise of Mark's account of the paralytic: Well, that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to remit sins, I tell you (soi legō), he said to the paralyzed man, stand up and, taking your bed, go to your house." (Lk 5:24). Surprisingly, one would have expected him to keep the expression "soi legō" when he copies the text of Mark 5:41 on the resurrection of the girl. No, the expression disappeared in his version of the story, but it reappears in this account of the widow's dead son, which he alone reports. In any case, Luke recognizes the transforming power of Jesus' word.

egerthēti (wake up)
The verb egeirō means literally: to wake up, to get up and applies to a person who is asleep or lying down and appears quite often in the gospels and Acts: Mt = 35; Mk = 19; Lk = 18; Jn = 13; Acts = 13. But its meaning has been extended to cover realities that arise or appear, and finally to waking up from death, i.e. resurrection: remember, there is no term in the Greek language that would explicitly mean "to rise from the dead". Looking at the use of the word egeirō in the gospels and Acts, we get the following table:

MtMkLkJnActs
To lift someone, to stand up15111065
Raising the dead136667
To make appear, to appear41211
To wake up, to wake up someone31000

What does this picture say? Apart from Acts where we cover the period of the Church, egeirō primarily describes getting up: someone was lying down, he gets up. And in Luke, of the 11 times the word takes on this meaning, six times it is Jesus who lifts the person or asks him to get up or himself gets up.

  • 5: 23: Which is easier, to say: Your sins are forgiven you, or to say: Stand up (egeirō) and walk?
  • 5: 24: Well, that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to remit sins, I command you," he said to the paralyzed man, "stand up (egeirō) and, taking your bed, go home."
  • 6: 8: But he knew their thoughts. So he said to the man with the dry hand, "Rise up (egeirō) and stand in the middle." And he got up and stood.
  • 7: 14: Then he came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers stopped. And he said, "Young man, I tell you, get up (egeirō)."
  • 7: 16: They were all seized with fear, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen (egeirō) among us, and God has visited his people."
  • 8: 54: But he took her hand and called her, saying, "Child, get up (egeirō)."

In short, the focus is on getting up and getting active again.

v. 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak. Jesus then gave him to his mother.

Literally: And sat up (anekathisen) the dead (man) (nekros) and he began (ērxato) to speak (lalein), and he gave (edōken) him to the mother of him.

anekathisen (he sat up)
Anakathizō (to straighten up and sit down) is a very rare word found only in Luke's pen in the entire Greek Bible, first here and then in Acts 9:40: Peter put everyone outside, then, kneeling down, prayed. Then turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes and, seeing Peter, sat up (anakathizō). Luke is keen to draw a parallel between Peter and Jesus: what Jesus did, Peter will do in the time of the Church. The word is made up of two parts, ana, which expresses an upward movement from the bottom to the top, and thus conveys the idea of standing up, and kathizō, to sit down: all of this refers to the image of standing up and then sitting down.

nekros (dead)
The word nekros refers us to an everyday event, that of dying, and of course the gospels and Acts echo this: Mt = 12; Mk = 7; Lk = 14; Jn = 8; Acts = 17. But most of the time, it is the dead in general that are spoken of, especially when the expression "resurrection of the dead" is used. It is therefore extremely rare to have the word in the singular as here. Here are the only cases.
  • In the parable of the prodigal son, the father says of his son that he was dead, but that he has now been found; this is death in the spiritual sense (see Lk 15:24-32)
  • Mark speaks of a child who is violently shaken by the unclean spirit and left as if dead; the word is simply meant to describe the impact of the possession by the unclean spirit (see Mk 9:26)
  • In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke speaks of Sapphira who died three hours after her husband after trying to deceive the Christian community (Acts 5:10), then of the teenager Eutychus who was considered dead after falling out of a window and whom Paul lifted up as if he had nothing (Acts 20:9), and finally of Paul himself, who was expected by the natives to be dead after being bitten by a viper (Acts 28:6)

What can we conclude? We should not expect the same definition of death in Jesus' time as in our time when we speak of a flat brain. When Luke speaks of Eutychus who is dead, and who can finally walk up the stairs, we are in the world of perceptions. In any case, the important thing is that he wants us to perceive the widow's son as dead, with all that this implies for his widowed mother. Moreover, we are in a Greek world where there are resurrections performed by humans, as the legend around Apollonius of Tyana (16-97) attests. It is not surprising that Luke grants this ability to a human like Peter in the Acts of the Apostles.

ērxato (he began)
The verb archō (to command, to begin, to set about) is quite frequent in the gospels and Acts: Mt = 13; Mk = 26; Lk = 31; Jn = 2; Acts = 6. It describes the beginning of an action or situation, very often translated as: he set about. When we look at Luke's gospel, we see that this is a verb that he is particularly fond of. Of his 31 uses, 27 are his own. It is all the more astonishing that in four verses that he borrows from Mark, he modifies the latter's text to add archō: 3:8; 5:21; 9:12; 11:29. Here, in v. 15, we are looking at Luke's style.

lalein (to speak)
The verb laleō (to speak, to converse) belongs to everyday life, and it is no surprise that we note its frequency in the gospels and Acts: Mt = 26; Mk = 21; Lk = 31; Jn = 59; Acts = 58. It is very much a part of Luke's style, for of the 31 occurrences in his gospel, 25 are his own, including two passages copied from Mark to which he adds laleō: 9:11; 22:60. Here, in v. 15, the very fact that the young man begins to speak indicates that he is alive and well.

