Newsletter
Jul – Sep 2013
S A N D R I N G H A M G R O U P o f PA R I S H E S From the Rectory Jesus had compassion on her The other Sunday the New Testament reading was the account of Jesus healing the widow’s son in the town called Nain. This was just a chance encounter. Jesus and his disciples were entering the town with a large crowd following them. As they approached the gate a man who died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son and she was a widow. With the entire crowd around him it might have been easy for Jesus to miss the sad procession going in the other direction. His entry was causing an enormous amount of noise and excitement. But even amongst large crowds’ Jesus appears to have had the ability to focus on one person’s need and be able to do something about it. He immediately realised and understood the widow’s distress. As the Bible says ‘when the Lord saw her he had compassion for her and said to her, do not weep’. Then he came forward and touched the bier on which the body lay, whilst the bearers stood still. You can imagine how dramatic the scene would have been as a hush came over the large crowd. Jesus says to the young man “arise” and he gives him to his mother. This was a simple act of kindness. Jesus saw a need and reacted to it. If you are going to quibble about the story then you could say that the widow and her son were lucky to be in the right place at the right time and what about all the other widows who had also lost sons? But such reservations miss the point of the story. As Christians we are called to follow our Lord’s pattern of life. As he had compassion on this widow, so should we have compassion on those in need amongst whom we live. We may not be able to bring somebody back to life but we can all, in whatever situation we are, do our best to look after and help those amongst whom we live. Simple acts of kindness can mean so much to other people and are often so easy for us to do. The famous American novelist Henry James was once asked, when he was an old man, did he have a formula for how one should live one’s life. His answer was ‘be kind, be kind and then be kind’. Words for all of us to dwell upon. I hope you have a good summer, Jonathan