Jesus Raises A Widow's Son
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Announcements
Announcements
TGC West Coast Conference: October 16-18 (Tuesday-Thursday) in Fullerton. Some great speakers (Alistair Begg, Kevin DeYoung, Ligon Duncan, Michael Horton). We will already receive 25% off the ticket price with additional group discounts available. The total cost would probably be around $300 (conference + hotel). If you are interested in going, please talk to me.
New Sunday School Series: Matt kicked off our new series this morning on the subject of prayer. It is loosely based upon the book Praying With Paul by D.A. Carson.
Reformation Celebration: This month marks the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. On October 31st, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. For the past three years we have celebrated this with a church potluck at the Sanchez house. This year we are going to have bounce houses and a taco truck. We will also have a pie contest that was extremely competitive last year.
Prayer Meeting: Shifting to Sundays at 3:30pm. We will meet in the back room for 30mins before the afternoon Worship Service.
Reformation Sunday: In both our AM and PM worship services next week we will be taking a look at the letter of Galatians. It is the letter that Martin Luther was studying when the Lord convicted him and brought him to a right understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
New Members Class: We will begin our next class on Oct. 14th. We will meet in the Upper Room during the Sunday School hour (8:00-8:45am).
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (216)
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (216)
The Church’s One Foundation (404)
The Church’s One Foundation (404)
Dillon: A friend of Stormie’s has a son with a drug addiction.Financial Stability: Our goal is to be self-sufficient by the end of the year.New Members: Let’s ask the Lord to provide five new families in 2017.Penny Arlen: Tim’s daughter has breast cancer. They are doing some genetic testing to determine the best course of action. She is facing a minimum of one year of chemotherapy.The Ponce Family: House hunting. Larry’s co-worker Frank’s girlfriend is pregnant and may have cancer. DeeDee’s daughter, Nicole, is dating Moses who may have cancer. His mother, Sarah, is also in poor health. Please pray for opportunities to share the gospel in each of these circumstances.The Salas Family: Joe and Anita’s niece, Gracie, is going to be in the hospital until she delivers her child. She began having contractions at 21 weeks. Please continue to pray for Anita’s brother, Nick, who is taking blood thinners and hoping it will dissolve the blockage in his braid so that he won’t require surgery.The Balocca Family: Ava will be having surgery on 10/27.The Jameson Family: Many of Chantelle’s family are in the path of the fires that are rapidly spreading in Northern California.
Pastoral Prayer
Pastoral Prayer
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise! Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes. Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your rules. Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies. I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands. Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love. The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words. I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law. Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules. Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments. My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly. I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
Affirmation of Faith
Affirmation of Faith
See Bulletin
Offering
Offering
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
ESVThen Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
More Love to Thee (497)
More Love to Thee (497)
Jesus Raises A Widow’s Son (Luke 7:11-17)
Jesus Raises A Widow’s Son (Luke 7:11-17)
Introduction
Introduction
Allow me to briefly remind you what we covered this morning.
One indication of a believer’s maturity is their willingness to uphold their lawful vows.
Before we read our passage of Scripture this afternoon, let’s ask the Lord for his help in understanding it.
Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.
Establish the problem that the text provides the solution to.
One indication of a believer’s maturity is their willingness to uphold their lawful vows.
2. Jephthah’s Commitment (11:29-40)
2. Jephthah’s Commitment (11:29-40)
Now that we have a positive understanding of Jephthah we can come to this passage without any preconceived notion of his guilt. If you think he’s a bad dude already, in all likelihood you’re going to read this narrative in the worst possible way.
But, at least acknowledge how this section begins:
ESVThen the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.
Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.
Review big picture > immediate context.
Once again, we see the influence of the Spirit of the Lord. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit performed identical functions under the Old Covenant as he does under the New. Ezekiel suggests he takes on a more active role in the hearts of the elect.