Verb laleō in the Gospels-Acts
edōken (he gave)
The verb didōmi (to give, entrust, hand over, return, produce) is very common in the gospels and Acts: Mt = 52; Mk = 39; Lk = 59; Jn = 72; Acts = 35. The only remark about Luke that we can make is that he is very comfortable with this verb: of the 59 passages where he uses it in his gospel, 29 are his own, including 4 passages that he borrows from the Q Document and to which he adds didōmi. But the point here, in v. 15, is that by succinctly writing that Jesus hands the young man over to his mother he happens to be stating this: the focus is on the mother finding her son, not the resurrection of the son. In other words, the son himself is not important, it is what he means to the mother that is important. Knowing that a widow no longer has a source of income if she no longer has a son, one understands the meaning of handing over a son to his mother: one hands over a source of income. This seems very prosaic, but it is the social situation of the time.

v. 16 And everyone was upset, and one was recognizing the extraordinary quality of God's being with these words, "A great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited his people".

Literally: Then fear (phobos) seized (elaben) all (pantas) and they were glorifying (edoxazon) the God (theon) saying that a great (megas) prophet (prophētēs) woke up among us (en hēmin) and that the God has visited (epeskepsato) the people (laon) of him.

elaben (it seized)
The verb lambanō (to take, to receive, to welcome) is quite commonplace and frequent in the gospels and Acts: Mt = 53; Mk = 20; Lk = 21; Jn = 46; Acts = 29. Luke does not give it a special role. But it does belong to his vocabulary: of the 21 uses in his gospel, 12 are his own, in particular three times to describe the fact that after Easter Jesus takes bread at a meal (24:30.42), and at the last supper in a verse unique to him where Jesus invites his disciples to "take" the bread he hands them (22:17). And as far as our verse is concerned, we see that the expression "a fear seized them all" has already been used by Luke earlier: "Amazement seized (lambanō) all" (5: 26). In short, we do have Luke's signature.

phobos (fear)
We are familiar with the word phobos (fear, dread, hesitation, awe, respect) which is scattered throughout the gospels and Acts: Mt = 3; Mk = 1; Lk = 7; Jn = 3; Acts = 5. However, the word is given different meanings and it is important to take them into account. These meanings can be grouped into four categories.
  • Phobos denotes respect for God and leads the individual not to defy his commandments, and which is usually translated as religious fear, a meaning very common in the Old Testament: Now the churches enjoyed peace throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria; and they were built up and lived in the fear (phobos) of the Lord, and were filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31; see also Acts 5:5.11; 19:17).

  • Phobos designates the upheaval experienced in the face of a positive intervention by God and which often leads afterwards to a feeling of gratitude: Swiftly leaving the (empty) tomb, all upset (phobos) and full of joy, the women ran to bring the (good) news to his disciples (Mt 28:8; see also Lk 1:12.65; 2:9; 5:26; 7:16; Mk 4:41; Acts 2:43).

  • Phobos refers to individuals being intimidated by other individuals and causing them to hide or avoid confrontation. All the examples come from the gospel according to John: Yet no one spoke openly about him for fear (phobos) of the Jews (Jn 7:13; see also 19:38; 20:19).

  • Phobos designates the fear that paralyzes an individual in the face of a threatening event: The disciples, seeing him walking on the sea, were troubled: "It is a ghost," they said, and overcome with fear (phobos) they began to cry out (Mt 14:26; 28:4; Lk 8:37; 21:26).

In v. 16, phobos obviously designates this upheaval experienced in the face of a positive intervention by God, a marvelous action, a son returned to his widowed mother, and will subsequently lead to a song of praise from the whole assembly. It will have been noted that Luke is the one who uses the word phobos the most, and in his gospel, out of the 7 occurrences, 5 refer to this upheaval following a happy intervention of God.

Noun phobos in the New Testament

Verb phobeō in the New Testament

Noun phobētron in the Bible

Adverb aphobōs in the Bible

pantas (all)
We do not want to dwell on this word which is so frequent: Mt = 129; Mk = 67; Lk = 159; Jn = 65; Acts = 172, except to say that Luke is particularly fond of it (331 times, including Acts). For him, it is a way of emphasizing a form of unanimity that is so important to him.

edoxazon (they were glorifying)
We have already discussed doxa and doxazō (glorify, give glory, honor, boast, praise, celebrate) when we analyzed Jn 2:1-11. For it is John who mostly uses this verb: Mt = 4; Mk = 1; Lk = 9; Jn = 16; Acts = 5. Let us summarize the four meanings that this word can take in the Gospels and Acts.

  • Doxazō means to praise someone with a feeling of gratitude (Mt = 3; Mk = 1; Lk = 8; Jn = 0; Acts = 0), for example: Then the shepherds returned, glorifying (doxazō) and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, according to what had been announced to them (Lk 2:20). Note that the one being praised is always God, with one exception, where it is the word of the Lord (Acts 13:48) that is being praised.

  • Doxazō refers to the human action of giving value to someone who is given prestige (Mt = 1; Mk = 0; Lk = 1; Jn = 1; Acts = 0), e.g., When therefore thou givest alms, go not forth and trumpet it before thee; so do the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified (doxazō) by men; verily I say unto you, that they have their reward already (Mt 6:2).

