Compassionate Lord

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. 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. 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.

Introduction:

If I were to go around the room and ask each of you if Jesus cares about you, many would say yes. You would say Jesus loves me. He died for me. He gives us gifts. He gave us His Word. You would be right in that. But do you believe that He truly cares about what you are going through right now? When you are in a dire circumstance or a seemingly impossible situation, do you believe that Jesus has compassion for you in those situations? If we were all honest about it, we could probably say that we may have questioned that at times. Our passage this shows us Jesus stepping into someone’s dire situation.

By way of note, I had originally planned to include Luke 7 verses 1 though 17 all in the same sermon. The two passages are linked and do truly go together. But as I was preparing for last week’s message I felt I had too much to include both in the same sermon. So here we are with another account of a miracle of Jesus. The emphasis seems not to be on the miracle itself but on the compassion of Jesus toward the woman in the account. This is the main idea that I want to argue today: Our compassionate King steps into our most distressing situations.

Let’s first take a look at the distressing situation of the widow.

I. Distress of the widow. (v. 11-12)

Luke 7:11–12 ESV

The text connects this account to the previous one by saying that Jesus went down to Nain, “soon afterward”. Some of your translations may say, the next day. He’s got quite a few people with Him. As they near the gate to this little town of Nain, (where there would have typically been people because of it being a meeting place.) they meet a funeral procession. We know that this was a funeral for a man who was the only son of a widow. The Greek word actually refers to an only child.

A typical funeral procession would have been men walking in front of the body and the women behind it. There would be hired mourners and musicians along with them, males with the men and females with the women.

The body would have likely been wrapped in some kind of shroud. We should also understand that it was considered unclean to leave a dead body inside the city overnight so this is most likely happening on the same day that the man died so the grief for this woman is fresh. She had experienced a double loss. She was a widow so she had no husband. Now her son had died.

A single or widowed woman in Biblical times would not have the same options as women do in America today. With the men in her life gone she would have no means of income. She had lost her means of provision and survival. So she’s mourning her only child, maybe remembering the ways in which he reminded her of her late husband, and she also had nothing to look forward to in life other than a struggle and poverty.

Here is what Martin Luther wrote out of this display of compassion,

“…the general rule that applies to all the merciful deeds of God, that they all overtake us without our merits, even before we seek them.… Thus you have here an example, not of faith, but of the pure grace and lovingkindness of God.” - Martin Luther

I don’t know how you came in here today. Some of you may be grieving an incalculable loss in your life. Some of you may have a relationship on the rocks or some other dire and distressful need like this widow, maybe it’s not on that level but to you it’s dire. Jesus stepped into her darkness and He wants to meet you in yours.

We see Jesus meeting the procession and a fantastic display of compassion.

II. Display of compassion (v. 13-15)

Luke 7:13–15 ESV

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.

Jesus sees and has compassion for her. His heart goes out to her. He meets her in her darkest human moment. He steps right into it. He speaks to her. Note the difference in this story and the previous account of the centurion’s sick servant. No one here came to ask for help. The woman is simply grieving and on her way to bury her son and Jesus is moved with compassion for her. She wasn’t expecting this and Jesus enters the situation. If you have trusted Christ for salvation, do you remember when you were lost in your sin, at the end of your rope, and Jesus stepped into your life and had compassion on you?

He tells her not to weep. This sounds like a ridiculous thing to say to someone who just lost their only child. Yet it was coming from the one person in the world that could do something about her situation.

He comes up and touches the bier. This would have been a cultural taboo. It would have interrupted the ceremonial procession of the dead but it also, would have made a typical Jewish person deemed ceremonially unclean. However, Jesus, the Lord of Life and Lord of Death doesn’t become unclean in these situations. He’s able to step into the situation and death flees. He makes the unclean to be clean. He is not defiled by dead people. He brings dead people to life!

He tells the son to “arise”. The young man doesn’t just move a little. He sits up and starts talking. This is further proof in view of such a large crowd of witnesses that this is a true resurrection and not twitching or some kind of trick.

- The text tells us that Jesus gave the boy back to his mother. The language used there is the same that we find in I Kings 17:23 when Elijah raised a widow’s son. It links this passage into a typology that is used linking Jesus to Elijah and Elisha from the Old Testament. There’s more that could be said about this connection or type but I’ll just say this:

James Edwards points out that their lives and ministries prefigure the ministry of Jesus in three ways.

