#54 Lu. 7:11-17  RAISING A WIDOW'S SON FROM THE DEAD

Introduction:

    I guess you could call this a funeral sermon.  It seems that I have
preached a lot of funeral sermons lately.  However, this time I am not
preaching a funeral;  I am preaching about a funeral.
    In our previous text Jesus healed a man who was at the point of death.
He healed the servant of a Roman centurion.  In this text He does something
even more miraculous than that.  In this text He raised a man from the dead.

I.  Meeting a funeral procession

    V. 11, "And it came to pass the day after..."  That is, this event took
place the very next day after He had healed the servant of the Roman
centurion.
    (V. 11), "...that he went into a city called Nain..."  The city of Nain
was a very small city or village just southwest of the city of Nazareth.
The word, nain, means "Lovely, pleasant, beautiful."  The scenery at this
place was apparently very beautiful.  It was a lovely city.
    (V. 11), "...and many of his disciples went with him..." Apparently most
of the disciples who had been with Him at the Sermon on the Mount and in
Capernaum when the servant of the centurion went with Him to Nain.  However,
the word "many" seems to imply that not all of them went on this particular
trip.  Some think that Matthew was not with Him on this occasion since
Matthew said nothing about this event in the Book of Matthew.
    (V. 11), "...and much people."  Many of the people of Capernaum went
along with Jesus and the disciples to the city of Nain, which was fairly
close by to Capernaum.  It was not just a real short distance, but it was,
at least, within walking distance for them.  These people had become so
excited about the healing of the servant of the Roman centurion that they
wanted to go with Him just in case He performed another great miracle.  They
wanted to be on hand to see it if He did.  They were not to be disappointed.
    V. 12, "Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was
a dead man carried out..."  The idea is that they always buried their dead
outside the city in an isolated area.  If the graves were in an area where
there was a lot of activity then someone might accidentally touch a grave
and become ceremonially unclean according to the law of Moses.  It is said
that there was a line of bluffs right outside the city of Nain and that the
people dug artificial caves in the side of the bluffs to bury their dead.
    Just as Jesus and the group of people who were with Him approached the
gate of the city of Nain to enter into the city they met a funeral
procession.  A dead man was being brought out to be buried.
    (V. 12), "...the only son of his mother, and she was a widow..."  Luke
tells us that there were some especially sad circumstances involving the
death of the man.  The special sadness involved the mother of the man.  This
mother was a widow.  That means that she had already lost her husband in
death.  Luke does not tell us how long her husband had been dead.
    Now when a husband is dead it is a great benefit to the widow if she has
a son to help her.  He can not ONLYhelp to provide for her, but he can be
her protector.  No doubt this widow had relied greatly on her son.  He was
young and somewhat inexperienced, but he was there and he was a great
comfort and help to her.  But now her son, too, was dead.  It was doubly
hard on her.  There was not only the sorrow which would come to any mother
at the loss of her son, but her provider and her protector was dead.  She
may or may not have had daughters, but, if she did, they would never be able
to provide the help that her son had provided.  Her husband was already dead
and gone and now her son was dead and gone.
    (V. 12), "...and much people of the city was with her."  Many people of
the city had taken time out from their various activities to accompany this
widow in her need and to be of what help they could to her.  And while this
was a great help for the time being, this would not meet her need for the
future.  She would still be without a provider and a protector in the
future.
    But get the picture now.  There were these two large crowds of people
which met at the gate of the city of Nain.  Jesus and His group had started
into the city and the widow and her group were headed out.  I can envision
the scene as the people with Jesus politely stepped aside out of the roadway
to make way for the funeral procession that was coming toward them.

II.  The compassion of Jesus on the widow

    Shortly the widow and the corpse of her son were right in front of
Jesus.  V. 13, "And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her..."
Jesus did not have to inquire in order to know just what the situation was.
All of the people with Him, of course, could know that this was a funeral.
But they could not know that this woman was a widow and that the dead man
was her only son.  Jesus, however, knew.  He knew full well just what kind
of a predicament this woman was left in and Luke said that He had compassion
on her.  He had compassion because of the sorrows she felt at the death of
her son, but He also had compassion on her because she was left without a
protector and provider.
    Now, fortunately for her Jesus was able to do something about her
situation.  Others may have compassion for the bereaved and still not be
able to do anything to alleviate the problem.  But Jesus is always able to
help.
    (V. 13), "...and said unto her, Weep not."  The picture I get is that
Jesus left the roadside where He and His group were standing and stepped
right up to this woman and in a very kind and compassionate voice said,
"Weep not.  Shssssh.  Don't cry.  Don't cry."
    Does that sound familiar?  How many times I have heard that or something
like it at the time of death!  "Don't cry now.  Now you know that he (or
she)would not want you to cry."  Very often we speak such words without
really realizing what we are talking about.  It is not easy to just shut off
your tears when your heart is torn asunder with grief.  It is not easy to
stop the sobbing and stop the grieving.
    But in the case before us in our text, it was not Jesus who failed to
understand what He was talking.  It was the woman and the great crowd of
mourners who did not understand what He was talking about.

