Jesus Heals the Sick and Dead

A Sermon on Luke 7:1-17

ME - Being in hopeless situations

Those phone calls that come in the middle of the night.

Sitting with a family in the last hours of someone’s life.

Name that feeling: you've done everything you can, and it's not enough

WE - we all have been in those “hopeless” situations

We all know this feeling

A diagnosis the doctors can't explain

A relationship you've tried everything to repair

A child making destructive choices and nothing gets through

A grief that won't lift

We hit walls where our resources, effort, and best thinking come up short

We are not as in control as we like to believe

The deepest version of this is spiritual: we cannot save ourselves or the people we love

We are helpless

GOD - Jesus has power and authority to intervene and heal

Luke gives us two stories back to back—he wants us to see them together

The Centurion's Servant (vv. 1-10)

A Roman centurion has a servant who is dying

This man has resources

Centurions made sixteen to seventeen times what their soldiers made

He built the local synagogue

The Jewish elders are willing to advocate for him

He commands a hundred soldiers

But he cannot heal his servant

All his money, status, and power mean nothing against this sickness

He sends for Jesus

When Jesus approaches, the centurion sends another message

"Lord, don't trouble yourself"

"I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof"

"Just say the word, and my servant will be healed"

He understands authority

He tells soldiers "go" and they go, "come" and they come

He recognizes Jesus operates with that same authority—over sickness and death

Jesus doesn't need to negotiate or be physically present

His word is enough

Jesus marvels—he hasn't found faith like this even in Israel

The servant is healed

The Widow's Son (vv. 11-17)

Jesus enters the town of Nain and encounters a funeral procession

A widow is burying her only son

Her husband was already dead

Her son was her only source of provision and protection

She has lost everything

She has no resources, no status, no one to advocate for her

This woman has nothing left

She doesn't ask Jesus for anything

She's not coming to him in faith

She's just grieving

The procession is underway—it's over

But Jesus sees her

σπλαγχνίζομαι—his heart was moved from deep within

His innermost being stirred with compassion

He says, "Don't weep"

He does something shocking

He touches the bier carrying the body

Under Jewish law, this would make him unclean

But with Jesus, the influence goes the other direction

Instead of death contaminating him, his life overwhelms death

He speaks: "Young man, I say to you, arise"

The dead man sits up and begins to speak

Jesus gives him back to his mother

What Luke wants us to see

In the first story, Jesus heals from a distance with a word

In the second, he raises the dead with a touch

Luke is escalating: showing us Jesus' authority has no limits

Not distance

Not disease

Not death itself

The centurion had faith and resources

The widow had neither

Both were equally helpless in the face of what they could not fix

Jesus' power met them both

YOU - Jesus can heal you 

What is your unfixable situation?

Maybe you're like the centurion

You have resources, you've tried everything, you've called in every favor

It's still not working

You need to know that Jesus' word reaches where your efforts cannot

Maybe you're like the widow

You've stopped asking

You've given up

The funeral procession has started

You need to know that Jesus sees you and his compassion moves toward you even when you have no faith left

The call today: Trust that Jesus' authority extends to the situation you cannot fix.

Bring your helplessness to the one whose word is enough

This doesn't mean every situation resolves the way we want in this life

But we are not alone, and we are not without hope

The one who has authority over death itself is moved with compassion for you

WE - Trust knowing that Jesus has the power and authority to heal

We are a people who live in light of this reality

We have a Savior whose power reaches further than we imagine

His heart is moved by our suffering

That changes how we face impossible situations

That changes how we grieve

That changes how we live

We don't pretend we have it all together

We come to Jesus with our helplessness

Sometimes with bold faith like the centurion

Sometimes with nothing left like the widow

We trust that his word is enough

Closing

The hopeless situation revisited

Name that situation silently before God

That thing they cannot fix

That person they cannot save

That grief they cannot shake

Point them to Jesus

His authority has no limits

His compassion runs deep

Trust that Jesus’ authority extends to the situation you cannot fix.