  • There is the unique case where doxazō refers to God's action in raising Jesus and establishing him as Lord, at his right hand, and which is found only in Acts 13:13: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified (doxazō) his servant Jesus, whom you, yourselves, handed over, and denied in front of Pilate, even though he was determined to release him.

  • Finally, there is the particular meaning that doxazō takes on in John where it describes the revelatory action of God manifesting the extraordinary and unique quality of Jesus, reflecting in the process his own quality, e.g., Father, glorify (doxazō) your name!" Then came a voice from heaven, "I have glorified (doxazō) him and again I will glorify (doxazō) him." (12, 28).

In Luke, doxazō means almost solely to praise God with a sense of gratitude, and that is what we have here in v. 16.

theon (God)
The word theos is so frequent (Mt = 51; Mk = 49; Lk = 129; Jn = 83; Acts = 169) that its analysis would be beyond the scope of this commentary. Nevertheless, let us note that Luke is the champion with a total of 292 occurrences. Why is this so? In Luke there is a desire for great harmony between the Old and New Testaments, between Jewish and Christian history. This is the meaning of the parallel he draws between John the Baptist and Jesus, one representing the Old Testament, the other the New Testament, whose births he recounts. And what unifies all this is the one God.

Noun theos in the Gospels-Acts
prophētēs (prophet)
We are familiar with the word prophētēs (one who speaks in God's name and interprets his will), for it refers to all those people whose words helped make up much of the Jewish Bible, so that the latter would be divided into three parts: the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. And since the Christian community read the events surrounding Jesus in the light of the Old Testament, references to the prophets are scattered throughout the gospels and Acts: Mt = 37; Mk = 6; Lk = 30; Jn = 14; Acts = 30. Not surprisingly, we observe that Matthew, whose gospel is addressed primarily to a Jewish Christian audience, makes the most frequent reference to the prophets. But Luke with his gospel and Acts is not to be outdone: as we have pointed out, the integration of the Old and New Testaments is important. But when we look more closely, prophētēs refers to four categories of people: 1) Old Testament men of God or their writings (Mt = 29; Mk = 3; Lk = 21; Jn = 9; Acts = 23); 2) Jesus (Mt = 4; Mk = 2; Lk = 5; Jn = 5; Acts = 3); 3) John the Baptist, whom people considered a prophet, beginning with Jesus himself (Mt = 2; Mk = 1; Lk = 3; Jn = 0; Acts = 0), and finally, other people like the prophetess Anna or the Christian prophets (Mt = 2; Mk = 0; Lk = 1; Jn = 0; Acts = 4). Thus, Jesus was associated with the prophets.

In Luke, Jesus would have seen himself as a prophet (But today, tomorrow, and the next day I must go on my way, for it is not fitting that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem, 13:33), his disciples would have perceived him as a prophet ("What is it?" He said to them. They said to him, "That which concerns Jesus the Nazarene, who showed himself to be a prophet mighty in works and words before God and all the people, 24: 19). So it is no surprise that we see the reaction of the people in v. 16 who consider Jesus a prophet. But Luke's intention seems to go further. For in Jewish tradition there were prophets who stood out from the rest, and one of them was the prophet Elijah. Now, this story was well known where Elijah went to a widow in Zarephath and, after her son died, raised him up and gave him back to his mother (edōken auton tē mētri autou, 1 Kings 17: 23; LXX: 3 Kings 17:23), the same expression as in verse 15: edōken auton tē mētri autou. The connection is very clear. So we are looking at a new Elijah.

megas (great)
There is no point in analyzing this generic words found everywhere (Mt = 20; Mk = 15; Lk = 26; Jn = 5; Acts = 31), which is used to describe a wide variety of things: voice, joy or fear, disaster or sickness, a feast or a play, or personal stature, except to say that the crowd's reaction here in v. 16 seems to echo what Luke said earlier through the voice of the angel Gabriel: He will be great (megas), and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father (1:32).

en hēmin (among us)
Why bother to note an expression as banal as in hēmin (in us, among us)? It's because we find Luke's signature here.
  • Lk 1: 1: Since many have undertaken to compose a narrative of the events that took place among us (en hēmin)
  • Lk 7: 16: And they all feared, and glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us. (en hēmin) and God visited his people."
  • Lk 24: 32: And they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us. (en hēmin), when he spoke to us on the road, when he explained the Scriptures to us?"
  • Acts 1: 17: He had rank among us (en hēmin) and was given a share in our ministry
  • Acts 2: 29: "Brethren, it is permitted to tell you with all assurance: the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is still among us today (en hēmin).

One would look in vain for such an expression in the other evangelists, except for two passages in John (1:14; 17:21), which recall certain common sources between John and Luke.

