Bloghardt's Reflector

“Behold.. He came up and a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.  A considerable crowd was with her.” (St. Luke 7:9-17).

Can you imagine her sadness?  Her grief?  First her husband, and now her only son... She was truly alone.  Her family was finished.  No one would be after her.

And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on this woman.  This is the first time in the Gospel of Luke that St. Luke narrates to us who Jesus is... He’s the Lord.  He’s God.  

A God like we could never have come up with on our own - a God who looks at this widow and has compassion.  Who has mercy - abundant mercy - that overflows toward others.  

As the Introit says, “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.” (Ps. 86:3)

Jesus has mercy which would sacrifice all to save this widow, to rescue her from all that would destroy her - even death itself.

So Jesus looks at this woman and full of compassion says, “Do not weep.”

Not... “Pull yourself together, have some dignity.”  Not.. “Chin up, tomorrow will be a better day.”  Not.. “Death is just part of life.”  No, He says, “Do not weep” because of what He’s about to do. 

And the Lord goes up to the casket and touches it.  An action that in the Hebrew Law would make Him unclean.  Unclean - because He touched the casket of a dead body.  

The pall bearers, probably stunned by the sight, stood still.  This Rabbi wasn’t supposed to touch the casket.  

But what happened next was even more shocking.  The Lord didn’t just touch the casket, He spoke to the dead man inside it and said, “Young man, I say to you arise.”

The formerly dead young man, sat up in his casket and began speaking.  And the Lord returned him to his mother.

Thus ended the funeral that day in Nain.  So ended the procession.  The mourning.  The wailing.  It all stopped.  

Actually, they all “wigged” out - that’s a technical theological term for “seized with fear.”  They wigged out.

Everyone knows that dead people are supposed to stay dead.  It’s the natural order of things.  We live and then we die and then the bacteria inside of us breaks us down.  For dust we are, and dust we shall return.

Not the widow’s son, not that day anyway.  He was dead.  But Jesus touched his casket on the way to the cemetery and spoke to the dead young man laying inside it.  Then, he was alive and being handed to his mother.

Unbelievable?  No, the unbelievable thing is that we would think that Jesus bringing this young man to life again was what was out of the ordinary!  

It’s unbelievable that we would sit up in our chair just because Jesus brought this man back to life, conquered death, and his grave.  

It’s unbelievable that we would think Jesus raising someone from the dead would be the paranormal thing.  You know.. Dead people stay dead.

If you don’t understand what I’m saying, come along with me for just a bit to Good Friday.  The same Man, the Lord who raised the widow’s son out of the casket, now hangs on a Cross.  

Beaten, bruised, punched, battered, clothes taken from him, with a crown of thorns around His forehead.  Bleeding from holes in His hands and feet where huge nails were driven to hold Him to the Cross.  He struggles for every breath.  

The crowds watches. The rulers mock, “He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His chosen one.”

But He stays on the Cross until the ninth hour, three o’clock on your watch.  Then, the stalker death finally caught up with Him.  He died.  The Lord dies.  Just ike widow’s son died.  Like my grandfather died.  Like my father died.  Like your loved ones have died.  

And like they do to dead people, they buried Him.

His death was for the widow.  His death was for her son.  His death was for you, me, and the whole world.  He died the unnatural death due all men.  

Unnatural.  Death is unnatural.  Not the way God intended it.  He didn’t design Adam and Eve to die.  No, sin did that.  

You know it is unnatural.  Anyone who can see it, who has seen it, knows it is not natural.  And acting as if it is natural is just a way that we try to comfort ourselves... to get by... In a world where death seems to be all around us.

Do you want to know what is natural?  Do you want to know the way God intended it to be for you?  Do you want to know what He came up with?

There on Easter morning, we see what is natural, what will happen to you on the last day.  There, where they buried the Lord, comes an earthquake.  The stone they thought would hold Him in His tomb is rolled away.  And the One who spoke life into the widow’s son’s casket, who died on Good Friday for the sins of the whole world, rises again and conquers death.

Death is done-in from within.  It is conquered by death - by Jesus’ death.  Your death, your loved-one’s death, have all been conquered by the the death of the One who died...and rose again!

Jesus lives - actually lives.  He lives right now at the right hand of the Father.  Crowned with all glory, honor, and power, He reigns for you. 

So... “Why did Jesus raise this widow’s son and not my loved one?  Why not your grandfather or father, Pastor?  Why do people die, if God didn’t intend for them to die?”

I only know that He had compassion that day on the Widow.  Otherwise, we rest on the Word: the Lord who died on Good Friday rose again.  All those who are baptized into Christ died with Him - and as certainly as He rose from the dead will also rise with Him.

What I know for certain that the next time that widow’s family suffered a death, they knew that the One who lived for them, Who died for them, Who rose for them, would one day speak to them too, “I say to you, arise.”

You too.  In all that you suffer in this world, when the prayers for your loved ones don’t seem to be answered.  Know this - the One who raised from the dead on Easter morning will raise from the dead all who fall asleep in Him.

And you don’t have to wait until then to hear that word from Jesus.  You don’t have to wait until you are in your casket to hear, “Young Man, young Lady, I say to you arise.”  

Hear it now.  Believe it now.  For He spoke those words to you at your Baptism.  This one is mine.  I say to you arise!

Come out of the death of your life, stop despising the His word.  Stop doubting that you have already died and rose again with Him.  Stop living in fear.  Stop living as if He didn’t make you alive.

Leave behind your despising of God’s word.  Leave your despising of your parents.  Stop the doing things that terrorize your conscience, the evil that you do to others - daily and much.  

Stop gossiping.  Stop hating others.  Stop your immorality.  Stop taking what isn’t yours - from others, from the government.  

Stop living as if you are one day going into the ground and that will be end of you.  Because it won’t be.

Jesus shows you that today.  There is life... True life.. Real life.  Life that doesn’t end and it’s given to you in His gifts.

He has raised you from the dead.  The reality of the resurrection is already yours by faith in the Lord who raised the Widow’s Son from the grave.

Come today and eat the Body and Blood of Christ and be strengthened, enlivened, to life everlasting.  Be strengthened again to live in the faith another day.  And if there comes a day where you heart runs out of beats, be strengthened to die in the Faith.

For the Jesus who raised the widow’s son will also raise you, your loved ones, and all who died in Christ.  It is the only natural, real, thing that we know.  

I say that again - death and dying are not natural.  What God designed for you to do is live - live in His Son.

So... Hear it again now...  “Young man, I say to you arise.”  I say to you arise.  In Jesus’ Name. Amen.