1. Luke 7.11-17 - Vision Sundays 2025

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It’s been quite a week for world leaders SLIDE gathering in the USA.

Last Saturday the red carpet was rolled out for Putin in Alaska. A few days later many other world leaders trod the plush carpets of the White House for talks on peace in Ukraine.

The sheer power on display in the room on those days was enormous. There sat the men and women who (human speaking at least) rule the world. There is no doubt that Tump and Putin, von Der Leyen, Starmer Macron have great power.

But of course great power alone is not necessarily good. Great power in the hands who want to use it to spread fear and misery is dreadful - the war shows us that truth, and no mistake.

Trump and Putin and the rest have great power - but how will they use it. To bless, to help others… or for themselves? Will they be moved by real compassion or driven by real selfishness.

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We’re here on the first of our SLIDE Vision Sundays… when we’re considering the Mission Jesus has given his church… we’re going to go straight to Jesus himself - to look at Jesus who, in this extraordinary passage, demonstrates BOTH extraordinary power and wonderful compassion.

Our evening series has this (admittedly slightly strange title) SLIDE(TITLE) - Windows on Vision from Widows in Luke.

What on earth does that mean? (you ask?!). Well there are three occasions in Luke where Jesus interacts with Widowed women… we’re going to look at these three incidents to see what they have to say to us about JESUS HIMSELF and about MISSION he himself calls us to today.

Let’s get into this first fascinating episode then.

Read with me from v11

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Luke 7:11 NIV

11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.

Whenever you see those words ‘soon afterward’ your first question should be….? soon after WHAT.

The immediate answer is that Jesus has just come from that extraordinary (and more famous) incident - healing the centurion’s servant. Remember? The centurion sends some Jewish elders to ask Jesus for his help becuase a servant he loves is gravely ill. But then this centurion sends another message to say to Jesus ‘don’t trouble ourself by coming… just say the word and my servant will be healed’.

This military commander knows that, just as he orders troops on a battlefield, Jesus can command the sickness to depart.

And the story ends (you may remember) with the servant healed and Jesus remarking in amazement

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Luke 7:9 NIV

9 …“I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

And the ‘in Israel” bit is important. Although the centurion is a powerful man (in some ways) and probab;y not short of a quid or two… here in Israel he’s still an outsider… a Gentile - Jesus’ Kingdom is for unexpected people.

Likewise here we are about to meet this Widow… she is not a gentile… but she is low down the social pecking order for other reasons - she’s a woman (for a start - which in this culture takes you down the social hierarchy a peg or three). She is also - as we’ll see a vulnerable widow in danger of destitution…. and yet Jesus comes to her aid too.

Straight away we see… SLIDE Jesus’ cares for and Jesu SAVES unexpected people

If you asked a passing Pharisee, I guess these two - the centurion’s servant and a poor widow - would NOT have been top of the target interest list. But Luke has placed them here TOGETHER to make the point (I think) that Jesus’ cares for and Jesu SAVES unexpected people

If we are to grow to become three, vibrant all-age churches, each of 100 disciples - we will need to believe this. Who is it in this village, or in your friendship group, or in the office at work… who is it that to you is the UNLIKELY candidate the one you’d never THINK of sharing the gospel with and wouldn’t even CONSIDER inviting to our invitation services in a few weeks… becuase…. well… THEY’D never be interested…. God couldn’t work in THEM.

Oh really? Says Luke? Oh really…. perhaps they are just the people God will call to himself.

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Let’s zoom in now on this woman who has this encounter with Jesus.

That’s our first point ‘Plight’ - the plight of this poor woman.

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1. The Plight of the Woman

Read again from v11

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Luke 7:11–12 NIV

11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.

This place Nain is a days walk from Capernaum, where Jesus met the centurion… so we’re probably a day or two after that event…. and as Jesus approaches the place with his disciples… a sorrowful sight emerges.

There is this large procession… near the front is the son - DEAD… carried on a stretcher, perhaps wrapped in linen (we’re not told) but obviously DEAD. And (by custom) at the front of the line would have been his mother. Can you picture her there, in your minds eye.

When we picture a funeral procession we tend to think of something somber and silent. In our culture that tends to be the way of things. Many’s the time (here in Burghead) I have conducted a funeral in this building and then walked in silence, sometimes with hundreds of others up the street behind the hearse.