epeskepsato (he has visited)
With episkeptomai (examine, search, visit) we are with the Lucan vocabulary: Mt = 2; Mk = 0; Lk = 3; Jn = 0; Acts = 4. Our verse 16 somehow fulfills what Luke had announced at the beginning of his gospel: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, that he has visited (episkeptomai) and delivered his people (laos), 1:68; by the bowels (splanchnon) of mercy of our God, in which the Star from on high has visited (episkeptomai) us, 1:78. This is a very clear theme in Luke: all of Jesus' healings reflect the compassionate bowels of God who, in Jesus, visits his people

laon (people)
The word laos (people, crowd, nation) is a term favored by Luke: Mt = 14; Mk = 2; Lk = 36; Jn = 3; Acts = 48. For all the evangelists, laos refers primarily to the Jewish people. In Matthew, people appears in references to the Old Testament, or in expressions such as "scribes of the people" or "elders of the people," or in the fear of the authorities to arrest Jesus. This is also the case in Mark and John. But in Luke, the term takes on an exceptional extension (84 occurrences when his gospel and Acts are put together). There is no doubt that the term refers above all to the people of Israel: both in the gospels and in Acts the immediate context refers to Israel or to Jewish social structures, when it is not a citation from the Old Testament. Let us give some examples:
  • Lk 1: 68: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and delivered his people (laos)
  • Lk 2: 32: light to enlighten the nations and glory to your people (laos) Israel.
  • Lk 22: 66: And when it was daylight, the council of the elders of the people (laos) assembled, chief priests and scribes. They brought him into their Sanhedrin
  • Acts 4: 10: Know this, all of you, and all the people (laos) of Israel: by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead, by his name and by no other, this man comes before you healed.
  • Acts 4: 27: Yes indeed, they have gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate with the pagan nations and the peoples (laos) of Israel,
  • Acts 7: 34: Yes, I have seen the affliction of my people (laos) in Egypt, I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. Come, then, that I may send you into Egypt.
  • Acts 10: 2: Pious and God-fearing, he and all his household gave large alms to the Jewish people (laos) and prayed to God without ceasing.
  • Acts 13: 17: The God of this people (laos), the God of Israel, chose our fathers and made this people grow during their exile in the land of Egypt. Then, by deploying the strength of his arm, he brought them out
  • Acts 13: 24: John, the forerunner, had prepared for his arrival by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people (laos) of Israel.
  • Acts 26: 23: that Christ would suffer and that, having risen first from the dead, he would proclaim the light to the people (laos) and the pagan nations.

It is easy to understand then that, since the word laos refers primarily to the people of Israel, it is always in the singular. However, there are three exceptions: twice the word refers to the nations of the earth (Lk 2:31; Acts 4:25), and once to the peoples of Israel (Acts 4:27), a surprising expression. Finally, in Acts, there are two references where laos refers to the Christian community, a people that God is raising up through the apostles: Acts 15:14; 18:10.

One might ask why this emphasis in Luke on laos? We have already mentioned the importance in him of a form of harmony and unity between the Old and New Testaments. Now, in Jewish history, the notion of peoplehood is fundamental, since it is not to individuals that God intervenes above all according to the sacred authors, but to an entire people. It is to this people that Jesus in turn intervenes ("Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings... and you have not wanted to! , Lk 13:34). So for Luke, it is the same holy story that continues. Moreover, Luke likes community structure and consensus: it is not individuals who react, but a well-defined people. Usually this people is favorable to Jesus: they listen to him eagerly (Lk 19:48; 21:38), glorify God when they see what he does (Lk 7:16; 18:43), and lament him when he is taken to his place of execution (23:27). The same attitude is found in the Acts of the Apostles when the people welcome the words and actions of the disciples (Acts 2:47; 4:21; 5:13). This is why the religious authorities are suspicious of the people.

Also, this v.16 reflects Luke's theology where the God of the Old Testament who called a people to become his people, continues his work through Jesus and, through this action of compassion towards a widow, reveals again his presence.

v. 17 This news about him spread throughout Judea and all around.

Literally: And came out (exēlthen) this word (logos) in whole (holē) of Judea concerning him (peri autou) and all (pasē) the surrounding region (perichōrō).

exēlthen (it came out)
The verb exerchomai (to go out, to leave, to come from) is very common: Mt = 43; Mk = 37; Lk = 39; Jn = 30; Acts = 29. It is used to describe various situations: the demon comes out of people, a power comes out of the person of Jesus, or Jesus goes out to meet others or to pray, etc. On the other hand, the idea that a news or rumor or reputation "goes out", translated into English by "to spread out", is rare. It is found only once in Mark (1:28), which is taken up by Luke (4:37) and echoed in Matthew (4:24). John (21:23) also has an occurrence. Otherwise, it is absent, except here, in v. 17, a passage unique to Luke.

logos (word)
We are familiar with the word logos through the expression "word of God", or again, in John, through his prologue where logos is often translated as "verb". In fact, the expression "Word of God" appears a number of times in the gospels and especially in Acts: Mt = 1; Mk = 1; Lk = 4; Jn = 1; Acts = 11. And Acts testifies that another expression develops in the Christian communities: word of the Lord (9 times). However, logos has a much broader meaning to designate various realities: word, saying, thing, matter, order, account. Also it is a frequent term: Mt =33; Mk = 24; Lk = 32; Jn = 40; Acts = 65. And one of the meanings of logos refers to what is said about someone, which can be translated as news, rumor, reputation, noise. Besides this v. 17, we have other examples:
  • Lk 5: 15: Now the news (logos) spread more and more about him, and large crowds gathered to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.
  • Mk 1: 45: But when he had gone, he began to proclaim and spread the news (logos), so that Jesus could no longer enter a city openly, but stood outside in deserted places; and people came to him from every direction.
  • Jn 21: 23: Then the rumor (logos) spread (exerchomai) among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Now Jesus had not said to Peter, "He will not die," but, "If I will that he remain until I come."
  • Acts 5: 24: At this news (logos), the commander of the Temple and the high priests, all perplexed about them, wondered what this could mean.
  • Acts 11: 22: News (logos) of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and Barnabas was sent to Antioch.

