St. Martin of Tours.       The Christian Nicene Creed states that one of the four signs of the Church is its holiness. One of the many ways holiness is present in the Church is through the holiness of believers. Like St. Paul, we call them the “saints.” To some of the saints, God gives the power to work wonderful miracles in order to bring His reality and knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ, to many people.       Last week we told the story of St. Martin of Tours (316 or 336-397) raising a young man from the dead by God’s power. St. Martin is a popular early saint of the Church, a former soldier, hermit, monastic founder, and Bishop. The favorite story of St. Martin, however, is not of a miracle but of his charity. While still a soldier, he saw a cold beggar, completely naked, freezing on a cold winter day. With his sword, Martin divided his ample military cloak and gave half to cover and warm the beggar. No doubt his company of soldiers found much...

The Community's Power to Raise the Dead.         Christians have always recognized that God gives signs by the miraculous – events out of the ordinary course of nature. God does so for many purposes, not the least of which is to wake people up to God’s reality and the fundamental realities of our existence.         Last week we quoted Church Father St. Irenaeus, writing about AD 180, as saying the raising from the dead “is oftentimes” done, especially with the prayer and fasting of the Christian community.         This prayer by the faithful as a community in raising the dead was seen in Constantinople in the AD 380's where Bishop St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390), along with his congregation, prayed for a woman, who was pregnant, who fell from the gallery in their meeting place (it didn’t happen to be the formal church at that time). Both mother and child were restored to life, and the miracle wa...

Power to Raise the Dead.       Jesus, His disciples, and a great crowd went to the town of Naim. As they got there, they saw several men carrying a bier with a dead man on it, heading for burial. The man was the only son of a widow. Jesus had great compassion on her. “Do not weep,” He said. He approached the bier and said to the corpse, “Young man, I say to you arise.” The man sat up and began speaking. (Lk 7:11-17.)       Scripture tells us Jesus raised three people from the dead. In addition to this widow’s son, he raised Jarius’s daughter (Lk 8:41-42,49-56) and Lazarus of Bethany (John 11:1-45). In Israel’s history, by God’s power, the Prophet Elijah had raised the son of the widow of Zarephath after he had died (1 Kings 17:17-24), and Elijah’s successor, Elisha, likewise raised from the dead the only son of a couple from Shunem (2 Kings 4:32-35). All these “raisings” in Scripture were only the returning of natural human life after having died....

(5) Temple Prophecy, Foreign Kings, Herod's Rage. Later, 4 BC … The shepherd Samuel was back at his home in Hebron so I had a chance to visit with him and get the latest. They named Mary’s Baby, “Jesus” [Yeshua, Joshua, “the Lord saves”] ( Lk 2:21 ). I asked Samuel about the welfare of the little family – oh!, this winter has been so cold! His shepherd partner, Elijah, it turns out knew many people in Bethlehem, and a widow he knew gave the family a welcome in her home (cf., Mt 2:11 ). Oh, I couldn’t imagine a young woman giving birth in a stable and using a feed trough for the baby’s cradle! Ugg! ( Lk 2:7 , 12 , 16 .)  “But wait until you hear this!” Samuel said excitedly. “The Lord spoke again through prophets!” It seems Samuel was at the Temple in Jerusalem when Mary came for her purification and Jesus’ presentation as the firstborn male. ( Lk 2:22-24 .) Old Simeon was there. I met Simeon years ago – amazing he could still be alive – but, oh!, that’s right! He always said he...

(4) The Shepherds. The narrator, back home in Hebron now, Winter of 5-4 BC, and is telling his neighbors the story ..... How amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Yes, Samuel – you know the shepherd here in Hebron – he was there! He saw it all! Remember Elizabeth’s cousin Mary who was here last Spring helping them out when baby John was born? She is the mother! Samuel saw her, her husband Joseph, and the Baby! We were coming on the road home from the census and ran into Samuel and he told us the whole story! Ok, yes, yes, I’ll start from the beginning.  Samuel was with about a dozen shepherds and one of them, Elijah, had been with his flock earlier in the day when he said Mary – very much expecting! – and Joseph, her husband, came along the road. Elijah let their donkey pasture and got fresh milk from his ewes for Mary. When he learned they were going to Bethlehem for the census, he told them how crowded it was. But in case they can’t find shelter, he told them about the caves used as sta...