“TRINITY 16 2024”
Saint Luke 7: 11-17
16th Sunday after Trinity: September 15 Anno Domini 2024
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
Why did God walk to Nain? You might as well ask why did God walk to Shawnee, to Kansas? Why did God walk up to the baptismal font, where He already had you carried to? That is such good-news one could almost stop there—that this Nazarene teacher, this man born of the Virgin Mary, was God.
The blessed physician records these words about The Great Physician: “and it came to pass…” Oh, really. Well yes…and no. It was the next event that Saint Luke records after chapter 6, but Jesus was simply doing what He came to do; doing what He planned to do from before eternity. “It came to pass!” What is the “it?”
“It” is the saving of man from eternal death and damnation; the redemption (buy-back/liberation/freeing) of all of them, and of all of you, from Satan! Yes, you have heard this countless times before, but, your sinful eyes, ears, and minds become clouded and deadened by sin, that you do not truly hear, and see, as you should. This spiritual fog that even Christians are enmeshed in from time-to-time, daily, for we sin much, is burned away in Christ—The Light and Life of the world—of the cosmos! When He was Transfigured, one sees Him as white as the sun, whiter than any “fuller could bleach!” Jesus is the “white pill” which He gives you. Yes, in your mouths, but first into your ears as He touches your own funeral “bier.” More on this gracious “white pill” in a moment. But first—
Some of you, but probably only if you are younger, saw the move “The Matrix.” The pros and cons of this film notwithstanding, the theme, if we Christianize it, is that mankind lives in a simulated version of reality—comatose and plugged into a satanic lie. The character Morpheus (the name from mythology meaning “dreams,” or “sleep.”) Profound significance there to the devil’s scheme. Morpheus offers to the hero two pills—the blue pill and the red pill. To take the blue pill is to remain an unconscious and dying slave, whose life force continues to be sucked away by the demons who rule. To take the red pill is to be awakened to what truly is, the truth, no matter how ugly and painful it is. As Christ says “only the sick are in need of a physician.” How more so for the dead. Think of the red pill as the truth(s) of Holy Scripture and the blue pill as the lies of the old ancient enemy—a “liar” from the beginning; “…did God say?”
But movies, and red and blue pills, aside. The real colors are always (and have always been and will always be) white or black: God or Satan; forgiveness or sinful rejection; faith or unbelief; Life or death.
Jesus is the white pill.
Oh, that we could see with the eyes of the angels; the cosmic battle that fateful day in the city of Nain. Since the Annunciation, since the Nativity in Bethlehem, The God/Man is never alone. He draws all of His to Himself. He the white pill of blinding light and truth—of life—draws his moths, or rather His tender sheep, to “The Way, the Truth, and…The Life!” Death, the black pill, doesn’t have a chance.
The “12” were with Him, by His choosing and work. The other disciples “went with Him.” “And much people.” You are with Him, because, He is with you!
In a war, or in a battle, the two sides must come together at the battle line; the two armies must close upon one another.
One troop, coming from the gate of the city, the gates of death, the gates of hell, came forth. Satan and all his demons were screeching a sibilant tune of gleeful destruction. The young man was dead. His mother, a widow, wished she was dead. Despair—the black pill poison hung thick and sulfurous.
Charging straight forward—right into it—was not Gandalf the White leading the Riders of Rohan, but rather King Jesus The White (pill) Lord and God of all. The angels saw the conflagration; the fearful cataclysm of what was to become, that day, for the powers of darkness (the black pill).
The dimmed human eyes, sin-crusted eyes only saw the only son of a woman without a living husband. The crowd at Calvary likewise saw only the “only” son of Saint Mary, no Guardian (Saint Joseph) there to give comfort. You, my fellow Saints, with spiritual eyes reborn in the pool of Siloam (the + Font) see the Only Begotten of The Father from eternity, meeting the black fake prince (black pill) for the penultimate clash.
At Nain, then, and at Augsburg, today once again, the infernal black parade is engulfed (in regenerative + waters), overrun, smashed, and destroyed, no less than Pharoah’s army at the sea, and crushed in defeat. This is a portent, a harbinger, a picture of what would happen at The Cross, and what will happen when Christ comes again in power and glory. And the gates of Nain, the gates of hell will not prevail.
Grace saved the dead man, and his mother, and the believing crowd. Grace is the “compassion” of Jesus—love in sacrificial action and not sugary emotion. This White Pill General, this Lord of Light, touched the corpse, touched the casket; even as He will very soon do the same to your burial vaults and those of all your loved ones—the Saints who died “in the Lord.” Weep not, for He The Word speaks, Gospels you: “I say unto thee, arise!”
No better white pill than the forgiveness of sins, and then of life and salvation—the Resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come.
You the former dead sat up at Holy + Baptism. The Holy Ghost sat you up this morning, called you by The Gospel and brought you here. You have been delivered to your mother—The Church. Come forward to this communion rail for nourishment and speak the language of His love for you.
The White Pill? Well, yes, but infinitely better than a pill; The very Body and Blood of God!
In The Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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