What to conclude? First of all, we have a very Greek expression, and above all a very Lucan one. One may have noticed that John presents the pair logos exerchomai (literally: the word went out), exactly as here in verse 17. This favors the idea that Luke and John were in similar circles. This is especially true since this chapter 21 of John presents an account of miraculous fishing similar to that of Luke in chapter 5.

holē (whole)
holos (whole, entire) is as common in Greek as in its English equivalent: Mt = 22; Mk = 18; Lk = 17; Jn = 6; Acts = 19. Its frequent presence in Acts confirms that it is part of Luke's vocabulary. As for his gospel, of the 17 occurrences of the word, 7 are his own (6 are borrowings from Mark, 4 from the Q Document). It is worth mentioning that he is the only one to speak of "all Judea" (Lk 1:65; 7:17; 23:5; Acts 9:31; 10:37). In Luke, as in all the evangelists, there is an effort to emphasize that the Jesus event was widely known.

Adjective holos in Luke-Acts
peri autou (concerning him)
This is a rather banal expression. Why stop there? Because it confirms what we have just stated: the phrase is very Lucan, but at the same time seems to reflect a linguistic milieu similar to that of John. Let us look at the statistics about peri autou: Mt = 2; Mk = 3; Lk = 8; Jn = 11; Acts = 4.

perichōrō (surrounding region)
The word perichōros is a combination of two words, the preposition peri (around), and the word chōra (region, country, territory). It therefore refers to the region around, the surroundings or the surrounding area, the neighboring region. It is a rare word that is not found elsewhere in the entire New Testament, except in the Gospels and Acts: Mt = 2; Mk = 1; Lk = 5; Jn = 0; Acts = 1. In Luke, it is a way of broadening the reach of Jesus, without providing too much precision. And since we are not sure that Luke knew Palestine well, we can guess that this vague word made life easier for him.

What is the result of this verse-by-verse analysis? It is possible that Luke is using a particular source for this story, but the overall vocabulary reveals a text that bears his signature.

  1. Structure analysis

    Introduction: setting v. 11

    • Location: on the way to Nain
    • Characters: Jesus, his disciples, a large crowd
    • Action: people walk with Jesus

    Event: v. 12

    • Location: at the gateway to the city
    • Detail: a dead person is carried in the ground
    • Characters: a widow, her only son, large crowd of the city

    Jesus' reaction: v. 13-14

    • He is moved with compassion
    • He tells the mother to stop weeping
    • It touches the coffin
    • He tells the dead man to wake up

    Result: v. 15a

    • The dead man gets on his feet and starts talking

    Action of Jesus: v. 15b

    • He gives the son to his mother

    Reaction of the crowd v. 16-17

    • It is upset
    • It considers that God expressed his quality of being by visiting his people and by raising a prophet
    • The news spreads everywhere

    The structure of the story reveals a number of things:

    • The context prepares us for a teaching of Jesus, because he is surrounded by people who walk with him
    • The structure of the story is similar to that of a healing story, except for two points: there is no request and there is no expression of faith
    • The expression of faith and the request are replaced by the compassion experienced by Jesus: this is the trigger for his action
    • The climax is reached when Jesus hands the son to his mother.
    • Thus, what is at the heart of the story, it is not the young man in itself, but the fact that the widow finds an only son, and because of the social situation of the time, her only source of income
    • The reaction of the crowd does not distinguish between a healing or a resuscitation, which they seem to put on the same level, and an action of God who manifests his presence by raising a prophet as there were in the Old Testament, in particular Elijah.
    • In short, it is a story not about faith as is often the case with stories of healing, but a story about compassion.

  2. Context Analysis

    Like any literary composition, the gospels have pauses, changes of scene and the setting of themes. To establish the context of this scene of an only son being handed over to his mother, we have to look for a pause and a break. We find it in 7: 1: "When Jesus had finished all his speech before the people, he entered Capernaum". The evangelist announces the end of a section and the beginning of a new one. This is the starting point of our immediate context.

    1. Healing of the centurion's slave who was about to die (7: 1-10)
      1. Sending of Jewish notables by the centurion
      2. Request of the Jewish leaders based on the works of the centurion
      3. As Jesus is walking to his home, he sends a message through his friends about his unworthiness to have him in his home and expresses his faith that Jesus can heal with a single word
      4. Jesus' reaction: full of admiration, Jesus praises the centurion's faith, which surpasses what he sees in Israel
      5. Recognition of the healing of the slave

    2. Resuscitation of the widow's son (7: 11-17)
      1. Then Jesus went to Nain with his disciples and a large crowd.
      2. Jesus is moved with compassion at the city gate in front of the only son of a widow who died
      3. He asks the dead man to stand up
      4. The dead man gets up and starts talking
      5. Jesus gives it to his mother
      6. Reaction of the crowd who praise God for having visited them and for having given them a prophet

    3. Questioning of John the Baptist about Jesus (7: 18-23)
      1. Hearing all these facts from his disciples, John the Baptist sends two disciples to Jesus to ask him if he is the messiah
      2. At this time Jesus performs healings (cripples, possessed, blind)
      3. Then he asks to report to John the Baptist
        1. all these healings (blind, lame, lepers, deaf)
        2. the dead rise,
        3. the good news is announced to the poor
        4. happy the one who will not stumble because of it

    4. Jesus' teaching on John the Baptist (7: 24-35)
      1. Jesus asks the crowd about the identity of John the Baptist
      2. For Jesus, he is a prophet, and more precisely the prophet who prepares the way for the messiah
      3. He is the greatest of the prophets, yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he
      4. The majority of people, including sinners, recognized John the Baptist as God's messenger, except the Pharisees and the lawyers
      5. Thus, the latter rejected both John the Baptist as a madman and Jesus as a glutton and a drunkard
      6. But the true sons of God knew how to make the difference

    In 7:36 we change the context with the invitation to eat from a Pharisee.

