And as we turn to God's Word, we look today at
Luke chapter 7. So I invite you to turn in your
Bibles to Luke 7, 11 through 17. What we've been
doing is studying some of the miracles of Jesus.
So we're not just in one book of the Bible, but
we're seeing the miracles of Jesus throughout
the Gospels. We've been in John, we've been in
Mark, and today we're in Luke chapter 7. And
today I want you to listen to this text, and
I don't believe this is the most well -known
of Jesus' miracles, but it's miraculous. And
so I would ask you to hear this miracle as if
you're hearing it for the first time. Indeed,
that's kind of what I said last Sunday when it
comes to the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus.
I would pray that at this time of year, we've
got all the reds and the greens and the lights.
And yet, how wonderful would it be if we were
able to hear the gospel with fresh ears, to be
wowed by it all over again. And so I pray that
this story, this truth of Jesus, this miracle
that he performs would help with a wow factor,
and that you would more and more trust Jesus.
And so let's hear this word from Luke chapter
7. Please give attention because this is God's
holy word. Soon afterward, he went to a town
called Nain and his disciples and a great crowd
went with him. 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. a considerable crowd from the
town was with her and when the Lord saw her he
had compassion on her and said to her do not
weep then he came up and he touched the beer
and the bearers stood still and he said young
man I say to you arise and the dead man sat up
and he began to speak and Jesus gave him to his
mother fear seize them all and they glorify God
saying a great prophet has arisen among us and
God has visited his people. And this report about
him spread through the whole of Judea and all
the surrounding country. The grass withers and
the flower fades but God's word stands forever.
Let's pray. Oh Father we praise you and we thank
you for this word and we ask that you would help
us to hide it in our hearts. and to know that
Jesus is the promised Christ who has come once
and will come again. Would you grant us understanding
as we look at this in Christ's name, amen. Have
you ever ridden in a funeral procession before?
The line of cars that maybe leaves from the church
or maybe leaves from the funeral home. Maybe
you can remember that. Maybe you've even ridden
in the first car, the second car, a sad black
limousine. Maybe you can remember being in a
funeral procession that left out of here and
turned to the right and headed towards the cemetery,
that long walk to the cemetery gates. Have you
had that experience? I believe that probably
many of you have. And it's sad. And it's overwhelming,
right? Now, imagine you're in that procession,
that line, be it the line of vehicles or the
walk. What if somebody had jumped out and said,
stop. Stop the cars. Stop the walk. Just stop.
We would say, that's terribly disrespectful.
Get out of the way. We'd say, that's callous.
What are you doing? This is a solemn. We are
grieving. What are you doing? But what if that
person could raise the dead? Now, that would
be a different story altogether. That would be
miraculous. That's what Jesus does here. This
is the first recorded resurrection miracle that
Jesus does. And as we look at this text, you'll
notice the person that is raised and the woman
grieving over her son. These are not somebodies.
We're not given their names, right? These are
probably not people of great influence. Probably
not too many people cared. Maybe just those within
the town. But we see Jesus care. We see the incredible
compassion of Jesus within this text. Jesus takes
note of this woman. She's fraught with grief
and he shows her compassion. And because of what
he does, you see what the people exclaim. God
has visited us. This is truly a miraculous miracle.
We said last time and in previous weeks, the
miracles of Jesus showcase his compassion and
they also showcase his authority. Jesus doesn't
perform miracles to show off. You remember how
Jesus turns the water to wine. You remember how
Jesus. casts out the demons you remember how
Jesus touches the sick and they are healed Jesus
doesn't do this to show off he does this such
that you would see these things read these things
know these things and believe in Jesus that's
that's the point and yet we know this from other
historical writings that others were able to
perform healings there were even others who at
the time of Jesus could cast out demons of this
miracle. Now we're moving into nearly uncharted
waters. And I'll explain what I mean by nearly
in a minute. This is off the chart. Jesus now
is raising the dead. As we look at this, I think
we see three unexpected actions of Jesus. And
so I'm going to go through these. The first unexpected
action of Jesus is that he stops that processional,
right? I began this week to think of famous funerals,
famous processions. I thought of Abraham Lincoln
and the procession as his body was moved by train
and by horse -drawn carriages and things across
many states to go from Washington D .C. to Springfield,
Illinois. And as Lincoln was taken along, people
would line the tracks, lighting fires to let
the train know where to go. Incredible amounts
of people went out for that. Or maybe you remember
Princess Diana and the procession at her funeral.
