Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
When D.L. Moody was a young man, he was suddenly called on to preach his first funeral.
He searched all through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John trying to find a funeral sermon that Jesus preached.
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He made a wonderful discovery.
Jesus never preached a funeral.
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The reason for this is that Jesus is life...
And in every record of Jesus coming into contact with a dead body...
He did what would seem to some to be impossible...
He brought life into something that was once dead...
Today we explore on of those amazing encounters.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 7 and focus on verses 11 through 17.
Our message this morning is titled, “Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son”
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This message today will focus on Luke’s record of this amazing miracle...
The widow in our story along with the people in her village believed they were going to bury her son...
Yet once Jesus enters the scene everything changes.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
The Setting...
The Miracle...
And...
The Reaction.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
El Shaddai...
Lord God Almighty...
And All-Sufficient One!
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Thank You for Your endless love and mercy that You flood us with...
Thank You for giving us life...
Thank You for giving us the Scriptures...
Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to guide us and comfort us...
And thank You for sending You Son to live and die for us.
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Watch over us this morning as we open up the pages of Scripture and expound Your truth...
Open our minds to understand Your wisdom...
Soften our hearts to believe in Your commands.
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Forgive us of our many sins...
And teach us to always forgive the trespasses that have been committed against us.
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.
12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”
17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Setting
1) The Setting
Verses 11-12: Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
Let’s start as usual with some background information...
Let’s define a few words and share some historical information that will be helpful for our study.
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“Nain” (which still exists to-day as a small village called Nein) was a small town approximately 6 miles southeast of Nazareth...
And approximately 25 miles southwest of Capernaum...
On the other side of the hill on which Nain stood was the village of Shunem, where Elisha raised a young boy from the dead...
(Now keep that point about Elisha in mind as we will circle back to it a little later in our study).
Additionally, Nain was about three miles away from the village of Endor, where Saul visited a medium.
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On this day in Nain a funeral procession was happening...
This point is made a little more clear with the NLT rendering of verse 12 which says:
“A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate.
The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.”
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Now, one of the reasons for a funeral procession is that family cemeteries were located located outside the city walls for the sake of ritual cleanliness and had to be traveled to...
Additionally, funerals usually occurred at the end of the day and often on the day of the death.
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The Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke provided us with this further background:
“Participation in funeral proceedings was not simply a social expectation but a rabbinic requirement.
Even study of Torah, a most inviolable pursuit in Israel, was suspended for funerals, allowing all people associated with the deceased to accompany the body to the place of burial outside the city.
In Galilee it was customary for men to walk in front of the deceased and women behind, with hired mourners and musicians with instruments processing with their respective genders.”
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Luke intentionally mentions that the mother of the deceased son was a widow...
The purpose of this was that Luke wanted to reveal not only the emotional loss of the woman but also the desperate economic straits she was now in...
As a widow this woman now had no husband and now also no sons...
So, the widow’s means of provision were gone...
This was a major problem for women in the 1st century...
Now this widow would be forced to rely on the charity of her neighbors and struggle for her livelihood...
That is why Scripture often talks about the need to care for widows like it says in James 1:27:
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Consider too what it says in 1 Timothy 5:3-16:
3 Honor widows who are truly widows.
4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,
6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.
7 Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.
8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,
10 and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.
11 But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry
12 and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith.
13 Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.
14 So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander.
15 For some have already strayed after Satan.
16 If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.
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Furthermore, the Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Luke has this note that we should review:
“She is a widow (chēra) who, without a man in her family, would probably become destitute, unable in that society to earn a living.
Our Lord’s words are deeply human:
“Don’t cry” (mē klaie), but only he could say that and at the same time remove the cause of the tears.
Otherwise such words would be hollow, though well meant.”
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Finally, regarding the phrase “And a considerable crowd from the town was with her”...
The New American Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“Attendance at a funeral was considered a work of love, and the mourning for an only child would have been especially bitter.
By his mention of the large crowd, Luke further heightened the tragedy and revealed that the things he recorded in Luke-Acts were ‘not done in a corner.’”
As Acts 26:26 says:
26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.
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All of this historical context helps us to fully understand this passage with the same lens that Jesus audience in the 1st century would have understood it.
We get to better grasp the reality of what Luke recorded for his original readers nearly 2,000 years ago...
And now that we have this background information at the forefront of our minds...
Let’s go to our next point as witness the amazing miracle that transpires.
2) The Miracle
2) The Miracle
Verses 13-15: And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
As the Reformation Study Bible notes:
“According to custom, the mother walks in front of the bier, so Jesus meets her first.
No one asks Him to help, but out of compassion He takes action.”
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Now, a “Bier” is a plank that served as an open coffin, used to carry the dead body outside the city to its burial place...
Additionally, the NLT rendering of verses 13 & 14 is helpful and says:
“When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion.