    What does the context tell us? First of all Luke probably inserted the story of the resurrection of the widow's son to prepare the answer to the messenger of John the Baptist, because it would have been wrong to say that the dead are risen without a story to back it up. Secondly this story also prepares the statement that the good news is announced to the poor, because the widow who lost her only son belongs to the world of the poor. Finally all these events are meant to answer the question of John the Baptist: Are you the Messiah? So for Luke the scene in Nain is God's answer to his promise in the Old Testament to come back to visit his people through his messiah, but a messiah who will be a source of contradiction, because he will be guided by compassion for the poor and not by the law.

  3. Analysis of Parallels

    Recall that, according to the most accepted theory in the biblical world, Mark would have been the first to publish his gospel, Matthew and Luke would have reused much of Mark's work in their gospel, while incorporating another source, known to both of them and referred to as the "Q Document" as well as other sources of their own, and finally John would have published an independent gospel at a later date, with no knowledge of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, even though he seems to have had access to similar sources.

    In this context, the study of parallels allows us to better identify what is specific to each evangelist. But the story about the widow of Nain has no real parallel texts in the synoptic accounts. But we can compare similar texts, first of all that of the resuscitation of Jairus' daughter (Mk 5: 35-43 || Lk 8: 49-56) and that of the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17). The stories have three parts: the setting, the intervention to raise the person, the reaction of the people. Here is our convention. Underlined are words or part of words from Mark found also in other stories. We have put in green words of the story of a resuscitation by Elijah in the book of 1 Kings (3 Kings according to the Septuagint) that are found as well in the gospels, and in turquoise words found in both Luke 8 and Luke 7. Verses in square bracket are out of sequence for comparison purpose. Please note that the translation from Greek is quite literal for comparison purpose, which may seem rough English.

    Mark 5Luke 8Luke 71 Kings 17 (LXX : 3 Kings)
    35 When he is still speaking, they come from the ruler of the synagogue saying that the daughter of you died. Why do you still trouble the teacher.49 When he is still speaking, someone for the ruler of the synagogue comes saying that has died the daughter of you. Do not any longer trouble the teacher.11-12 And it happened in the next (day) he went into a town called Nain and were going with him the disciples of him and a crowd great. Then as he drew near to the gate of the town, and behold was also carried out a having died only begotten son of the mother of him and her she was a widow. And a crowd of the town, large, was with her.[10 And he arose and went into Sarepta, and came to the gate of the town: and behold, a widow-woman was there gathering sticks; and Eliu cried after her, and said to her, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.] 17 And it happened afterward, that the son of the woman the mistress of the house was sick; and his sickness was very severe, until there was no spirit left in him.
    36 Then the Jesus having overheard the word spoken, he says to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, only believe.50 Then the Jesus having heard answered him, Do not fear, only believe and she will be saved.13 And having seen her the Lord was move with compassion upon her and said to her, Do not weep.18 And she said to Eliu, What have I to do with thee, O man of God? hast thou came in towards me to bring my sins to remembrance, and to put to death my son?
    37 And he did not allow anyone with him to follow along if not the Peter and James and John the brother of James.51 Then having come into the house he did not allow someone to come in with him if not Peter and John and James and the father of the little child and the mother.14 And having come near, he touched the coffin. Then those bearing (it) stood (still), and he said to the young man, to you I say, wake up.19 And Eliu said to the woman, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and took him up to the chamber in which he himself lodged, and laid him on the bed.
    38 And they come into the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and he observes a commotion and weeping and much wailing.52a Then, they were weeping all and mourning her. 20 And Eliu cried aloud, and said, Alas, O Lord, the witness of the widow with whom I sojourn, thou hast wrought evil for her in putting to death her son.
    39 And coming in he says to them, Why do you make commotion and do you weep? The little child is not dead but she sleeps.52b Then him he said, Do not weep, for she is not dead but she sleeps. 21 And he breathed on the little boy thrice, and called on the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, let, I pray thee, the soul of this little boy return to him.
    40 And they were laughing at him. Then, himself, having thrown out all, he takes along the father of the little child and the mother and those with him and goes in where was the little child.53 And they were laughing at him, having known that she was dead. Then, himself, 22 And it happened this way, and the little boy cried out,
    41 And having held the hand of the child, he says to her, Talitha koum, which is translated, the girl, to you I say, wake up.54 having held the hand of her, called out saying, the child, wake up.15 And sat up the dead (man) and he began to speak, and he gave him to the mother of him.23 and he brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to the mother of him; and Eliu said, See, thy son lives.
    42-43 And immediately arose the girl and she was walking. For she was twelve years old. And they were amazed [immediately] with great amazement. And he instructed them strictly in order that no one should know this, and he said to be given to her to eat.55-56 And returned the spirit of her and she arose instantly and he commanded to be given to her to eat. And were amazed the parents of her. Then he ordered them to no one to say what had happened. 16-17 Then fear seized all and they were glorifying the God saying that a great prophet woke up among us and that the God has visited the people of him. And came out this word in whole of Judea concerning him and all the surrounding region.24 And the woman said to Eliu, Behold, I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.