Maybe you remember pop stars or even popes, hundreds
of thousands of people attending such funerals.
This one is not that. Jesus doesn't show up to
this funeral because he heard it on the news.
Jesus is here because of the providence of God.
The providence of God has Jesus in this town
that's called Nain. This is somewhere southeast
of Nazareth. It's probably not that big of a
town, and yet because of the crowd following
Jesus. Suddenly there's an influx of people there
and the people following Jesus approach the city
gates and they see the scene before them, the
funeral procession coming towards them. But before
we see what Jesus does, before we see the unexpected,
we need to understand this woman. We need to
understand what she is going through. This woman,
according to the text, has lost her son. He's
probably a grown man. But notice the text also
says that she is a widow which means this poor
woman has walked this sad and lonely road before
She has walked out of those city gates before
She is she's heard the mourners before she's
seen the casket before and she is thinking to
herself self How is it possible that I have to
go through this all over again with each step?
towards the city gates, it becomes more and more
real to her. And the reason for going outside
of the city gates is because of Jewish cleanliness
laws, that those who are being buried would have
to be buried outside the city gates. And so for
her, those gates represent death. They do. Perhaps
as you look at the cemetery, or perhaps when
you go by a place where a loved one is buried,
That's what those tombstones, that's what those
gates represent to you. You've all perhaps experienced
that, the grief of death. I myself have had to
do the funerals for both of my grandfathers.
And I can remember the feeling of just trying
to hold it all together. I think of my grandfather
in Connecticut who was buried on a slope of a
Pennsylvania Cemetery with a cold mist following
and just trying to be able to hold it together
to get through the service. That's this woman.
She's just trying to hold it together. But it's
there. It's in the back of her mind, something
else, as she has already lost her husband. And
now she loses her son. It has to be there in
the back of her mind. Who's going to care for
me? Who is going to take care of me? She doesn't
want to think about it because she knows she
needs to grieve, but it has to be there in the
back of her mind. She's lost everything. If I
can apply this to an Old Testament text, this
is Naomi without Alimelech, without Malon and
Killian, without Ruth and without Boaz. This
woman. is totally and completely desperate. Have
you felt the despair of death before? If you
haven't, you will. Some have said funeral workers
have some of the best job security in the world,
because as long as the world is under the curse
of sin, there will be death. There will be funerals.
There is never an end to the funeral processions.
Just go to a busy funeral home, and you'll oftentimes
notice They'll have more than one funeral going
on that day. There is never an end to these.
And what this tells us then is that if all our
hope is in the here and the now, we will be left
heartbroken and hopeless. Money will not save
us from our tears. If all our stock is placed
in stocks, we will be poor ultimately. Our relationships
will not save us from tears because the relationships
we have with people will be interrupted by death.
Our jobs will not save us from our tears. The
reality is every single one of us is replaceable
and business carries on. And so in a life where
there's the reality and the sadness of death,
who shall save us from our tears? Jesus and Jesus
alone. And you see the good news in this passage.
The good news of the passage is that Jesus has
compassion. And the word for compassion here
is a very descriptive word. It means that which
wells up inside of a person, a sympathy, a care
for somebody else. The compassion word that is
used here is the same that is used with the good
Samaritan. or the father of the prodigal son,
this is the compassion that Jesus has for this
woman. And so he does what I would say is the
unexpected. As the procession of people of the
mourners comes toward Jesus, he does something
amazing. Before I get to that though, what would
you have done? How would you have had compassion
for this? Maybe you see the procession coming
towards you and you would just step back and
pause from the busyness of life. Maybe you would
bow your head in prayer. These would have been
fine things to do. Maybe you would even join
the procession of mourners. That would have been
an acceptable thing to do. But Jesus does the
unexpected. He steps to the front of the line.
