Soon afterward[c] he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 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. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus[d] gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. (Luke 7:11-17)
The Scene
Of all the stories of miracles and works of Jesus in the gospels, this is one of the best ones, in my opinion. This event, which is only recorded in Luke’s gospel, gives us such a comprehensive view of who Jesus is. We see both Jesus’ remarkable compassion for the helpless and His divine power over death; and we see it in such a tangible story, such that this story alone may stir up faith and open eyes to glorify the Lord Jesus, as it did for those who witnessed the event and believed.
Typically we do not think of a funeral procession as a very interesting setting for a good story. But this is precisely where we find ourselves for one of the best real-life stories in history. In fact, it is in these kinds of moments where God tells His best stories. In the face of death, when all around us falls, when there is nowhere else to turn, when the numbers are stacked against us – this is when the power and mercy of God shines through the brightest, and when we are truly taught who God is – for God is a God of death and resurrection. And in order to have resurrection, you have to have death. And maybe you can testify to the fact that in your darkest moments, there you were met with the richest portion of God’s grace.
As the scene is being set, we notice that there are two crowds of people in this story. There is one crowd with the widow who has just lost her son – the funeral attendees. And there is another crowd with Jesus, following him. Certainly the two crowds serve collectively as two witnesses to this event, and individually as many witnesses. So there is a crowd with the widow, likely a somber crowd, and a crowd with Jesus, likely an eager or curious crowd, waiting to see what Jesus would do next or eager to hear His teaching. Jesus, the main character of the one crowd, has just previously healed the centurion’s servant, who was at the point of death; and the widow, the main character of the funeral crowd, has just lost her only son to death. A reader might think that Jesus was “oh but a moment too late to heal her son, he has already died, and it is too late. If only Jesus had not bothered with the centurion’s servant who had many at his command and under his authority.” But of course, Jesus is never late, and He is never unable to save, even from death, as He would soon show.
Consider the widow’s situation. She of course had already lost her husband, and now she has not only lost a son but she has lost her only son, the text tells us. So understand the very difficult situation she was now in, especially in those days. She has lost her protector and provider and now loses her only son who would step into the role and provide for her in her old age. All security in life has left her in a moment. All certainty of her future has evaporated in a second. The sadness and heartbreak of losing a spouse and a child is excruciating enough, now add to it the concern for how you will just survive the rest of your life.
The New Testament gives the church instructions on how the church is to care for widows, and here we see Jesus, in His own life and ministry, doing that very thing, caring for this heartbroken and poor widow. Jesus cares for the orphan and the widow in His life through miracles such as this, and Jesus continues to care for such ones through His body – the church. Thus we are to see our role in such a duty as the very work of Jesus, modeled after His own example.
The Lord’s Compassion
So this is the widow’s situation. But notice in verse 13, as the two crowds approach each other, the focus now moves away from the crowds to the two main characters in each crowd. It says that the Lord saw her. In the midst of all the people, the Lord saw her. Isn’t it a wonderful thing that in our darkest suffering, the Lord sees us. He sees those who sorrow and whose hearts ache with loss. He doesn’t overlook such ones, or stick up His nose, but He looks and sees. And notice that Jesus did not just see her, for the Lord’s seeing is not a mere observing, but it is an efficacious seeing. He saw her and He had compassion on her.
He had compassion on her. Compassion means “with feeling.” What a remarkable thing it is that Jesus felt for her. This is one of the most lovely things about the Lord Jesus that we see all throughout the gospels, that He is not aloof to sorrow and pain and the effects of the fall. He is not unfeeling about our poor condition. But He has compassion. He had compassion on the crowds. He wept for Lazarus. He has compassion on this widow.
And like His seeing, the Lord’s compassion is an efficacious compassion. It is not simply a sentimental “I feel sorry for you,” yet does nothing. It is a compassion which takes action to give relief and help to the one upon whom the compassion rests. When we read that Jesus saw her and had compassion on her, we should read it as a signpost that something is about to happen – Jesus is about to do something for this widow.
I am sure that there were others in the funeral procession who had compassion on this widow and would desire to help however they could. But the situation in which this widow finds herself is one in which none could help her like Jesus. Her husband and only son have died, what can any in all the crowds do to fix this problem? No one can bring back her husband or son, or so we may think. Well, it so happens that Jesus was in the crowd. None could help her like Jesus, and help her, Jesus did.
While the Lord does not physically walk this earth since His ascension to heaven, we too must recognize with eyes of faith, that there is none in all the earth who can help us like Jesus. There is none in all the crowds of people around us who sees us and has compassion on us like Jesus. There is none who understands our sorrow like Jesus. And He is the only one who can sufficiently help us. He may not raise our dead back to life in this life, but He is with us to carry us through, to give us peace, to forgive our sins and make us right with God, and to raise us from the grave on resurrection day.
So what does Jesus do when He sees the widow and has compassion on her? Naturally, He stops this funeral procession. Jesus just shows up to a funeral uninvited and begins to intervene. The actions Jesus takes are really quite jarring or shocking. How would you feel if someone shows up with a crowd as you are making your way to the graveside to bury a loved one, and this person just steps in and puts a stop to things? We would be shocked or enraged. Isn’t it just like Jesus to show up in the most inconvenient moments and enrage people?
