YOUNG MAN, I TELL YOU, ARISE!

1 Cor 12,12-14.27-31a; Ps 99; Lk 7,11-17
18 SEPTEMBER
Jesus is the Different. He is the Different than Moses. This spoke only on the command of the Lord, in the name of his God. Jesus speaks and commands in his name. He says a Word and everything is done. It is the Different than Elijah, the great prophet of the living God. To resuscitate the widow’s son of Sarepta he had to make a real effort.

Sometime later the son of the mistress of the house fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing. So she said to Elijah, “Why have you done this to me, O man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?” “Give me your son,” Elijah said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. He called out to the Lord: “O Lord, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and called out to the Lord: “O Lord, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.” The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived. Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “See!” Elijah said to her, “your son is alive.” “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God,” the woman replied to Elijah. “The word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth” (1Kings 17,17-24).

Even Elisha, a prophet who was already a disciple of Elijah, had to pray to the Lord with great intensity to give life to the son of the Woman of Sunem. The Lord granted him the miracle, but not with a simple prayer. Neither He nor Elijah are clothed with an omnipotent word. They can, but only according to the modes established by the Lord.

“Gird your loins,” Elisha said to Gehazi, “take my staff with you and be off; if you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff upon the boy.” But the boy’s mother cried out: “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not release you.” So he started to go back with her. Meanwhile, Gehazi had gone on ahead and had laid the staff upon the boy, but there was no sound or sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and informed him that the boy had not awakened. When Elisha reached the house, he found the boy lying dead. He went in, closed the door on them both, and prayed to the Lord. Then he lay upon the child on the bed, placing his mouth upon the child’s mouth, his eyes upon the eyes, and his hands upon the hands. As Elisha stretched himself over the child, the body became warm. He arose, paced up and down the room, and then once more lay down upon the boy, who now sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” She came at his call, and Elisha said to her, “Take your son.” She came in and fell at his feet in gratitude; then she took her son and left the room (2Kings 4,29-37).

In the miracles Jesus really shows he is the Different. It is enough for him to say a word: “Boy, I say to you, get up!” and immediately the young man is given to his mother with the life that has returned to his body. Jesus is not on a higher step. He is the Different for eternity, divinity and omnipotence. He is also the Different for humanity. His flesh is the true flesh of the person of the Son of the Most High, because it was assumed according to the law of the hypostatic union. He is the Different in life and in death, in conception and in resurrection, on earth and in the heavens, in time and in eternity.

Soon afterward he journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

By denying this difference to Christ, making him one like all the others, one could also incur into the sin against the Holy Spirit: opposing the known truth.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, today free Christians from this unforgivable sin.