[Scripture Passage]
ESVAnd I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
In a psychological journal article titled “The Effects of the Death of a Child on Parent’s Adjustment in Midlife” opens with the following statements:
Each year, over 50,000 U.S. children die (U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, 2000). The death of a child is one of the most painful events that an adult can experience and is linked to complicated/traumatic grief reactions (Prigerson et al., 1999). For parents, the dissolution of the attachment relationship with the child elicits severe anxiety and other negative emotions associated with loss (Bowlby, 1980). Parents might also experience guilt about having been unable to protect the child (Gilbert, 1997). Furthermore, because the death of a child defies the expected order of life events, many parents experience the event as a challenge to basic existential assumptions (Wheeler, 2001).
Jesus has just healed the centurion’s servant who was on his death bed. In our text this afternoon, the man has already died. All sorrow is a reminder that we live in a fallen world. Sadness is the result of sin. God didn’t create it this way, but man’s fall into sin ensured that sorrow and pain would be an ever-present reality.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
[Scripture Passage]
Only Jesus can replace the despair of death with the hope of life.
Before we read our passage of Scripture this afternoon, let’s ask the Lord for his help in understanding it.
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.
However, whenever we see the Spirit of the Lord indwelling or descending upon an individual, it is never interpreted as a negative event. In fact, it seems to imply that the Lord is accomplishing his will through this individual. So what do we see Jephthah doing shortly after the Spirit is upon him?
1. A Funeral Procession (11-12)
1. A Funeral Procession (11-12)
ESVAnd Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
Although the Lord does grant him victory over Ammon, it is his vow that becomes the focus of the narrative. This leads Joel Beeke to ask an important question:
As Jesus enters Nain he sees a funeral procession taking place. The young man would have been laid upon a pallet and wrapped up in a cloth. The procession is heading toward the family burial plot, nothing more than a small cave where the father’s bones have been placed inside a bone-box to make room on the shelf for the son. The sounds of wailing (with professional help most likely present) can be heard as the crowd winds their way through town. Some have brought ointment and spices to offset the smell of decomposition.
R.C. Sproul points out that...
A Walk with God: Luke 31. Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son (Luke 7:11–16)
Even in the case of a very poor person, so rabbinic tradition tells us, at least two people playing flutes, and one professional wailing woman were expected to accompany the funeral procession.
It was custom for the mother to walk in front of the bier. So she would have been the first person that Jesus noticed. We learn that she was a widow and that this was her only son. He wasn’t a child, but a man, and since she had no husband he was likely her sole caretaker. He would have been all she had for support.
We learn that she was a widow and that this was her only son. He wasn’t a child, but a man, and since she had no husband he was likely her sole caretaker. He would have been all she had for support.
“Would the Spirit inspire him to make a vow so clearly contradictory to the Spirit’s own revealed Scripture?”
She was in a very distressing situation indeed. Scripture attests her circumstances as being some of the most difficult anyone ever has to face.
O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Mourning at the death of a loved one is never easy, but mourning over the death of an only son after she has already had to mourn the death of her husband places her in need of a generous helping of compassion.
Typically, Jesus healed those who approached him with the request for healing. We could have the impression that Jesus was waiting for people to initiate him before he was willing to apply his healing word/touch.
One of the most difficult funerals I’ve ever attended was for some friends in seminary whose daughter was born with a fatal disease that gave her little hope of surviving for very long. It was a crushing service that had the whole student body in tears as we watched this young couple bury their first and only child (since then they’ve gone on to have additional children). We sung praises to God for his mysterious hand of providence. We acknowledged his compassionate love that would not let this family go.
We need to inspect this vow closely. What would Jephthah expect to run out of his doors to meet him? Whatever or whoever “he/she/it” was, he expected to offer up for a burnt offering. The typical sacrificial animal may have roamed inside the courtyard of a house. But the idea of one coming out to meet him upon his return from battle seems odd, to say the least. (This isn’t Narnia or Middle Earth...)
