Third Sunday after Pentecost

“Through sickness, need, and bitter death, Grant us your warm, life-giving breath” these words from our hymn of the day (4th stanza, LW 215, All Glory Be to God on High) tell us of our theme – that we look for God for our very life. Our Lord is the Lord of Life.

Two of the texts for today deal with the Lord’s control over life and death. Lets begin with looking at the Old Testament lesson from 1 Kings. In this story we see the power of God as Elijah prays for and receives the gift of life for the widows son. A little background might help us to see the situation. The widow and her son were living in a time of severe draught and famine. In fact they were prepared to die when Elijah came on the scene. They were preparing their last meal when Elijah showed up and asked for something to eat. The Lord had commanded Elijah to go to this widow’s home and promised that if she provided food for him then God would keep her supply of flour and oil going even through the famine. I imagine there was a certain measure of tension in that household. “How are we supposed to feed this strange prophet?” “Will the food really last?” These questions and others I am sure was running through the widows and the son’s mind.

And now we see in out text today that the boy gets sick and dies. The tension rises and the widow in anger says, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” (1 Kings 17:18, ESV)[1] We can understand that anger. This widow had lost her husband and now her son and this strange prophet has invaded her home. But in the midst of her anger she speaks a theological truth about death. Death is more than just the body giving up or breaking down. It is the very sign of sin in our life. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Death can come in many different ways but it is always a clear sign that this person was a sinner. Because of sin we die!

But our text doesn’t end there. We are not left with the empty notion that we will all die because we are sinners. There is a light at the end of the tunnel here. Yes we have a God who punishes our sin with death but we also have a God who is gracious and merciful to us and grants us new life.

Elijah takes the boy and goes upstairs to his room and lays him on the bed. In an Old Testament CPR type move he lays on the boy three times and cries out to God to have mercy on this widow and her son. And they Lord hears Elijah’s cry and gives life back to the boy. I can just imagine the overwhelming joy the mother felt when her boy was returned to her alive. The God who judges sin is also the God who grants new life.

This story takes place in private. Obviously it is told later on for us to recall here, but the acting out of the story was done in private – Elijah, the widow and her son. On one level this is a great story of God’s love and compassion to the widow and her son. But I also think this miracle was meant for Elijah’s sake. The story continues where Elijah is called by God to confront Ahab and the prophets of the false god Baal. A fearful undertaking considering that Ahab had taken the people away from the True God and was even killing all of His prophets. Elijah had good reason to fear for his life! God was speaking through this miracle of the widow’s son that not even death, even his death, could stop God and separate him from His mercy. That is a powerful motivator – Elijah need not even fear death!

Lets fast-forward now to the New Testament, to a story actually very similar to the one we just observed. This one takes place near the beginning of Jesus ministry in the region of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had been teaching the people and performing miracles of healing. He now had a following of disciples and others coming to hear Him and witness miracles.

In our text for today we see a dramatic scene, one you can picture in your mind. We see a crowd following Jesus from town to town. They are entering the town of Nain when they are met by another crowd coming out. The crowd with Jesus was probably excited and joyous. The crowd from Nain was anything by joyous, it was a funeral procession for a widow’s only son. I can just picture these two crowds meeting and the tension rising. What is going to happen? Will Jesus join this mournful procession? Will a miracle happen? Will He preach about death? What will happen? Luke records Jesus’ reaction with a powerful phrase – “he had compassion on her” or as the NIV put it, “his heart went out for her.” Jesus’ “gut” reaction was to have compassion for this woman who really has lost all hope in her society – no husband or son. The Son of God having compassion on a widow! That right there is a thought to ponder. Our just God who demands perfection, who is holy is having compassion on one of “the least of these.” That is grace in it’s finest.

And in Jesus’ compassion He reaches out and performs one of the greatest of His miracles second only to His resurrection, He raises the young man from the dead. Luke makes sure we know this man is truly dead but stating it several time – in fact He even refers to him as the dead man who sat up. More than just showing compassion to the widow Jesus shows his authority over even death. It is the great news of the Gospel. The Son of God has taken on the Lord’s wrath over sin, taken on the punishment of sin and has conquered even death.

And what was the crowd’s reaction? The NIV says they had awe but the Greek word used here is even stronger – they were filled with fear! Now we really don’t have a modern day equivalent in our informal society but the fear shown here might be like a scene from the past where the people of a village or town would fall to there knees in reverence when a king would pass in their midst. The fear they show is a sign of seeing something truly powerful before their eyes. This prophet has raised the dead! And the crowd speaks another phrase, “God has visited His people.” The first thing we assume is how wonderful this phrase is because we see it through the eyes of Jesus. But this phrase also strikes fear in the heart of a sinner. When a sinner meets with the Almighty, the Pure and Holy One the gut reaction is of destruction and ruin. “Woe is me,” Isaiah says as he is taken up to the throne room of God. Moses hides his face from the Lord for fear of being destroyed. We are sinners that deserve death. To face our just God is to face our ruin.

But the mercy of God shines forth here gloriously. Instead of fear we can rejoice that the Son of God has conquered sin, death and the devil for us. We need not fear death because not even it finality can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Death no longer has control over us. You see another only Son will die. The only Son of God has gone to the cross for us. He has died in out place, taken on the wrath of God against sin and has conquered it for us.

We are the widow who has no hope in our situationc or ourselves. But Jesus enters into our lives and brings us new life. He rose again to give us new life. He has the ultimate authority over death and life. And that is the Gospel message in all its glory. He can look forward to life. We need not fear death for our bodily death is only temporary. Jesus will come to us, will touch our dead bodies and say, “Arise” and we will with Him and all believers rise from the dead. That is what we confessed in the Nicene Creed. That is what be believe because of Jesus. We have a Lord of the Living!

Amen

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[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.