7 January 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!”” Luke 7:16
The day after Denha the Church goes on contemplating what God has revealed. St Paul speaks of a wisdom that is “not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age”, but “God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” The powerful did not grasp it; “if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Now it has been opened to us. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”, God has revealed “through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
In the Gospel this hidden wisdom shows its face. At the gate of Nain Jesus meets a funeral: a widow is burying “his mother's only son”. No one asks him for anything. Luke says simply that the Lord saw her and “had compassion for her”. He tells her not to weep, touches the bier and commands: “Young man, I say to you, rise!” Then “Jesus gave him to his mother”, the very gesture of Elijah at Zarephath. The crowd cries out: “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” In the season of Denha this is what manifestation means: the wisdom of God revealed as a compassion that stops at our funerals and gives life.
Theme: “A great prophet has risen among us!”
The hidden wisdom of God, revealed in compassion.
“For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;” Proverbs 2:6
“But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” 1 Corinthians 2:7
Apply: Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom each time you open the Scriptures.
“From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:4
“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Apply: Make an act of love for God each morning this week.
“Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.”” 1 Kings 17:23
“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”” Luke 7:13
Apply: Visit or call someone who is grieving.
God's wisdom is not cold knowledge but compassion that gives life.
In Denha, God has looked favourably on his people.
Take-home resolution: Stop this week for someone in sorrow.
Dear friends, on the day after Denha St Paul speaks of a wisdom that is not of this age. God's wisdom, secret and hidden, was decreed before the ages for our glory (1 Corinthians 2:7). The rulers of this age did not understand it; if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
This wisdom cannot be reached by cleverness. What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, God has prepared for those who love him, and he has revealed it to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9–10).
In the Gospel we see that wisdom with a human face. At the gate of Nain a widow follows the body of her only son. Nobody asks Jesus for help. He sees her, has compassion for her, and says: do not weep. He touches the bier and says: young man, I say to you, rise! And he gives him back to his mother (Luke 7:13–15).
The people cry out: a great prophet has risen among us; God has looked favourably on his people (Luke 7:16). This is the manifestation of Denha: God's wisdom is a compassion that stops at our funerals and gives life. Let us ask for it, and let us stop for those who weep. Amen.
Children, Jesus saw a mother crying because her son had died. He felt sorry for her and brought her son back to life! Jesus cares when we are sad. Let us care for sad people too.
Lord Jesus, wisdom of God made visible, you stopped at the gate of Nain and gave a widow back her son. Open my eyes by your Spirit to what God has prepared for those who love him, and give me your compassion for those who weep. Amen.
The day after Denha, the manifestation continues. Paul speaks of a wisdom hidden from the rulers of the age and revealed by the Spirit. Luke shows Jesus stopping a funeral at Nain and giving a dead son back to his mother. What God had hidden now shows itself as compassion.
Setting.
Paul has told the Corinthians that he came preaching only “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (2:2). Yet he insists that this is real wisdom. It is not the kind that the world’s powerful people recognise, for it is the wisdom of the cross, planned by God before the ages.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (2:8)
“Lord of glory”, the highest title, is joined to the most shameful death. The Catechism uses this verse to teach that we must not place the blame for the Cross on the Jewish people; all sinners were its authors (CCC 597–598).
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (2:9)
Paul’s source is uncertain. The words seem to echo Isaiah 64:4 and 65:17. They are often used about heaven, as the Catechism uses them (CCC 1027), but Paul applies them first to what the Spirit is revealing now.
“these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” (2:10)
The Spirit who came down at the Jordan is the one who opens this to us.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that sinners were the authors of Christ’s Passion, and it quotes the Roman Catechism on those who keep crucifying the Lord by their sins (CCC 598). It describes the blessedness of heaven with the words of v. 9 (CCC 1027). So what the rulers could not see is offered to all “who love him”.
Setting.
This story is found only in Luke. Nain is a village in Galilee, on the slope of the hill of Moreh, not far from Shunem, where Elisha raised a woman’s son (2 Kings 4:8–37). Luke has just told of the centurion’s servant (7:1–10), and next come John’s disciples asking, “Are you the one who is to come?” Jesus answers, “the dead are raised” (7:20–22).
A widow who lost her only son lost her protection and her livelihood as well as her child. The crowd of mourners and the crowd of disciples meet at the town gate.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”” (7:13)
No one asks him to act. She does not ask, and there is no statement of faith. The whole initiative is his.
“Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.” (7:14)
The Law treated contact with the dead as a cause of ritual impurity (Numbers 19:11–16). Jesus does not hesitate, and his touch carries life.
“The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” (7:15)
These are almost the same words as in the Greek of 1 Kings 17:23, where Elijah gives a widow’s son back to her. So the crowd says “A great prophet”, and the reader knows that he is more than that.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism lists the son of the widow of Nain among those raised before Easter, and it makes a distinction: they returned to ordinary life and would die again, whereas Christ’s Resurrection is of another order (CCC 646). St Augustine, in a sermon, sees three kinds of sinners in the three dead whom Jesus raised: the girl in the house, the young man carried out through the gate, and Lazarus in the tomb (in substance). St Ambrose sees in the weeping widow an image of the Church, a mother who prays for her children (in substance).