The next thing we find in verse 13 is that Jesus speaks to this woman. He said to her, “Do not weep.” This woman was in the funeral procession of her only son, obviously tearful and mourning, and the first thing Jesus said to her was “Do not weep.” Who tells someone at a funeral, especially the widow of the dead, “do not weep?” We don’t even know if this woman knows who Jesus is or knows that this is Jesus. He tells her “do not weep,” before He even does anything or says He is going to do something. It is just like Jesus to give us instructions, when we don’t even quite understand why yet. We are just to trust Him. And as readers, when we read Jesus say, “Do not weep,” we know that something good is coming. What precious words from Jesus for those who sorrow, “do not weep.” He is about the only person who could say such words and provide comfort by them.
So Jesus tells her, “Do not weep,” then He walks up and touches the bier. A bier was just like an open large coffin, more like a wooden bed or couch, which they would lay the body on while carrying it to the grave.
Again, notice how shocking and jarring this is. A man with a crowd comes and stops a funeral procession and says to the widow who has lost her son, “do not weep,” then He proceeds to touch the bier upon which they were carrying the dead young man. How would you react if you saw this? But remember as well, the other part of this that is shocking: in Jewish law, the dead were unclean, you could not touch or go near it without becoming unclean, but Jesus is unafraid of death, and comes near, and instead of becoming unclean, He spreads His cleanness. He spreads life, raising the man to life, making Him clean.
But Jesus doesn’t stop with touching the bier. He then begins to speak to the dead man. Now who speaks to a dead man at a funeral? Now, if there was anyone there who didn’t know who Jesus was, they are probably thinking that this guy has lost his mind! But when Jesus speaks, He speaks with authority. His Word is powerful and effective. He is the Logos, the Word of God. And He says, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” “And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” The only thing more shocking and crazy than someone speaking to a dead man at a funeral, is the dead man sitting up and speaking back.
The Crowd’s Reaction
How would you react if you witnessed this? Verse 16 tells us how the crowds reacted. The response was fear, a gripping fear, that seized them. Almost like shock where you are frozen and can’t move or speak. And then it says, after this fear, they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”
Now why is it that the people would proclaim that a great prophet has arisen among them? What about raising the dead would cause people to say this? Well, the believing Jews were indeed waiting for a great prophet to arise, like Deuteronomy 18 promises. And one of the messianic expectations is that of the raising of the dead. In the very next verses in Luke 7, John the Baptist, who is in prison, sends his disciples to inquire if Jesus really is the Messiah. Verse 22, is what Jesus tells them to tell John, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”
But what is the connection between a prophet and the messiah? Well, the messiah is a prophet, one sent of God – He is more than a prophet, but He is not less than a prophet. Furthermore, there is a strikingly similar miracle performed but the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 17. This is where God sends Elijah to a widow who would provide food for him. Though she had nothing, her jars did not run empty, but they continued to have food in their jars. But then after some time, this widow’s only son dies. And Elijah prays to God, and the LORD answers this prayer and the boy is raised from the dead back to life. And 1 Kings 17:23-24 says this, “And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives. And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.””
What’s really fascinating is that the words in Luke 7:15, that Jesus, “Gave him to his mother,” are the exact same words used in the Septuigent in this story of 1 Kings 17:23. (The Septuigent being the Greek translation of the Old Testament that they used during this time of the New Testament.) So clearly, Luke is wanting to draw a parallel between these two events. Here is a prophet like Elijah, yet greater than Elijah, this is THE prophet. And the people recognize this in their confession for they glorify God and also say, “God has visited his people!” This passage is shouting to us that Jesus is a true prophet from God, but He is so much more than a prophet. He is the LORD. He is God. He has authority over death and life. He is filled with compassion and power.
In fact, when Luke says in verse 13, that “the Lord saw her…” This is the word Kurios that is used throughout the New Testament referring to the Lordship and deity of Christ, this is the first time that Luke uses this of Christ in his gospel account. And he uses it precisely at this distinct moment in His gospel, just before Jesus raises this boy, to say, “What you are about to see, is that this is the LORD, this is God who has visited us in the person of Jesus. He has authority over death. And He is the Lord of life.” He can command a widow not to weep because He can command her son to arise. He stops the funeral procession, because He is literally stopping the funeral. In Jesus, God has visited His people. Long awaited. Long prayed for by the faithful. Long promised. And now just as Jesus has commanded the boy to arise, God has arisen and visited His people.
Theology
When Jesus told this young man to arise from the dead, it was only the beginning. There will be a day when Jesus again speaks to the dead, and says, “arise.” And the dead in Christ will rise up from their graves and be resurrected together with the Lord, as the final enemy of death is defeated. Jesus showed us His power to raise the dead with a word, so that we can trust He will not abandon us to the grave, and raise us up one day. And then, those that we lost in Christ, will be brought back together, the family of God will be whole, and in glorified bodies will be clothed, to never die again.
Finally, notice that Jesus is foreshadowing His own resurrection from the grave in raising this young man. This is a story of an only son dying and coming back to life. And that is the story of Christ in the gospel. He was God’s only begotten Son who died and rose back to life. He suffered on the cross, and in His last breaths He makes sure His weeping mother is cared for by instructing John, His beloved disciple to receive her. He was the only Son of the Father who rose again from the dead, showing His power, authority, and victory over death, sin, and hell, so that all who believe in Him might not only die with Him, but rise again with Him to eternal life. Jesus was pointing to His future, and ours in Him, by raising the boy, as the Kingdom of God was breaking into the world through the Son of God, as He preached good news, raised the dead, comforted the poor, helped the needy, and pushed back the curse.
God did not leave this world in a lost state of sin and curse, but He has visited us. And when Jesus visits us, He changes us. He comes and He saves.
Leave a Reply