Prophetic office

miraculous powers and healings

inclusion of Gentiles

When the son is brought back to life, the first face he sees is the face of Jesus. He belonged to Jesus at that moment, the Lord of the Living and the Dead. And here Jesus gives him to his mother. Jesus restored the son to the mother. He restored her relationship, here source of provision, and her means of survival. He healed that broken place in her heart.

As with all of the other people who were raised from the dead, the son would die again at the true end of his days.

It points us forward to the resurrection of Christ, and to our resurrection at the end of days. When Jesus willingly gave His perfect life on the cross in the place of sinners, and three days later rose from the dead, He made a way for us to be reunited with God. In the resurrection of the dead believers will be reunited. Norval Geldenhuys writes,

In this story the Saviour’s sympathy with the sorrowing and His absolute divine power over the invisible spirit-world are gloriously revealed. 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. - Norval Geldenhuys

This was an intense miracle and when we see Jesus’ do these kinds of things in scripture, people respond in a few different ways. Let’s look at the direct responses to Jesus’ miracle here.

III. Direct responses to Jesus’ work. (v. 16-17)

Luke 7:16–17 ESV

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.

Fear of God - Fear seized them all. They glorified God.

A reverent awe at what they had seen and who had done these things.

We have really lost the meaning of the word “awesome” over the years. I can remember when that word was the height of slang in the 80s. It was so much that Rich Mullins even wrote a song called, “Awesome God” to try and communicate the gradeur and amazing power of God. These folks saw a dead man be brought to life, and it was evidenced by the fact that he sat up and spoke. There is a moment where you are afraid because of the power you see displayed but also in awe of the power and kind of feel like you could just stand there with your mouth agape. The closest I can think of for it is that moment in a movie where someone first sees a tornado or giant tidal wave coming at them. But there is a moment where their awe of that sight turns to fear and they run away from the twister or wave. The moment of awe for these folks in this passage turned that awe into worship. They gave glory to God.

They made a couple of statements:

First is:

- “A great prophet has arisen among us!”

Luke does something that one scholar called “out of character with the occasion. Luke referred to Jesus as Lord.

Lord - Luke refers to Jesus as Lord, which is in contrast to the end of the account where the people refer to him as a prophet.

The second statement they make is:

- “God has visited His people!”

They recognized the power of God was upon Jesus, though maybe not completely who He truly was, the Son of God. God in the flesh. This may call to mind the story of Jesus’ birth.

Zechariah’s song begins,

Luke 1:68 ESV

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people

Then later in the song,

Luke 1:78 ESV

because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

The word is the same in the Greek in all three places. The Jews had been promised that God would come and dwell among His people and save them and now it was happening before their very eyes. I’m again struck by the fact that the very people who should have recognized the Messiah among them did not and eventually rejected Him. Praise the Lord for His good plan in that because in that rejection and sacrifice we have obtained freedom and forgiveness from sin.

The Jewish people had waited for a Savior and here He was among them. He did the things that God could do and the people recognized Him as a prophet but did not yet acknowledge Him as the Christ of God.

The importance of where this passage falls in the chapter. What Luke is doing here…

God was making His presence known in Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t just step into the situation to just be there. He knows your suffering. He knows your loss. He hears your weeping. His heart is moved by it.

Isaiah 53:4 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

How will you respond to the compassion of Jesus?

How will you respond to Jesus dwelling among His people?

If you don’t know Jesus…

If this message caused something in your heart to jump, why do you think that was?

Would you today know that there is a holy and just God who must punish sin but because He is also love, sent Jesus to take the punishment for your sin, in your place? Would you believe that He is God and King and that He rose from the dead and offers to step into your darkness and give you life?

Let this truth drive you to stand in awe at who Jesus is and bend your knee to Him in worship.

If you do know Jesus…

Do you still soak in awe at His presence and the things He has done? Do you marvel at who He is? Do you find the Gospel awesome still? We must marinate in it. (like a hot tub or ice bath?)

Does that awe drive you to reverent worship? Look harder at God and you will be driven to worship more.

Your worship of God should include obedience to His commands. We can not earn His forgiveness and love. Out of a redeemed heart comes a changed life that seeks to glorify the Lord through doing what He said.

And lastly Christian, spread His name. Look at v. 17.

Luke 7:17 ESV

And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Report at the things He has done so that Jesus gets more famous and well known in the area. When we stare into the wonder of who Jesus is, we will worship Him and our lives will be changed. We will see His name be spread. Will you stand in awe of Him today?

Let’s Pray.

Pray.

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