Illustration - Move me!
Typically, Jesus healed those who approached him with the request for healing. We could have the impression that Jesus was waiting for people to initiate him before he was willing to apply his healing word/touch. But, in this case, this widow’s hopes had been crushed to the point that she couldn’t have had any clue that one with resurrection power was heading her way.
I rarely sing “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” without remembering this family and that funeral.
However, Jephthah’s reaction to seeing his daughter would indicate that he was not expecting to be greeted by her. What leads many to interpret this vow as tragic? The several parallels with Abimelech, such as, the “worthless” friends he hung out with and the fact that he agreed to become head of Gilead. They highlight how the text makes no mention of the Lord raising him up. But that was true of all of the minor judges, as well as Barak, Gideon, and Samson. I realize that Gideon and Samson have a more elaborate calling, but nonetheless, these arguments about missing elements in the cycle are problematic. All but the first judge is missing one or more of the elements in the pattern.
O Joy, that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain that morn shall tearless be.
ESVthat the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
That’s exactly what they needed to hear. Talking to the father months later, I can remember
Probably the greatest challenges have to do with the language the author uses. Jephthah tears his clothes which does signify deep anguish, but not necessarily over death. Job mourned in this way when all of his children died (), but we see the whole nation repenting in this way in Esther (). We also see Paul and Barnabas tearing their clothes when the people of Lystra began to worship them (). So it is a sign of anguish and distress, but not necessarily mourning.
What do you say to those under this kind of great distress? Everything feels inadequate. However, the hope of the resurrection is made for situations like this! You can’t say much, but apart from resurrection hope, everything else is inadequate.
However, doesn’t the yearly custom in Israel clarify any ambiguity?
that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
That’s exactly what they needed to hear. Talking to the father months later, I can remember telling him that I had no idea what to say or how to encourage him. He assured me that reflecting upon our resurrection hope was the only thing that really helped.
Typically, Jesus healed those who approached him with the request for healing. He waits to see their faith. We could have the impression that Jesus was waiting for people to initiate him before he was willing to apply his healing word/touch. But, in this case, this widow’s hopes had been crushed to the point that she couldn’t have had any clue that one with resurrection power was heading her way.
Wouldn’t that seem to settle what happened? Lamenting is a precise word in English. There’s only one problem. The word in Hebrew (תנה) is actually so rare in the Old Testament that it only occurs three other times, none of which does the translation “lament” make sense. It’s found in the song of Deborah and Barak:
Implication - Show me!Transition
The funeral procession was stopped in its tracks when Jesus saw the woman and with compassion provides...
ESVTo the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. “Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.
To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. “Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.
There it was translated as “repeat/recount”. The other two occurences are found in Hosea likening Israel to those who “hire” prostitutes. So the semantic domain of this word is quite large and hard to pin down. The best translation (per HALOT, cf NASB, NIV, NET) is “commemorate” not “lament”.
2. A Funeral Resurrection (13-15)
2. A Funeral Resurrection (13-15)
The greatest challenge has to do with עֹלָה, translated as “burnt offering”. This word almost always refers to nonhuman sacrifice except , . BUT of the 286 occurrences, it’s always taken in a literal sense, never figurative. We should consider the broader sacrificial language which speaks of dedication to the Lord. The Apocryphal book of refers to the “whole burnt offerings” of the righteous who are refined by fire. The Levitical law provided the valuation of humans in order to redeem a child by paying a ransom (). The Levites are referred to as a “wave offering”:
ESVand Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord.
and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord.
The common practice of the nations was to sacrifice infants (never older children). Scripture literally refers to this as “pass through the fire” (although often translated as simply “burned”).
When Jesus sees this woman he is filled with compassion. Jesus knows that he is about to heal this man, but you have to imagine his request would have felt very out of place.