III.  Raising the son back to life

    However, they would not be kept in the dark very long.  V. 14, "And he
came and touched the bier..."  The bier was the casket and in that day they
used an open casket.  Jesus touched the open casket where the corpse of the
dead man lay.  When Jesus laid His hand on that casket the pall bearers
stopped.  (V.  14), "...and they that bare him stood still.  And he said,
Young man, I say unto thee, Arise."
    Now can you imagine such a thing?  Can you imagine somebody walking up
to the casket during a funeral and talking to the corpse inside the casket
and saying, "Arise.  Get up.  Get out of there."  You would think that they
had lost their marbles.  Wouldn't you?  And you would just about be right.
Who ever heard of such a thing---telling a dead body to arise?  I remember
hearing on the news about some religious cult keeping a woman out of the
grave for about a week telling her to arise and come back to life again, but
it was all in vain.  They eventually had to give up and bury her.
    You see there is a lot more to it than just speaking to a dead body and
telling it to arise.  If that body is going to respond and come alive again
then one must also be able to speak to the spirit that had indelled that
body and cause the spirit to re-enter the body.  One would have to be able
to speak to that departed spirit wherever it might be.  It is one thing to
speak to a dead body that lies before you, but it is another thing to speak
to that spirit which is way off in another world.  If you can make that
spirit hear you it is still another thing to make it obey your command to
come back to this world and re-enter that body.
    But when Jesus spoke the corpse that lay in that casket came alive.
V. 15, "And he that was dead sat up..."  Now I remember hearing tales when I
was just a kid about corpses which had not come back to fife, sat up.  I
heard the old folks tell about the olden days when embalming was not
required and they would sit up with the corpse all night long in order to
keep the rats and other varmints from bothering the corpse.  I heard them
tell tales about some of the corpses which would have tendons contract and
cause the dead body to sit up.  It would also cause some sleepy headed
individual sitting with to have a run-away.  The corpse didn't come alive,
but the persons sitting with him did.
    But in the case of the man in our text, the dead man himself came alive.
He came alive and sat up.  He was physically able to respond to the command
of Jesus and to sit up.  The spirit of that man had re-entered his body and
he was just as much alive as he ever was.
    (V. 15), "...and began to speak..."  By sitting up in response to a
command he showed that he was alive.  But speaking he showed that he had his
mental faculties restored to him.  He was fully alive.  Jesus had brought
him back to life again.
    (V. 15), "...And he delivered him to his mother."  Jesus had said to
that woman, "Weep not" and then He delivered her son to her alive.

IV.  The great impact on the people

    V. 16, "And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying,
That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his
people."  Instantly the people in that great crowd were astounded.  They
recognized that the mighty power of God was at work.  They also recognized
that Jesus was sent to them from God.  They recognized that He is a prophet
of God and He is.  He is most certainly more than a prophet, but He is a
prophet of God.  They said that God had visited them.  I'm sure that not all
of them recognized that Jesus is God in human flesh, but a few of them may
have.  A few of them probably recognized that Jesus is more than just a
prophet; He is the Christ that God had promised.
     V. 17, "And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and
throughout all the region round about."  Immediately the news of this great
event began to spread.  This event took place in Galilee, which was the
northern part of Palestine, but the news also spread throughout all Judaea,
which was the southern part of Palestine.  The idea is that the news spread
throughout the whole land both in Galilee and Judaea.

V.  The great lessons for us

    Now listen.  This was a mighty miracle and there are some mighty lessons
here for us.  First of all, I would say to each of you ladies who have had
the misfortune to be left a widow that you should find a great deal of
comfort in this passage of Scripture.  When Jesus saw that widow, the
Scripture says that He had compassion on her.  I am certain--I am absolutely
certain--that He feels the same way about you.  Jesus sees the circumstances
that you are left in by the death of your companion and Jesus feels
compassion for you.  I look out over this congregation and I see several
women who have become widowed during the time that I have been your pastor.
I assure you that Jesus cares.
    But even more important, I say to all that Jesus has seen the terrible
condition of us all and has been moved with compassion.  You see, just as
Jesus stood and looked down into that casket and saw the physically dead
body of that man, even so He has looked down upon us all and has seen us all
spiritually dead in trespasses and sin.  What I mean by that is that even
while we were physically alive, we were all sinners in the sight of God and
were spiritually separated from God.  We were spiritually separated from Him
to the point that every last one of us were headed for the fires of hell
after we died the physical death.  But God the Father and God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit has seen our terrible circumstances and God the Father
sent Jesus to this world to die on the cross so that we might be saved.  God
the Son also saw our terrible condition and has had compassion on us and
willingly went to the cross to die for us that we might be saved.
    Just as He spoke life into the dead body in that casket, even so when we
turned to God in repentance of our sin and called on Him to save us from our
sin, He spoke new life into our inward souls.  Through the Holy Spirit He
produced in us the new birth.  He saved us and gave us eternal life.  We
will never be cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death, because
we have been given everlasting life.  In John 5:24 Jesus said, "Verily,
verily I say unto you, He that heareth my words and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life."
    There is one more mighty lesson that is set forth in this passage of
Scripture.  This teaches us that we, too, have hope in a resurrection of the
dead through Jesus Christ.  The same Christ that raised that man back to
life has the power to raise us.  What is more, He has promised to do so.  In
John 11:25 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
    What is more, the resurrection that is promised to those who trust in
Jesus is much better than the resurrection that was given to the man in this
text.  That man was raised to live in the same mortal body that he had lived
in before his death.  He was raised only to die again.   But when Jesus
raises the believers from the dead at His return to this earth we will have
immortal bodies that can never die again.
    Still yet there is a warning to every lost sinner in this world.  The
same Jesus Christ who raised that man from the grave and who will raised His
redeemed to give them immortal bodies will also raise those who are unsaved
to stand before Him in judgement.  They will hear Him say, "Depart from me
ye cursed into everlasting fire."

Conclusion:

    I make two strong appeal to you who are here this morning.  First of
all, if you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, I appeal to
you to turn to God today and confess to Him that you are lost in your sins
and ask Jesus Christ to save your soul.  Turn to the Lord and call on Him
before it is everlastingly too late.
    I also make a strong appeal to you who are saved.  I appeal to you to
give your life in service to the Christ who loved you and died to save your
soul.  If you do desire to give your life to Him and wish to unite with this
church so that you can serve Him through this church then we invite you to
come and present yourself as a candidate for membership.