‘Don’t cry!’ he said.
Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped.
‘Young man,’ he said, ‘I tell you, get up.’”
So, when Jesus touched the coffin it should be understood that this was a major act...
According to the Law of Moses this act made a person ceremonially unclean as it says in Numbers 5:2:
2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.
And Numbers 19:11-16 provides some more context for this point and it says:
11 “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean.
13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.
14 “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days.
15 And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean.
16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
Yet, Jesus graphically illustrated how impervious He was to such defilements...
When He touched the coffin, its defilement did not taint Him at all...
In fact, the opposite happened...
His power immediately dispelled the presence of all death and defilement.
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Furthermore, let us consider this great insight by scholar Robert H. Stein when he said this regarding this passage:
“In this healing, unlike the preceding one, no mention is made of anyone’s faith.
This shows that Jesus’ healings ultimately were not dependent on the faith of the person being healed but on his own power and might.
By his word alone the sick were healed and the dead raised.”
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So, the compassion of the Lord was the reason for this great miracle...
This sense of compassion of Jesus is a common theme in the Gospel accounts...
Just look with me at Matthew 9:36 which says:
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
As the Good Shepherd...
Jesus is mindful of those of His sheep who are harassed and helpless...
And He is moved with compassion to shepherd them in the right direction.
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Likewise, the ones who were sick were healed due to the compassion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...
We witness this truth in passages like Matthew 14:14 which says:
14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Even the hunger of the crowds that followed Him produced a compassionate response by the Messiah...
Jesus was unwilling to just send the crowds away...
Jesus was unwilling to see the crowds experience sever hunger...
He knew that to send them all away while they had not eaten in three days would be to take the risk of many in the group to faint on their journey home...
So, again Jesus was moved to do the extraordinary and perform a much needed miracle.
Jesus’ compassion in this event is seen in Matthew 15:32 which says:
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
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So, with all these examples of Jesus showing His compassion to others...
It should be no surprise that He truly cares for His followers...
And Scripture has some amazing insight for us as found in 1 Peter 5:7 which says:
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Not just some of your anxiety...
Not most of your anxiety...
But all your anxiety...
Cast it all on Him for He is the Compassionate One.
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In the key passage of our study today...
Jesus displays His compassion by bringing back to life the widow’s son.
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Now, this event marks the first of 3 times that Jesus raised people from the dead...
However, it should be noted that based on what it says in Luke 7:22 which says:
22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
It implies that Christ also raised many others who are not specifically mentioned in Scripture.
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So, let’s take a look at those instances in the Word of God when Jesus resurrected someone...
Let’s start with taking a look at Matthew 9:18–19 which says:
18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples.
A few verses down this event continues in Matthew 9:23–25 which says:
23 And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion,
24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.
25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
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Did you notice how the people initially reached to Jesus’ words...
They laughed at Him...
This was in stark difference to the attitude of the girl’s father who had solid faith in Jesus that He could give his daughter life again.
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Despite the unbelief of others, it was only a matter of time until all saw the work of Christ...
As He takes this girl and brings her back to the land of the living.
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Another record of Jesus raising the dead is found in John 11:38–44:
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
It this case the dead man that Jesus brought back to life was dead for four days...
There was even an odor from the body at this point...
But with just a word, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life.
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So, these two example along with our main passage make up the three occurrences of Jesus raising someone from the dead...
Yet there is one particular resurrection that would change the world...
A resurrection that would give true followers hope...
Look with me at Matthew 28:1–7 as it says:
1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
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Next, when Luke records in our passage that “Jesus gave him to his mother”...
This wording replicates exactly the climax of the resurrection of another widow’s only son by the prophet Elijah...
Jesus’ ministry both replicates and exceeds that of Israel’s ancient prophets...
And this fact takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Reaction
3) The Reaction
Verses 16-17: Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Let’s start by mentioning that this “fear” that seized the crowd was not terror but holy awe.
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Additionally, this miraculous event portrays Jesus like Israel’s great prophets, as He restores life to a woman’s son—a miracle also performed by Elijah and Elisha...
And that is why the people declare that, “A great prophet has arisen among us!”
In calling Jesus a great prophet, the crowd recognizes the parallel between Jesus’ work and that of Elijah and Elisha.
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So, let’s take a look at the resurrection miracles by both Elijah and Elisha...
Let’s start by looking at 1 Kings 17:17-23 which says:
17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.
20 And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”
21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”
22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”
The New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke has this to say about the connection of the passage we just read to our main passage:
“On the other hand, Luke’s narration emphasizes Jesus’ compassion in a way not evidenced in 1 Kings 17; what is more, whereas Elijah pleads with God on behalf of the woman and her dead son, then expends physical energy in the process of prayer for restoration, Jesus speaks directly to the corpse.