But this culture is different. Most likely this procession is not silent but noisy. Full of of the wailing and crying and pain of the mourners. At the head of it all is this poor woman.

Some of you here, or watching will have felt that pain - the sort of pain most parents (thankfully) can only image - the bitter pain of losing a child.

But as if losing her son wasn’t enough. This is the latest in a long line of sorrows for this woman. You see this is not the first family member she’s lost - her husband too has died. This woman is now all alone in the world.

And as if that weren’t bad enough… in this time and culture to to be a woman, alone with no male protector or financial provider made you very, very vulnerable.

And as if that weren’t bad enough… having lost her son that means her family name and line will end with her.

You see how horrendous this woman’s plight is by looking at the crowd. There’s a sense this isn’t just the “average” funeral procession - although of course even the “average” is bad enough… no, in recognition of the plight of this poor widow the whole town seems to have turned out too.

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And into all of that… steps Jesus. We reach our second heading.

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2. The Pity of Jesus

Read on see what comes next…

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Luke 7:13 NIV

13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

Jesus SEES her. At one level that’s no surprise - there’s a huge funeral procession - everyone SEES it…. But, of course, this is a mucher deeper SEEING than simply noticing. Jesus SEES her…. in all her pain, in all her grief, in all her sorrow, in all her desperate need. He SEES all that… he SEES her.

Remember of course he meets the procession at the town gate - that’s a busy place anyway, it’s traditionally where you went to meet folks and to conduct business…. add to that the huge funeral crowd and there are a lot of people here.

I wonder - how do we respond to crowds? perhaps they are a stress or an inconvenience. People in the way, disrupting my day. Don’t they know I’ve got things to do?!

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I heard of a church minister worked in London. He was minded to see crowds as a nuisance (I mean, fair play, the guy lived in London). And he worked at a church in the city of London. In the square mile that is the financial district of the city of London there are 600,000 people who come in to work every day. So talk about crowds…

But to correct his own heart, I’m told this minister would frequently stand in this spot which had an elevated view where he could look down on the tens of thousands of people who would pour out of Liverpool Street station every day. To remind himself that each one was made in the image of God…. that each one had an eternal destiny… each one would either know the blessing of God in Christ or the judgement of God apart from Christ. He stood there to remind himself and to fire himself up for ministry - to take the life-saving Gospel to these thousands.

Matthew’s gospel tells us something about Jesus response to crowds…

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Matthew 9:36 NIV

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Over 90,000 people live in Moray - there’s a crowd for you. How do you look at them? The truth is (however folk might look) they are harassed and helpless - the vast majority do not know Jesus, the good shepherd of their souls. They are without hope and without God in the world and they are heading to a lost eternity of God’s judgement.

And tragically given the picture of church decline around us, fewer and fewer of them live within easy striking distance of a healthy, gospel proclaiming church. And so we NEED…. we MUST have existing churches revitalised…. and we NEED we MUST have new churches planted. Can you see the urgency?

All around us people are invested in all sorts of things… in starting businesses and doing healthcare, and running schools (and that’s all GOOD). But should we not be invested in this most vital task of all - making JESUS known?!

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Jesus sees the crowds and has compassion - but he also sees the ONE. In the crowd he sees this woman and he is moved with compassion to help her.

In other instances - like the Centurions servant, Jesus is approached and ASKED to help…. here there s no request. Jesus is moved not by the request of others but by his own compassion.

And so he approaches the procession, comes face to face with this distraught woman and says just two words SLIDE “Don’t Cry”.

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When we lived down in Sheffield the minister of our church was names Paul. And one day Paul was called to the hospital in an emergency a couple’s son in the church had had a dreadful accident and was dying.

Because one of the church’s youth was involved Paul stopped and picked up Gareth - the youth worker. Gareth apparently said to Paul “what do we say”. Paul’s answer was… “not much, and nothing stupid”.

I wasn’t there but I HIGHLY DOUBT Paul or Gareth walked into the hospital room and said to the grieving parents “don’t cry”. That seems a preposterous thing to say…. unless of course you have great power to back up those words with actions.

That’s our third point…

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3. The Power of Jesus

Notice verse 13 - Luke calls Jesus ‘THE LORD’ - that’s the First time Luke (as the narrator of his gospel) uses that title for Jesus. But it’s highly appropriate here.

