Luke 7 11-17 2004
Pentecost 3
Luke 7:11-16
June 20th, 2004
“Life’s Parades”
Introduction: Everyone loves a parade, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day. Parades give us a chance to celebrate. Sometimes we gather together with friends and family to sit and watch. Some times we participate in the parade itself. Parades give us a chance to celebrate life. And they give us a time to appreciate people that have served and even died to give us our freedom. There is another kind of parade that happens for us humans every day. But it is not a parade of celebration; rather it is the parade of sorrow and tragedy. The mother of the dead son and the people of Nain walked in this kind of parade. Today’s gospel lesson teaches us about both kinds of parades. The first one is a parade of sorrow and death. The second is a parade of life and hope and celebration.
I. The Parade of Death and Sorrow - Our Parade
A. As Jesus walked into the city of Nain He was confronted by the first kind of parade, a parade of death and sorrow. A young boy had died, the only son of a mother, The woman was also a widow having lost her husband as well. She mourned, and the citizens of Nain mourned with her. This parade was tragic. It was the parade and procession of death. We can all feel thisd woman’s pain because we have known it ourselves. Even worse though, we understand that the parade she was in was only part of a longer parade. This parade had its beginning when Adam and Eve first sinned, and death entered the world. As sin entered into the world giving way to our own sinfulness, death also entered the world. From that point on we would all journey to the end in death’s parade. As a result we march with grief and we walk the way of sorrow. From the time sin entered into the world we have been taking turns carrying each other to the grave in this morbid march. It continues today doesn’t it? The parade of death is our parade. Mother’s and father’s burry their children and children burry their parents and grandparents.
B. We all know and understand that the parade of death ends in physical death and burial. We see this happen every day. By death people are separated physically from the people they love.
C. Even worse, we also know that the parade of death and sorrow can end in Spiritual death and separation from God. It can end in Hell where people are physically and spiritually separated from God forever. Those who walk in this parade of death are without hope.
II. The Parade of Life and Hope - The Lord’s Parade
When Jesus walked into the town of Nain, He was leading a different kind of parade. It was the parade of life and hope. He was preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. He was healing the people and forgiving their sins. In Jesus the kingdom of God, of light and life was with men. The people were excited. The Messiah, the savior was here to rescue His people as God had promised even as the parade of death started in the Garden of Eden. Yes, God had promised to Adam and Eve that He would end the parade of death. Adam and Eve believed God and had faith in His promise. Because of their faith, the parade of death did end for them. They knew and understood that even though their bodies infected with sin would someday die, God would not abandon them to the grave. God would give new life, both physically and spiritually. This promise of God was based on what Jesus would do on the cross. Because of Jesus the parade of life and hope also had it’s beginning in the Garden of Eden. That parade of promise, life and hope has continued through out time. Jesus lead the parade of life into the small town of Nain. And He leads it through our lives today.
III. When the Two Parades Meet
A. So we have two parades. The parade of death and the parade of life. In the town of Nain the two parades meet, face to face. The face of death in the person of that young boy is confronted by the face of life in the face of Jesus. Jesus stops the parade of death, in its tracks, by His command and by His touch he stops the pall bearers. He stops the parade of death with His word, the very word through which He brought creation into being. With a single word He restores the life that was stolen to death. – Jesus speaks, “Arise!” The young man immediately sits up. There can be no other outcome. Life prevails over death through the power of Jesus and through the power of His life giving Word. Where there was no joy, joy is given back. Where there were tears, Jesus commands them to stop. Jesus gives the son back to his mother.
B. God promised that He would end the parade of death, and He has. The parade of death and the parade of life would meet one final time. Strangely, the parade of death would end by death itself. One final life would be taken as another son would die, God’s only Son Jesus. Death would end in His death. When Jesus died He died for all people. He died the death that we all deserved because of our own sin. Just as through one man the parade of death entered into the world. Through one man, Jesus, all people were reconciled to God. As St. Paul wrote, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned, [but] if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Through Jesus Christ, life reigns again For those that that have faith in Jesus, death is now only a temporary rest for their physical bodies. For Christ came to give abundant life. It is life that is manifest by His Divinity and through His Power - over death on the cross. And this life is given to all who believe in Him and trust in His saving power.
C. Jesus not only conquered death. He is the only comfort that can be found in the hour of grief and death. As Isaiah prophesied, “25:8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. Because Jesus was raised from the dead we to know that our loved ones who die knowing the Lord will also be raised in new and eternal life. We know and believe that we too shall be reunited with them.
Conclusion: Luke recorded the story of the widow of Nain and her son’s resurrection from the dead so that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God who has come into our world to give us new and eternal life. Jesus is the resurrection. In His hands He holds the very keys to life and death. As He has spoken to us, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” Jesus met and stopped the funeral procession in the little town of Nain. Then he met and stopped the funeral procession for the whole world with His death on the cross and His resurrection. Jesus is in the process of stopping our own funeral processions. Just as Jesus touched that funeral stretcher and told that young man to rise, He has touched and spoken to you. He touched you when you were baptized. You heard His voice when His word was spoken to you. When you heard His loving voice, just like that dead boy did, Jesus breathed into you His breath of life. Spiritually you too sat up and began to live a new life because of Him. He has given you His Spirit of life. Because of Jesus we no longer march in the parade of death. By the grace of our merciful Lord, through faith, we walk with Him in His parade of life and hope. Because of Him We will celebrate with Him forever. Amen.
First He addresses those that are physically alive but Spiritually dead.
Then He addresses the one who is physically dead.
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Reunion with loved ones and God