He cuts to the front of the line to be where
the woman is. Years ago, in a Bulgarian village,
somebody said to me, hey, look out the window.
And I looked out the window within this place,
within this house, in this village, and I saw
a line of people. And they were following a horse
-drawn cart with a coffin on the back. And they
were doing exactly what is here. taking a village
resident to the cemetery outside of the gates.
It would have been perfectly acceptable to join
in the throng of people. But Jesus doesn't do
that. He goes right to the woman. And I cannot
imagine anybody else ever doing this. And Jesus
does something that the people would never, ever
forget. Look at verse 13. And when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion on her and said to her,
Do not weep. This is not a rebuke from Jesus.
Jesus isn't saying it's wrong for you to weep.
We know this because Jesus himself wept over
his friend Lazarus. This is Jesus saying, weep
no more because I'm going to do something about
this. And ultimately what he does for her on
a very grand eternal scale is what he does for
us. what he does for Christians. Jesus turns
our mourning into gladness. Jesus takes away
our tears. We mourn in this life, but we have
something that awaits us. We have glory that
awaits us where we will no longer have such tears.
Consider the promise of Revelation chapter seven,
16 and 17. It says they shall hunger no more,
neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike
them nor any scorching heat for the lamb in the
midst of the throne will be their shepherd and
he will guide them to springs of living water
and God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes. This is what Jesus does for the believer.
This is what he will do for us. And this is such
a reality that Jesus is actually already taught
on this. We're in Luke seven. If you just went
back to Luke chapter six, you would see the Beatitudes.
And within the Beatitudes, you would see this.
Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh.
Jesus turns our mourning into laughter. Jesus
turns our mourning into dancing. But the problem
of the passage is the woman doesn't know these
things. She might not have a clue who Jesus is.
She might have said, I don't care who you are
in this moment because I'm fraught with grief.
But then Jesus does the next unexpected thing.
Look in verse 14. Jesus reaches out and he touches
the beer. Now this is B -I -E -R. This is not
talking about a beverage. This is talking about
the platform. upon which the dead would be carried,
upon which an open coffin would rest. But you
might say, why is this unexpected for Jesus to
touch that? Well, remember where they're headed.
They're headed outside of the city gates. They're
headed to a place that is considered unclean.
What else is considered unclean? The coffin,
the platform that Jesus reaches out to touch.
For Jesus to do this, this would have been considered
unclean, but Jesus doesn't shy away from these
things. You see this throughout the miracles
of Jesus. He doesn't shy away from the unclean.
He actually came for this. I want to read you
a few verses, a few passages that illustrate
what Jesus does for those who need his cleansing
touch. Philippians chapter 2. And this is a very
well -known passage. I'll begin. In verse 5,
have this mind among yourselves, which is yours
in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form
of God, did not count equality with God a thing
to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking
the form of a servant, being born in the likeness
of men, and being found in human form, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. Another one for
you, Galatians 3 verse 13. Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law by becoming a curse
for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone
who is hanged on a tree. And last one, 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 21. For our sake he made him
to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God. Jesus
doesn't shy away from the dead. Jesus doesn't
shy away from the unclean. No, he goes towards
them. And Jesus goes towards us. He who takes
away our tears ultimately will have tears shed
for him. And so Jesus reaches out and he touches
the beer and he indicates that the people are
to stop. They are to stop walking. They are to
stop proceeding and surely they're all thinking
what in the world is Jesus doing whatever he
is doing it better work because otherwise this
is terribly out of order this is callous and
so all the eyes are fixed on Jesus the mourners
have stopped the instrumentalists have stopped
everybody is completely still everyone is completely
still and Jesus does something miraculous But
in order to help us see the miraculous, I want
to take you to one more text. If you want to
turn there, it's 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17 verse
17. And this is a bit lengthy, but I'm going
to read it because I think this gives us great
insight to what Jesus does. 1 Kings 17 verse
17. After this, the son of the woman The mistress
of the house became ill, and his illness was
so severe, there was no breath left in him. And
she said to Elijah, 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. And he said to her, give me your son.