Read on - v14…

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Luke 7:14–15 NIV

14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

This is remarkable power.

Just to backtrack slightly - there’s also (MORE) remarkable PITY (or COMPASSION) from Jesus - you’ll have noticed he touches the dead body, which would have left him ceremonially unclean - but this doesn’t concern Jesus. He also (did you see) ‘gives the boy back to his mother’ - its a tender moment.

It’s also a powerful moment. Jesus is LORD (Luke is showing us)…. he’s even LORD over death (luek is telling us).

And here in Jesus - unlike so many human leaders you have GREAT POWER (this sort of power puts Trump and Putin and Starmer in the shade)…. GREAT POWER… COMBINED WITH… GRET COMPASSION. Power and Pity together.

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But so what - good for the woman and her son (you might say). But what has this to do with me? WHat has it to do with us (as a church)? And what on earth has it got to do with our vision as a church - the grow to become three vibrant all-age churches each of 100 disciples?

That takes us to our final point - point 4…

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4. The Purpose of Jesus

Our attention has been fixed (understandably) on Jesus, and the woman, and her son.

But now the camera pans back to take in the crowd - and their reaction to all of this. Look at v16

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Luke 7:16 NIV

16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”

They were filled with awe - more literally is ‘fear took hold of them all’. And why? Becuase they see that this is the work of GOD.

Notice they don’t praise Jesus (who believe to be a prophet) they praise GOD. GOD has done this.

Jesus - according to the crowd is a great prophet. Obviously this is an inadequate, incomplete view of Jesus.

Maybe they have in mind those two great prophets of the PT - Elijah and Elisha… both of whom God uses to raise sons from the dead (if you want the background reading for homework - it’s 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4).

The crowd get the answer wrong… but they are onto something with this question of identity. Who IS this who can raise the dead?!

Jesus of course is more than simply a prophet…. he is God’s own son. The crowd are RIGHT to praise God - There is divine power at work alright - through God’s divine son!

And just to show that Luke WANTS US to be asking these questions of identity (who is Jesus?) - see where he takes us next? - if you have your Bible open you’ll see we are just about to get this VERY question from John the Baptist no less… John’s disciples go to Jesu to ask ‘ARE YOU THE ONE?”

And of course the answer comes back from Jesus (this is ch 7 v22)

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Luke 7:22 NIV

22 …“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

And the good news of Jesus kingdom is so much MORE than a temporary resuscitation. We must remember that’s what this is. It’s an amzing mirace (no doubt) and the woman and her son are delighted (no wonder). But this boy would go on to live, and age and eventually get sick and die.

The MOST amazing thing here is NOT that this one boy lives a few more decades. The MOST amazing thing is what this tells us about Jesus. He is LORD - even LORD over death. He can save us from death - not just physical death but eternal spiritual death and judgement…. he has come to rescue people - to sae them for eternal LIFE.

And today, in Burghead, in Elgin, in Moray…. that is THE most important thing any person will hear.

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There are nearly 100,000 people alive in Moray today. And the death rate is 100%. It is appoited for every one of the countless people all around us to die and face judgement. A judgement we EACH deserve.

And yet Jesus…. has compassion. He has compassion on the crowds…. and within the crowds he sess the one. He knows the pains and the problems of every individual. He has laid down his life for his people…. he has gone to the cross so that many men and women of every age and stage might be saved from death and judgement.

And yet so few no that.

Indeed in many cases TRAGICALLY many churches have been walking away from this message of the gospel… and many people have been walking away from those churches…. and many places now across our region have very little vibrant gospel witness. We desperately need churches - like this one - to be revitalisaed and other churches planted… we desperately need Christian people to catch a vision for this work (not just of knowing Jesus for ourselves) but for making him known to others… we urgently need people who will catch this vision for vibrant, gorwing, all-age churches and get behind it - with their prayers (most of all) ad yes with their efforts and even their money. There’s more to come in the weeks ahead on all those details.

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SLIDE - WORLD LEADERS

It’s been quite a week for world leaders gathering in the USA. The power on display was remarkable - but not as remarkable as this. And the motives on display are (at best mixed). Human leaders may very well use their power for ill.

But here we see an extraordinary display of Jesus power… AND an amazing demonstration of his compassion. Jesus is Lod over death - the people of Moray need to know it. We have the news to share…. and a vision of seeing it done.

Let’s pray together