Ahaz was guilty of this:
but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
Manasseh did the same:
And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
Canaanite practice in time of need, not as vow or after fact.
Her response to mourn her virginity with her friends for two months seems odd, to say the least, if she were about to die.
Isn’t it interesting that Jesus does what no one else was willing or able to do? Why don’t those in our day and age who claim to have the same gift of healing that Jesus possessed ever show up at funerals and hospitals?
ESVor if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
What leads some to interpret the vow as less tragic?
Jesus raises this man with a simple command for him to sit up! And the man does it! He sits up and begins speaking. This is the first of three resurrection miracles (Jairus’ daughter ; Lazarus ).
If you want the details of what these men experienced while they were dead, you won’t find their explanation anywhere in Scripture. For that you have to look to the New York Times Bestsellers List...
No tendency to rashness.
This morning we looked at which speaks of how Jesus was despised and rejected by his own people. In the next verse we see that he would also be filled with compassion for those who were (and are) in circumstances like this woman.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Knowledge of Scripture. Which, by the way, you would think he was familiar that the annulment of vows was allowed.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
Seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus not only knows and understands what we experience, but he actually feels them in his humanity! He knows precisely what we need, because he was himself a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
Illustration - Move me!
Only one daughter (not multiplying wives)
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him (29)
What takes place afterwards (36-40)
Illustration - Move me!
No mention of putting her to death! Are we supposed to think that her epitaph read: “And she was a virgin”? What is emphasized in the text is not her death, but her virginity. This was a sad reality considering she was Jephthah’s only child, and thus he would have no one to carry on his lineage.
Her epitaph? “And she was a virgin.”
This makes more sense if she has been dedicated to the Lord to serve in the temple. She is wholly devoted to temple service.
ESVHe made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Do you have resurrection hope? Do you have the assurance that all of your present sorrows and pains will be removed and Christ will usher us into the New Heavens and New Earth where every tear will be wiped away?
He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.
You may not be in a place of deep distress and sorrow right now, but listen to these promises, for those times when you will need to not only hear them, but know them to be true:
Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Implication - Show me!
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
jn
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
These glorious promises are for you who have placed your hope in Christ alone for your salvation. They should be upon our minds and hearts often, so that whenever we experience the griefs of this life, we can be all the more hopeful of the peace and joy that awaits.
So we know women served in the temple entrance. Jephthah’s dedication of his daughter may have been much like Hannah’s dedication of her son Samuel.
We see a brief and temporary picture of that heavenly transformation in the response to Jesus’ miracle...
ESVAnd she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
3. A Funeral Transformation (16-17)
3. A Funeral Transformation (16-17)
I keep coming back to the verse in Hebrews which names Jephthah as an exemplary man of faith.
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—
The people went from mourning the death of this man, to being filled with fear as they began to worship Jesus. Their fear was not one of dread, but of having been amazed at what they witnessed, they now sought to honor Jesus for his power.
Luke for Everyone Raising of the Widow’s Son (Luke 7:11–17)
The whole funeral procession goes wild with astonishment, delight, disbelief.
They don’t know which one to look at, the no-longer-dead boy, his amazed and ecstatic mother, or this stranger who has done what the old prophets, Elijah and Elisha, used to do. (Luke has told the story with deliberate echoes of 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 4.)
They knew that they were in the presence of one of the great prophets like Elijah and Elisha who had also raised people from the dead.
We simply cannot take that lightly. Scripture is never negative about Jephthah character or commitment. What can we learn from the faith of both Jephthah and his daughter?We too are urged to be a living sacrifice:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
T. L. Brodie (1987: 134–53) list the following parallels: a widow as the main character (7:12; 1 Kings 17:9, 17), the death of her son (7:12; 1 Kings 17:17), the meeting of the widow at the “gate of the city” (7:12; 1 Kings 17:10), and the clause edōken auton tē mētri autou, “he gave him to his mother” (7:15; 1 Kings 17:23). Moreover, the acclamation “A great prophet has arisen among us” (7:16) resembles the targumic reading of 1 Kings 17:24: “You are the prophet of the LORD.”
