A Conversation With The Widow Of Nain

As they drew near the gates of the city (Nain), behold, a man who was dead was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Luke 7: 11- -17 (1)

The Scottish Essayist, Robert Louis Stevenson, tells us that one book that had a profound influence on him was the Bible, and in particular the New Testament.  Stevenson wrote:

I believe it would startle and move anyone if they could make a certain effort of imagination and read it freshly like a book, not droningly and dully like a portion of the Bible.” (2)

I invite you through the use of your imagination to experience this story as recorded in the Gospel of Luke.

Good morning.  My name is Ana.  I begin by acknowledging the fact that I am a Jewess.  As such, I honor the God of our Fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I have tried to live according to the Law of Moses, and though there have been times when I have failed in my attempt, God has never failed me.  My favorite passage from the Sacred Writings is where David talks about being in God’s house forever!  I think that is where I have spent my life and where I will at last spend eternity.  I am so delighted to tell you all that He is worthy to be worshiped and adored!

Ana, you are remembered in history as “the widow of Nain.” Why is that? And how does it make you feel?

You know, I am not the only widow in the world!  Nor for that matter am I the only widow in Nain!  Everyone’s story is different, as different as the individual who bears the grief.  Every broken heart has a  story to tell, and when one shares it, there ought to always be an ear to listen and a heart to feel the pity.  The one thing that all of us have in common is the abiding presence of God!  We are all different in our grief, but God’s compassion and tenderness are the same for all of us.  Yes, it is true that I am a widow – but I am also a mother; that fact along with the sustaining touch of God’s Hand made my widowhood bearable.

I suppose Luke did capture the essence of my life by telling you at the beginning that I am a widow. That essentially is what opened the door for me so I could step into the presence of God. There I found such compassion and understanding, and there I am still learning to understand the meaning of death.  Let me tell you how death nearly destroyed my home and me along with it!

Please do tell us. And thank you for baring your soul to us here.

We had a most remarkable home in Nain.  It was as close to ideal as we could make it.  I married a most wonderful man, and we were as happy as a couple could be.  Peter was a very honest, hardworking man.  His day began at the crack of dawn and sometimes did not end until the sun was about to bid the world good morning again!  He was so gentle and kind towards all creation.  Together we grew in our faith and love, and together we joined in the worship of the living God!  We were alone for some years! No words can capture the absolute wonder and the deep feelings of gratitude we both felt when God asked us to share our lives with the most beautiful child imaginable- and a little boy was born to us!

Peter took him in his arms and praised God!  “O Ana,” he cried, “We will call him Peter and one day he will be a fisherman just like me!” The Lord, our God, looked with tenderness upon our home!  We grew yet stronger in our love for each other.  Wee Peter grew to be more like his dad every day that passed.  It was a daily ritual with him: as soon as dusk settled in he would have me light the lamp and put it in the window so his dad would always see it as he came home from the fishing grounds.  Then there followed games and laughter as we joined in having fun together, and then the day always ended with Peter saying prayers and teaching his son to pray.

It all changed when Young Peter reached the age of five!  Peter had told his son, “When you are a big boy, say five years old, you can come fishing with me, and we will spend the day together on the Sea of Galilee. When it is getting dark, and the stars come into the sky, we will bring our fish home to Mother!” “Tell Mama,” wee Peter interjected, “to put the lamp in the window so we can see it.”

Our son never forgot that promise. And for weeks leading up to his fifth birthday, he counted the days. The evening before the big adventure both Peters were extremely excited. Careful planning went into every detail.  And that night little  Peter had to tell God all about the planned activities for tomorrow. Sometime later little Peter awakened with a severe fever. And daddy had to go on alone; but only after a solemn pledge to Peter that they would be together one day and he would see the light from the window welcoming him home!

It was late in the afternoon when of a sudden the wind changed, and I don’t think it ever blew harder.  At Peter’s insistence, we put the lamp in the window long before the sun went down!  I held my child in my arms and tried to assure him that the morrow would bring our hero home to us.  But as the next day wore on, and with the lamp still burning in the window, my own heart gave up its light!  I knew that my beautiful home was changing forever and the love of my life would not be coming home again.

It was then that God brought a candlelight into the window of my soul!  Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness!  God had spared little Peter!  It might have been both of them!!  And so through my unspeakable sorrow, I was comforted by the face of a little boy at the window and recalled that this little angel was my son!

The years went by with steps of lead!  Often I wondered how I would buy bread for Peter and me! I decided many times that the only remaining course for me was to sell Peter’s remaining fishing nets.  But whenever I mentioned it I was always met with the same reaction.  “Mama, I am going to be a fisherman just like my dad. He promised that one day we would go fishing together and we would see the light in the window as we returned from the fishing ground.” 

I don’t know how my son views death, but surely he does not believe that death means the end!  Peter knows that there are some things that not even death can destroy!

Two years ago young Peter died.  I watched him day after day and night after night getting weaker and weaker!  O, how I pleaded with God!  Please, don’t take away the candlelight from the window of my soul and leave me in utter darkness again!  When Peter went, You let me keep our son!  How can I be expected to go on alone?  And it was then that little Peter spoke, and for a boy of ten such profound wisdom!  The Bible says a little child should lead them, and that sure proved to be so!

“Mother, I need to talk to my dad in the next room for a moment!  I need to learn from him everything there is to know about being a fisherman!  I want to learn from him because he was the best fisherman in this world!  You stay here with God, and make sure you keep that light in the window!  I won’t be long, and I’ll be right back………………….And then he was gone!

I was speechless!  What can a mother, or anyone else, say when a child speaks with such clarity and such faith?  I can’t believe that God would permit the child to be so completely deluded!  I tell you that my boy gave me a greater understanding of God than all the doctors and scribes of the law!

Then came the day of his funeral!  All that kept ringing in my ears was the sound of his voice!  Such childlike, sincere understanding of the mysteries that baffled me!  ‘You stay here with God! I need to talk to my dad in the next room! I’ll be right back!’  Whatever death is, Peter surely understood it to be very temporary!

And then I saw Him!  God was there with me just as Peter said He would be!  Through my tears, I saw the compassion of His face.  It was as bright as a lamp shining in the darkest night.  And I knew!   I knew things that I never dreamt possible.  Everyone there called Him Jesus, but I knew He was God!  I knew that there is a part of us that death cannot take away! I found myself looking into His eyes that were deep pools of blue compassion, and time stood still. Then I became aware of young Peter standing beside me. In that moment tears of joy and of sorrow; life and death; Heaven and earth all joined hands! Young Peter and I joined hands and danced our way home. We both know that a mystery beyond all measure remains with us forever.  Because He is there  I will never be afraid again.

Since Peter’s return to our home, I never ask him about what he experienced in that other world!  His happiness now is so contagious!  He is a very successful fisherman.  One night as we finished our prayers together, he offered quietly: “Dad keeps a lamp burning in a window in heaven for us you know. It is one of the stars.  Come outside, and I’ll show you which one! And it will burn until we are home from the sea! and he pointed to ‘ the evening star’

BEYOND THE SUNSET

______

(1)        Holy Bible RSV. See  Luke 7:12 p.62.

(2)         Robert Louis Stevenson. “Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson”  – GoogleBooks result.
https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=1465591958