    • When we compare the scene in Nain with the one in the book of Kings, we note elements of similarity. A prophet meets a widow for the first time at the city gate. This widow has a son, whom Luke specifies as unique, but who also seems unique from the text of the book of Kings. This son dies and it is the prophet who gives him back his life. The resuscitation of the son of the widow of Zarephath is noted by the fact that he cries out, and that of the widow of Nain by the fact that he begins to speak. One striking point, Luke uses the same words as in the book of Kings: and he gave him back to his mother (kai edōken auton tē mētri autou); so the focus is on the mother, not the son. It is quite clear, then, that Luke had this account in mind when he wrote the scene at Nain, and when he writes that a great prophet has arisen among us, he is affirming that a new Elijah is among us. On the other hand, there are some differences: the widow of Zarephath blames Elijah for the death of her son, which provokes Elijah's response, while the widow of Nain asks for nothing, and everything comes from Jesus' initiative; Elijah has to pray to God and lie down on the child to give him back his life, Jesus only needs a word.

    • The text of the resuscitation of Jairus' daughter in Luke is borrowed from Mark. Nevertheless, let us examine the similarities with the story of Nain. There are similarities: we are faced with a person who is dead, Jesus asks to stop weeping and gives life back with a word (wake up); we see that the person is alive by the fact that he talks in Nain, by the fact that she is hungry and eats for Jairus' daughter. On the other hand, there are significant differences: the story about the daughter of Jairus begins with the request of the synagogue leader and focuses on the faith that Jesus demands (believe only); the action of Jesus is reserved for a limited circle of disciples and the parents of the girl, and the reaction of the parents is not that of glorifying God like the people of Nain, but of being stunned and upset, and afterwards, not only is the news not spread, but Jesus asks them to keep silent.

    • Finally, let us briefly compare the story around Jairus' daughter with that of the widow of Zarephath. Among the similarities is that both scenes take place in a house, and Luke stresses the connection by adding the verb 'to come in' (eiserchomai) to his Marcan source. Likewise, by adding the word 'spirit' (pneuma) that recurs in the young girl, he continues the connection with the scene in Zarephath where the spirit has left the widow's son.

    • Let's conclude our analysis.

      1. It is clear that the story of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath had an influence on the evangelist Luke when he wrote the story of the widow of Nain and when he rewrote the scene of the daughter of Jairus that Mark left him. For him, Jesus was not only a new Elijah, a new intervention of God, but someone who was superior to him: a word is enough to give life back to a human being, and he does not need to invoke God and lie on the child.

      2. But what is special about the story of the widow of Nain is that Jesus' intervention comes from his own initiative, motivated by a pure feeling of compassion: he was never asked for anything and we are not at all in a context of faith expression.

      3. Since we are in a Greek context where there is skepticism when it comes to the question of the resurrection of the dead (remember the reaction of the Athenians to what Luke tells us in Acts 17:32), Luke emphasizes the fact that it is not an illusion, i.e., the person is really dead, and when he comes back to life, he is really alive. In the Nain account, we are about to bury the young man, which shows that he is really dead, and when Jesus intervenes, he starts to speak, which shows that he is really alive. In the account of Jairus' daughter, she is really dead, because the funeral rite has already begun with all those who beat their breasts, and Luke takes the trouble to add the phrase: knowing that she was dead, and when Jesus intervenes, he will affirm that she is really alive, because she must be given something to eat right away (Luke has taken this fact from Mark, but insert it earlier immediately after the resuscitation)

      4. We do not know where Luke got this story about the widow of Nain. In any case, the writing bears the mark of his style and vocabulary as we have seen. The same is true of the story about Jairus' daughter, which he takes from Mark, but on which he leaves his own signature: someone (tis), to be saved (sōzō), to come in (eiserchomai), to return (epistrephō ), instantly (parachrēma), to command (dietaxen), parent (goneus), to happen (ginomai). Moreover, he standardizes Jesus' intervention, which takes on the same structure: young man/child, wake up. Finally, as he likes to do, he balances the male/female presence: for example, as he did with the presentation of the kingdom of heaven, which he compares first to a man putting the mustard seed in the ground and then to a woman burying leaven in flour (see Lk 13:18-21), so he seems to balance the resuscitation scenes by having both a man and a woman.

  4. Intention of the author when writing this passage

    • To understand Luke's intention, we need to put his account in context: Jesus is preparing to respond to the envoys of John the Baptist who is wondering if he is really the messiah. Moreover, Luke takes the trouble to mention in his introduction that his disciples are accompanying him and that a large crowd is walking with him: we are therefore in a teaching context that is addressed to all the disciples, and therefore to the members of the Christian community who are primarily his audience.

    • What is this teaching? As the structure of the story reveals, Jesus' action is in two stages: first he brings the widow's son back to life, then he gives her son back to her; the climax of the story is in this gesture where Jesus gives the widow her son. Why does Jesus do this? The evangelist tells us that he was moved to tears. Thus, Jesus' gesture is one of compassion. Let us not forget that in the socio-economic environment of the time, the only resource that allows a widow to live is a son. Jesus' teaching is about compassion pure and simple, without any request from anyone or any expression of faith. Luke uses the same vocabulary here as in the story of the Good Samaritan and the father whose son had gone to squander his property.