At his word, the young man is brought back to life.
Jesus is thus shown to be more than a prophet; indeed, the narrator refers to him as ‘Lord’ in verse 13, and in his authoritative word through which the young man is brought back to life Jesus the Lord fulfills the role performed by the Lord God in 1 Kings 17:21–22.
More than a prophet, Jesus is the compassionate Benefactor of the poor.”
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Next, let’s look at 2 Kings 4:32-36 which says:
32 When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed.
33 So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord.
34 Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm.
35 Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36 Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”
Like with the case of Elijah’s miracle...
Elisha’s miracle also has some similarities to the kind of miracles Jesus performs...
Although, Jesus displays far more authority in the fashion in which He performs His miracle.
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So, these miraculous events by Elijah and Elisha would have been recalled by Jesus action for anyone familiar with the Word of God...
Additionally, the prophecy from Deuteronomy would have come to mind based on Jesus’ actions...
That prophecy can be found in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and that passage says:
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
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As John 6:14 says:
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
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Next, in our passage when it records the phrase “God has visited his people” this brings to remembrance the exodus...
So, here God is intervening to bring relief to His suffering people...
Likewise, we see this truth in Exodus 4:31 which says:
31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.
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As the ESV Study Bible says:
“God is making known his presence in Jesus, bringing salvation to the Jewish people who had waited so long for him.”
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I love how the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke provides this concluding summary:
“We see Him here as the loving Comforter, the Victor over death, and the Reuniter of separated dear ones.
What He did here for the widowed mother and son He will one day do for all the faithful in a perfect and final form.
He will bring full comfort, He will raise all His people in incorruptibility, and will reunite us, in the heavenly realm, with our loved ones who have died in Him.”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study:
Avijah Powers felt moderately sure nobody would recognize him when he registered under an assumed name at the little inn.
It was more than twenty years since he had left the town--a hard, reckless boy, running away from a good father and a devoted mother because he hated goodness and loved lawlessness and his own way.
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For years he had led the life of a vagabond.
Then the spirit of adventure was aroused in him by the stories of the wealth of the Klondike.
He joined one of the earliest parties, in that hazardous search for gold, and succeeded beyond his dreams.
Now he had come back, with his old instincts, but with the wealth of a millionaire, and some strange compulsion led him to the village where he first drew breath.
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He did not even know whether his parents were living or dead.
It was altogether likely they were dead. With that conviction and without asking a question, he made his way in the August twilight to the graveyard, and to the spot where for three generations his ancestors had been laid.
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Yes, there were new stones placed since he had been there.
The sight moved him strangely.
He bent to read the inscription on the first one.
It was to the memory of his father, “Died, 1884. ’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.’”
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The date cut the man to the heart. His father had died a year after the only son had run away!
And his mother had been left alone!
But perhaps she had followed her husband mercifully soon.
Again he bent to read, this time with tear-filled eyes, “Died, 1902. ’And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’”
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His mother had been alone for eighteen years!
She was but just dead -- in poverty, perhaps; certainly in loneliness.
He drew himself up as if to shake off a hideous dream.
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But the other stone - whose grave could that mark?
They had no relatives except some distant cousins.
Perhaps some one of them had done for his mother what he ought to have done in her long, desolate years.
Again he stooped to read - his own name.
“Abijah Powers. Born 1870; died ----. ’The only son of his mother, and she was a widow.’”
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It was his own gravestone, set up by his mother when her hope of his return was dead.
Out of the depth of his memory there flashed up the story of the widow of Nain, and the gracious presence which spoke the word of life to her dead son.
How many times his mother must have read and re-read the page, and how frequently she must have prayed that her boy, bone of her bone, and flesh of her flesh, might be given back to her arms!
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The thought was anguish to the graceless son, and it brought him to his knees beside his own empty grave.
With his hand resting over his mother’s head he wept as he had not wept since he was a child.
They were gracious drops.
Out of the mother’s love, which had found its cold comfort in the words of scripture for the grave that was no grave, there came, indeed, the resurrection of the real, living soul.
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The widow’s son went out of the graveyard that night a new man.
The world wondered what had happened to him.
Money did not often make a man over from a devil to a saint; but that miracle seemed to have been worked in Abijah Powers.
Nobody knew that the transformation did not come from the touch of Klondike gold, but from the power of love -- reaching from beyond the vale, and speaking from the cold marble of a gravestone.
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In our passage today we witnessed how Jesus raised the dead...
He took what was lifeless...
And gave it life.
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The same thing happens with our salvation...
The Word of God says we are dead in our trespasses as recorded in Ephesians 2:1-3:
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God did not leave His sheep in this condition that we deserve...
God breathed life into what was once dead as the Word of God continues to say in Ephesians 2:4-10:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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