The Widow: At the Gate of Nain

By St. Mark Preaching Ministry

At the gate of Nain, two processions met: one descending into death, the other advancing with life. A widow, broken in sorrow, walked behind the bier of her only son. Christ, the Son of the living God, entered the city with His disciples and a large crowd. At that moment, the Father's eternal compassion broke into human grief. The Son of God, sent by the Father, stopped the funeral, touched the coffin, and spoke with divine authority: "Young man, I say to you, arise " (Luke 7:14).
This encounter at the city gate is not merely a miracle of the past, but a revelation of the Father's heart. The Gospels remind us again and again that Jesus did nothing apart from His Father. As He Himself declared: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing" (John 5:19). In Nain, what the people witnessed in the compassion of Christ was the very love of the Father who sent Him. It was the Father's will that no tear be unseen, no grave be final, and no lost one be beyond His saving reach.
The story of the widow at Nain is set within the greater mission of God revealed in His Son. Just as the Father sent Christ to raise Lazarus from the tomb, to quench Photini's thirst at the well, and to call Matthew from his tax booth, so too He sent Him to restore the widow's son and to seek out Zacchaeus in Jericho. Each story reveals one mission: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). The Father's mission through the Son is not bound to one time or one place but embraces every soul in every age.
The early church fathers understood this miracle as a sign of the Father's work through His Son. St. Cyril of Alexandria saw in Christ's words to the widow the tenderness of God Himself, who comforts His people. St. John Chrysostom marveled at the authority of the divine Word, who commands even the dead to rise. St. Augustine urged his hearers to recognize that the physical raising at Nain points to a greater raising: the soul restored from sin to life in God.
This book follows the path of the earlier works in this series-Lazarus: From Death to Glory, Photini: At the Well, Matthew: At the Tax Booth, and Zacchaeus: At the Sycamore Tree. Each story, though rooted in a single biblical encounter, unfolds as a testimony of the Father's love revealed through Christ, His Son. Here at the gate of Nain, the theme is sharpened: the Father who sees the widow's tears is the same Father who sees our pain, and who in Christ raises us from death-whether physical, spiritual, or eternal.
It is our prayer that as you read, you may discover in the widow's sorrow your own story, and in the voice of Christ calling the young man to rise, you may hear the Father's call to new life. May this book be an invitation to glorify the God of life, who still visits His people, comforts His children, and restores His Church through His Son by the power of His Spirit.
"God has visited His people" (Luke 7:16). This is the Gospel at Nain, and it is the Gospel for us today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FNX2S5V4
• ISBN13: 9798262421190
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 84 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"