    • But, at the same time, this scene prepares the response to John the Baptist's envoys about his messiahship. For, in this response, Luke takes up the Q Document, the one he shares with Matthew, where Jesus responds, not by saying: yes, I am the messiah, but by asking John the Baptist's disciples to bear witness to all the actions of healing, resuscitations and good news announced to the poor. The scene of the widow of Nain supports the statement about the action of resuscitation and good news announced to the poor.

    • Here a word of caution is in order. It would be a mistake to think that the argument of the gospels goes like this: the expected messiah had to perform miracles; Jesus did perform miracles, therefore Jesus is the messiah. One would look in vain in the Old Testament for a presentation of the messiah as a miracle worker. They were talking about someone from the Davidic lineage, or a prophet like Moses, and that's all. What Luke does here is to associate Jesus with a great Old Testament figure, that of the prophet Elijah. By making Jesus a new Elijah, he makes him a unique moment in holy history, one in which God opens the heavens again to visit his people, as he did with Elijah. This is the meaning of the words that Luke later puts into the mouths of the people: a great prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people. And in this, by being the face of God who becomes intimate with his people again, by inaugurating this year of grace of which he spoke in his inaugural speech, he becomes the messiah. But this messiah does not stand out by wanting to restore the Davidic kingship, but by expressing God's compassion in all its strength.

  5. Current situations or events in which we could read this text

    1. Suggestions from the different symbols in the story

      • Our story begins with Jesus on the road and the disciples walking with him. This is a fundamental dimension of the Christian life, so much so that Christians were called followers of the Way (Acts 9:2). Of course, to speak of a way is to speak of direction, but it is also to speak of movement or constant action. To follow Jesus is to accept to move and to change continuously, to accept to be constantly transformed, to accept events and to be open to them. If Jesus had never moved, he would never have met that widow. We are his disciples, and so we follow him. Is this true?

      • The scene takes place at the city gate, a real crossroads. It is at the city gates that many encounters take place. Nearby is the cemetery. Jesus was put on the cross in a similar location. This is where the beggars stand to beg. It is definitely not a place to be alone. Unlike John the Baptist who called people in the middle of the desert, Jesus went to the crossroads of cities to meet people. The message? You don't have to isolate yourself to meet God. He is there where the crowd is.

      • We attend a funeral, the last farewell of a mother for her only son. The scene is sad, reflecting a facet of this world and of our lives. It doesn't take long to find everything that makes us cry, everything that tears our hearts. And for those with a slightly religious mind, the question of God arises: why did he want such a world? Why the suffering? Why death? Our story asks us to take the time to face this dimension of life.

      • Jesus was "moved with compassion", the Greek text says: "moved to the bowels", i.e. move to the core. It is not often that an evangelist translates Jesus' feelings to us: he is upset, his heart is torn. Of course, this reflects our feelings when faced with similar events. But when we attach these feelings to the one we consider the most perfect image of God, then logically we must attach these feelings to God himself. Far from trying to be "Zen", should we not accept to be moved to the core, to let ourselves be guided by compassion? This is not only what makes us human, but it is also what makes us sons of God.

      • "Young man, I tell you, wake up!". This sentence is remarkable. It is a challenge, almost a command: "I tell you". Jesus asks the man to wake up from his sleep. The way the gospel describes the scene is far from a magic ritual where one would say: abracadabra, on the count of three you are alive! Strange as it may seem, the answer lies in the hands of the young man. Jesus' role is to challenge him. What does that mean? The gospel does not belong to the world of fairy tales. It is addressed to the living people that we are. And it says two fundamental things: many of us are asleep, and it is essential to dare to challenge. It is a matter of life and death.

    2. Current situations or events in which we could read this text

      • In Canada, part of the city of Fort McMurray is on fire, caused by forest fires in the surrounding area. This boomtown of 80,000 people, created by the Alberta oil sands, is being evacuated. People are crying, disoriented; some have lost everything. One day wealth, the next day nakedness; everything collapsed like a house of cards. This situation colors today's gospel. Some will identify with the weeping widow. Others will associate the solidarity movement of Canadians with the compassion shown by Jesus. Either way, today's story will take on a different meaning.

      • The other night, my brother-in-law announced the medical diagnosis he had just received at age 65: the onset of Alzheimer's disease. His world had been turned upside down. Some warning signs had brought him to the doctor: he had made so many speeches in his life, but he could no longer find his words. In three years, the great night of oblivion awaits him. Is this a good way to end his life? For my sister, his spouse, what awaits her? How can we read again today's gospel in this context?

      • When I read the political news, I only see dissatisfaction and upheaval. Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, France. I feel unable to play a political role. And yet so many politicians are so attached to their positions that they do everything to stay there. What a gap between this world and the one to which the Gospel opens me. Which is truer?

      • Life goes on. My daughter is pregnant, having rebuilt her life with a man who seems extraordinary. For her much desired and much loved first child, soon to be 6 years old, whom she had with her first man who was mentally ill, she must deal with her attention deficit disorder. Nothing is simple. But love will surely triumph. What an echo the gospel can have like today.

      • A little noise in the United States about transgender toilets: some states are violently opposed to it, seeing it as an absolute aberration. Meanwhile, in Canada, they are about to legislate to allow it. Two world views. What would Jesus' position have been? How consistent is such a position with what today's gospel reveals about him?

 

-André Gilbert, Gatineau, May 2016