Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
[CIT] Through an amazing display of divine compassion and power, Jesus comforted a grieving mother and proved that he was God.
[INTER] How do you comprehend Jesus?
How do you understand him?
There are, of course, many ways to comprehend Jesus.
Some comprehend him as enemy.
The scribes and Pharisees understood him this way because he challenged their religious self-righteousness.
Likewise, we might understand him as enemy when he commands us to repent of sins we love.
Some comprehend him as friend.
[ILLUS] George Whitefield is considered by many to be one of the most effective and faithful evangelists in Christian history.
Ben Franklin was astounded by the effects of Whitefield’s preaching on the people in his day.
He tried to measure the amazing power of Whitefield’s booming voice.
He even published Whitefield’s sermons so they could be read by the masses.
But for all Ben Franklin’s friendliness toward Whitefield and his ministry, it seems he never embraced the gospel that Whitefield preached.
Jesus encountered many people like that in his day.
He still encounters them in our day.
People astounded by his teaching and power; eager to hear what he might say next; eager to see what he might do next.
People who don’t consider him an enemy like the scribes and Pharisees.
These people are friendly with Jesus.
They respect Jesus, and think he has something to offer the world.
But being friendly with Jesus isn’t enough.
[PROP] If you want the enduring hope and eternal life that Jesus offers, you must comprehend him as God.
[TS] That’s how Jesus is presented to us in .
Major Ideas
#1: Notice the CROWDS ().
[EXP] Nothing happens by accident, coincidence, chance, or happenstance with God.
Everything happens by the sovereign, providential orchestration of God.
Sovereignty means that God’s will reigns supreme in creation, and providence means that God is personally at work in creation carrying out his will.
That’s why God can promise in his word that he will work all things together for good to those that love him and are called according to his purpose ().
Unless God is absolutely sovereign—unless he providentially works all things according to the
counsel of his will—that promise in and all the other promises of the Bible mean absolutely nothing!
Here in this passage we see God-Incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, providentially work the counsel of his will in the lives of a grieved widow woman, her dead son, and the crowds that surrounded them.
Not only did Jesus resurrect this woman’s son, but through it, he also revealed himself as God in the flesh so that she might believe on him and be brought from death to life herself.
He did the same this for those in the crowds as well.
And he in fact gave many other people that same opportunity on this day.
Notice that there are two crowds mentioned in this passage...
We’ll call the crowd mentioned in v. 11 “the Jesus crowd” because that crowd came with Jesus and his disciples as they came to this little town.
The other crowd we’ll call “the funeral crowd,” and you see it in v. 12, which says, “and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.”
The Jesus crowd is described as “great.”
The funeral crowd is called “considerable.”
There was a lot of people present on this day as Jesus resurrects a dead man with a command and thereby claims to be God.
And in God’s sovereign providence—that is, in Jesus’ sovereign providence—not one person in those crowds was there by accident.
He had sovereignly orchestrated it so that these people on this day were there to see this miracle.
[Illus] right place, right time vs. wrong place, wrong time
If you don’t believe that, just ask yourself whose idea you think it was to go down to Nain?
It wasn’t Peter’s!
[APP] Do you realize that Jesus has sovereignly orchestrated it that you’d be here this day to see this miracle in this passage of Scripture?
He didn’t bring the crowds in together to be entertained.
He hasn’t brought you to this passage to be entertained.
He didn’t bring the crowds in so that they could feel better about themselves.
He hasn’t brought you to this passage to feel better about yourself.
He didn’t bring the crowds in together so they could witness a heartwarming reunion.
He brought these crowds together so that they would recognize him as God in the flesh.
And that’s why Jesus—in his divine sovereignty—has brought you to this passage this morning.
These things were not done in a corner
[TS] ...
#2: Notice the COMPASSION ().
[EXP] Nain was a little town 25 miles southwest of Capernaum, the name of which meant “pleasant.”
But on this occasion this pleasant place had become very bitter for this widow who had lost her only son.
The Bible tells us children are a gift from the Lord and every parent should love every child they have like that child is their only one.
But this actually was this lady’s only son.
And she was a widow.
The sorrow of having her only son on that bier was increased by her anxiety about her own future.
Who would provide for her?
Would she end up destitute?
Would she starve?
In a male dominated world where women without family had little hope, these were very real possibilities.
She certainly wished that she was on that bier instead of her son.
And if she couldn’t take his place, she would’ve settled for being on that bier with him.
[ILLUS] That’s what Jacob wanted when he thought Joseph, his favorite son, had been killed.
That’s how this grieving mother in felt.
She mourned the son she had taken care of as a boy and worried about having lost the man who was to care for her in her old age.
[EXP] Verse 12 says that many had come from the town to mourn with her.
In our culture it is customary to “pay our respects.”
This usually involves going to the visitation, viewing the body of the one who passed, hugging, and whispering quiet condolences to the family members.
But in the culture of the NT era, it was customary to not just “pay respects” but to mourn.
This was a much louder exercise in grief.
[ILLUS] In , the Lord called his people to mourn for themselves.
It’s was to a mourning led by skilled mourners; a mourning best described as weeping and wailing.
Outwardly, this is the kind of mourning we see here in .
Nain was a little town 25 miles southwest of Capernaum, the name of which meant “pleasant.”
But on this occasion “pleasant” had become very bitter for this widow who had lost her only son.
[ILLUS] In , Jesus came to resurrect a dead girl and these skillful or professional mourners were present when he arrived.
[ILLUS] refers to these professional mourners as “skillful in lamentation.”
In the Bible, mourning is expressed by...
[EXP] In the Bible, mourning is expressed by...
...weeping ()
…loud lamentation (; ; )
…the rending of clothing (, ; )
…wearing sackcloth (; )
…sprinkling dust or ashes on oneself (; ; )
…shaving the head and plucking out the hair of the head or beard, which was forbidden pagan practice but one still sinfully used by God’s people (; ; , ; )
…neglecting care of one’s self in terms of hygiene or dress (; ; , ; )
…fasting ()
…covering the upper lip (i.e., placing the hand over the mouth) (; )
…cutting the flesh ()
…sitting in silence (; ; ; )
…and food brought by friends since it could not be prepared in a house in which someone died because it was considered unclean ()
[ILLUS] is an example of this mourning as David and Israel grieved for Abner.
It was big, loud, and dramatic.
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