ESVI appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Unfortunately, it would appear that this crowd’s response was likely short-lived. This crowd probably saw Christ’s resurrection power as the beginning of his leading Israel back into a position of physical prosperity.
Illustration - Move me!
Not even Jephthah’s vow can compare with the covenant vow our Triune God made in the Covenant of Redemption. The Father committed to sending his only Son. The Son committed to taking upon himself this body of flesh, living a life that we could not live, and dying a death that we could not die, and rising again three days later.
Have you upheld the vows you have made when you joined this church? I encourage you take some time this week to read ch.22 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Scripture proofs, alongside the five vows of church membership in the PCA.
Similar to Gideon and Abimelech, we see another judge narrative concluding with civil war.
Implication - Show me!
3. Jephthah’s Conflict (12:1-7)
3. Jephthah’s Conflict (12:1-7)
Transition
Once again, the hotheaded Ephraimites are stirring up conflict. Gideon diffused their anger with a kind word. Jephthah and the Gileadites fought and kills 42,000 Ephraimites.What are we to make of this response? If we have interpreted Jephthah to be irrational in his vow, then we will be quick to pile it on at this point and declare him to also be prone to conflict and violence. Note: If this were some kind of judgment from God, it is odd that the one condemned is victorious.
On the other hand, if we have been more gracious to him and interpreted his vow as being “not so tragic”, then we are left wondering how to understand the conclusion to his account. The author is not explicitly or implicitly negative about Jephthah’s actions, even here. But that doesn’t mean he is positive either. It just means we should not read more into the account than is actually provided.
However, much like Gideon’s unfortunate end, Jepthah’s narrative lacks any reference to his dependence upon the Spirit and civil warfare. It seems to me that the Spirit gave them victory over the Ammonites, but their victory over Ephraim was counterproductive. Once again, Ephraim wasn’t innocent. They were short-tempered and easily offended. But they were still a part of God’s covenant people. The Lord had not cut them off. There was never any instruction for the judges to attack fellow Israelites, so I find it hard to see it any other way but as another negative ending, to an otherwise faithful and exemplary judge.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Illustration - Move me!
Attacks from within the covenant community are often the most damaging to her witness. Ephraim, like so many complainers in the church, were more interested in their own agenda than the will of the Lord.
What can you do this week to promote unity and peace within the covenant community?
Dale Ralph Davis, “There is something lacking in the deliverance [Jephthah] could bring; the full and perfect salvation will come only through Immanuel.”
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Transition
A Funeral Procession in Nain places us in a somber mood as we recognize the widow is mourning over the death of her only son. We sense her pain and feel inadequate to say or do anything that might give her hope.
Conclusion
Conclusion
A Funeral Resurrection provides the only hope that any of us have in the face of death.
A Funeral Transformation of those who wept alongside this woman are now filled with fear and praise.
Summarize the main points and implications.
Jephthah’s Character (10:17-11:28)
Jephthah’s Commitment (11:29-40)
We have this example of Christ’s resurrection power given to us so that we might be filled with an increasing sense of assurance that he not only has the power to resurrect our mortal bodies upon his return, but that he has the power to do the greater work of redeeming our dead souls from the power and penalty of sin!
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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— 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, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Jephthah’s Conflict (12:1-7)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Let’s believe that promise now and for all eternity! Let’s pray.
Summarize the main points and implications.
Clearly point to Christ.
End with a charge.
I Sing the Mighty Power of God (250)
I Sing the Mighty Power of God (250)
Benediction
Benediction
May your prayers be counted as incense; the lifting up of your praise as the evening offering. Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father.
The Gospel Song
The Gospel Song
Holy God in love became
Perfect Man to bear my blame
On the cross He took my sin
By His death I live again