He took her, took him from her arms, and carried
him up into the upper chamber where he lodged,
and laid him. on his own bed and he cried to
the Lord oh Lord my God have you brought calamity
even upon the widow with whom I sojourn by killing
her son then he stretched himself upon the child
three times and cried to the Lord oh Lord my
God let this child's life come into him again
and the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah
And the life of the child came into him again
and he revived. 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, now I know that you are
a man of God and that the word of the Lord in
your mouth is truth. You see the similarity there
between what Jesus does and what Elijah does.
Certainly there are differences. The main difference
is when Elijah is healing this widow's son, he
speaks to the Lord. But when Jesus heals this
widow's son, Jesus speaks to the son. And he
says, young man, I say to you, rise. now all
those people looking on surely they're wondering
what in the world is he doing and yet this is
what God does with us Rick Phillips says Jesus
speaks to the dead man and with sovereign grace
and with divine power and without any human help
Jesus brings life to the dead friends we were
dead in our trespasses we were lost in our sin
but through Jesus we have been made alive. So
like Jesus healing the official son in John,
or like Jesus raising Lazarus, or God speaking
the world into existence, Jesus merely speaks
and it happens. And then the dead man is no longer
dead. And he sits up and he speaks. And if you
thought it was miraculous, if you thought it
was something for Jesus to command a dead man,
What about the formerly dead man speaking back?
And so Jesus gives him back to his mother and
he gives him back alive. Now thus far we've zeroed
in on Jesus, the mother, the son, but don't forget
about the crowd. Don't forget the crowd is looking
on and so look in verse 16 for their reaction.
Fear sees them all and they glorified God. They
might say, what kind of fear is this? This is
the kind of fear that you would have if you saw
someone raised from the dead. This is fear with
reverence. This is fear with awe. This is fear
with respect and worship and the acknowledgement
of holiness. As they are filled with fear, they
glorified God, which shows they believe Jesus
to be divine. And as I shared about Elijah, No
doubt, right here, they are thinking of the prophet
Elijah. They are thinking, perhaps, of the prophet
Elisha, both of whom raised the dead. So they
are associating Jesus with the prophets. But
you see, even more than that, because the next
thing they say, God has visited his people. And
isn't that exactly what we celebrate this time
of year? Isn't that the point of Emmanuel? Isn't
that the point of the incarnation that Jesus
came to be with us and to be one of us? He is
the God man. At Christmas, Jesus visits us so
that we would say, God has visited us because
Jesus is one with the Father. And so here we
have this first resurrection miracle of Jesus.
and it ultimately points ahead, it points beyond
this miracle and it points to the death and to
the resurrection of Jesus and ultimately to our
resurrection. For we know this, that yes, if
Jesus tarries, we shall all die, but we will
not remain dead. We have in Jesus everlasting
life. And so as I begin to wrap up, consider
this quote, from Spurgeon about this passage
who said this was a rehearsal upon a small scale
of that which shall happen by and by when those
who are in their graves shall hear the voice
of the Son of God and live then shall the last
enemy be destroyed only let death come into contact
with him who is our life and it is compelled
to relax its hold whatever may be the spoil which
it is captured Soon our Lord shall come in his
glory and then before the gates of the new Jerusalem
We shall see the miracle at the gates of Nain
multiplied a myriad times Friends know this today
Jesus turns our mourning into dancing Jesus alone
turns our death into life What Jesus does for
this woman and her son is what he shall do for
us for believers on a grand scale. Really, as
we look at this, we should see there's not just
one procession going on. There are two. There
is the march to the grave. What Jesus represents,
what Jesus does, is takes us on the march to
everlasting life. Jesus stops the procession
to the everlasting grave and leads us to everlasting
life. Let's pray.