The anticipation of the Messiah in late (third-second century B.C.E.) Judaism included the belief that pious Jews who had died would rise from the dead to be part of the Messiah’s reign (see Dn 12:2-3; 2 Mac 7:9-36). Jesus alludes to this expectation in his answer to John the Baptist’s disciples in v 22. It is precisely to verify this statement that Luke includes this raising of the widow’s son to life at this point in his Gospel.

Her status as a widow losing her only son is significant to Luke — she had just lost her sole means of support, and as a woman alone would be a virtual outcast from society, having no more claim as a productive member and dependent on others’ charity for her support. Jesus’ intention to remove barriers of division and gather all people as one is evident here, as it is in passages detailing his involvement with foreigners, lepers, and sinners.

This passage consciously alludes to Elijah’s miracle in the first reading, and Elisha’s in 2 Kgs 4:18-37. But there are differences. The prophets were sought out, and the widows each had a claim on their concern; Jesus approaches the funeral procession and raises the young man of his own accord without being asked. The prophets worked in private, and performed an action that carried traces of magic; Jesus works in full view of the crowd and simply touched the bier and spoke. Jesus both echoes and surpasses the work of the prophets.

Nevertheless, this is not yet a true resurrection, but a resuscitation or recovery of the same life as before. The resurrection of Jesus, promised to his followers, is a passage to a completely new order of life.

The following section concerning John the Baptist (vv 18-35) is paralleled in Matthew (11:2-19), and the major portion of it is read on the Third Sunday of Advent, Year A.

The miracle stories of the prophets Elijah (1 Kgs 17-18) and Elisha (2 Kgs 2, 4-6) vindicate the prophets as speaking and acting with the Lord’s power in face of the wickedness and duplicity of the kings. They are signs that God’s reign is present in spite of the infidelity of Israel’s leaders. The raising of the widow’s son from the dead, in particular, proclaims God’s will to life, not death.

This psalm speaks praise from one who has just returned from death’s door because of a serious illness. The psalmist is filled with gratitude for the Lord’s response to prayers and gift of healing. Response: "I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me."

In order to counter the teaching of the Judaizers, Paul here establishes his authority as a preacher of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that he was faithful as a Jew, but that his conversion came directly by means of a revelation from Christ (v 16). His call to go to the Gentiles came directly from Christ, not through the other apostles or the Jerusalem community, but it was confirmed by them (vv 18-19). Therefore, he maintains that he does not depend on them for the correctness of his Gospel, although he is careful to maintain union with them.

Chapter 2 begins with an account of the council of Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, at which the leaders of the Jerusalem church, including Peter, gave full approval to Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, and confirmed his conviction that it was not necessary to observe the Jewish law in order to become a Christian. (See the First Reading of the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C.)

1. A sign is something that is meant to point beyond itself. Can we misunderstand Jesus’ miracles in a way that limits him rather than opens us up to greater things? What does this question have to do about signs?

2. Discuss unity in diversity as a principle that Paul seems to affirm.