Our scripture reading this morning is from the Gospel of Luke, so if you would turn with me, please, to the Gospel of Luke. We'll be reading from chapter 7, verses 11 through 17. In our morning services, in the next weeks, we're going to be looking at passages from the Gospel of Luke. Last week, we looked at Jesus' healing of the centurion's servant, and here we turn to the familiar story of Jesus raising the son of the widow of Nain. So, Luke chapter 7 at verse 11, let us hear God's own word. Soon afterward, Jesus 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, and 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 touched the bier, and the bearer stood still, and he said, Young man, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified 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. So far the reading of God's Word. This is a very brief story. It's probably familiar to many of us. It's only seven verses long and yet has made a rather profound impact on the church through the ages. Only Luke tells this story. and yet it is a powerful one, an affecting one. And there are several things that may have grabbed your attention as you read it, or as you thought back on it, or as you have thought about it. What struck me initially as I began to study this was there's a lot of people there. That's what this story begins with. Jesus is traveling, we're told, from Capernaum, which is the city he seems to be using in Galilee as his home and center of ministry and operations, the place he keeps coming back to in Galilee. Capernaum, a city right on the Sea of Galilee. In those days, a large-ish city by the standards of those times and that place. And we're told a great crowd is following him. Jesus and his disciples are leaving Capernaum to travel southwest to Nain, which seems to have been quite a small town, about 20 miles away. Well, you have to be a pretty committed member of the crowd, don't you, to go 20 miles with Jesus. But that's what we're told, a great crowd, a big crowd, a lot of people are going with Jesus down the country road to Nain. And they come to this town and to a gate there, an entrance there. And as the big crowd is coming about to enter the town, there's another crowd, not quite so large we're told, but still a crowd of people coming out of the town as a funeral procession. And I guess what struck me is this is kind of a crowd. This is kind of a rather confusing situation. Lots of people trying to get into the little town on the little road, no doubt. Other people trying to get out through the gate. This is a potentially kind of confusing scene. We might call it, in our terms, rush hour traffic. Who can move? Who can go anywhere? It's potentially a lot of confusion. And in that confusion of the crowds, I think we see a revelation of who Jesus really is. These chapters in this section of Luke return over and over again to the question, who is Jesus really? And show us from various angles who he is, what he's like, what he's come to do. And that's what we're seeing here in a very powerful and pointed way. Jesus is revealing himself here in this traffic jam of crowds. And what is the first thing that we see? We see Jesus coming to the rescue. Jesus coming to the rescue. But it seems to me the surprise for us is to remember that the first rescue in this text is of the woman, is of the widow. Do you notice that? Here are these crowds of people. And Jesus in the crowd sees a woman, sees the widow, sees the mourner. Usually when there's a crowd, you see the men, because they're taller usually. Not all men are tall. But usually when a crowd is pressing together, you notice the, you didn't need to laugh quite so much at that, you see the tall men in the melee. But Jesus sees this woman. She's a widow, we're told in the text. She's the mother of the dead young man, her only child. We don't know for sure why Jesus could recognize her in that position, why he could know so much about her. Perhaps it's the way she was dressed. We don't know for sure. Perhaps it was where she was standing in the funeral procession. But it must have struck him that she was quite alone relative to family. If you've attended a funeral or a memorial service in our church, you probably have been struck by how just before the service begins, the family walks in together and takes up usually several rows, unless you're one of the big clans, and then you may take up many rows. But imagine coming to a memorial service here and waiting for the family to walk in and have just one person walk in. Just one older woman dressed in black. That's sort of the equivalent of what Jesus is seeing here. This widow, although supported by the town, although supported by a large-ish crowd for the size of the small town of Nain, she's really alone when it comes to family. And Jesus sees her. This is a remarkable revelation if we pause to think about it. Jesus is the one who can see an individual in a crowd. We could say, we're a crowd today. There's a fair number of us here. You ever wonder if Jesus sees you here? This text is saying to us, yes, Jesus sees each one of us, even in a crowd, even in confusion. He sees our need. He sees our weakness. It's really a very remarkable picture of Jesus as the one who sees, who really sees what's going on. And we're told as he saw this woman, he had compassion on her. This is a very strong word, compassion, here. The Greek language talks about compassion in the abdomen. Or if we were a little ruder, we'd say in the guts. He's grabbed in the guts by this woman's loss and loneliness. He's touched. We would probably say he was heartbroken. You see how you express emotion by a reference to some part of the physical body. When we say someone's heartbroken, we don't really mean their literal beating heart is broken. But we're talking about the way they're moved emotionally, the way they're touched by the situation. And that's what's being described here for us. Jesus doesn't just look at her and love her, which would have been a wonderful thing. But Luke is trying to communicate that something more is going on here. He has a deep-seated compassion for her. in her situation. He's affected by this situation. This word is used in Luke's Gospel about the Good Samaritan, the story of the Good Samaritan, when he sees the wounded man on the road. We're told the Good Samaritan had compassion on the wounded man. Or the word is used in the story of the prodigal son, That when the father sees his son coming home, he has compassion on him in his situation. These are very emotional moments in the gospel. And we can see here the heart of the Savior, his compassion for those in need. And he speaks to her, we're told. Here again, it's good to pause and imagine the situation. There are crowds mixed up now. And there's got to have been a lot of noise, right? Don't you notice that? The more people there are, the louder everybody talks to get heard. And probably some old people in the crowd, so they're talking even louder. And Jesus speaks to her. He must have come close to her to be heard. He's approached her. He's not only recognized her, but he's come to her and he speaks to her. And he speaks words of comfort to her. He says to her, weep not. Weep not. Now, maybe you've been in the situation of visiting with someone who is mourning. And probably like most people, you feel a little nervous and don't know what to say. Isn't that right? Isn't that often the way we feel? We're not quite sure what to say. We don't want to say the wrong thing. Well, let me say, when you come to someone warning, don't say to them, weep not. Unless you can do what Jesus can do. Jesus doesn't come to her to say, no more emotion. Jesus is not coming to her to say, be more British. Have a stiff upper lip. Don't show any emotion. Pull yourself together. Most Mideastern cultures, it was approved to show emotion. So he doesn't come to criticize her. He doesn't come to shut her up. He doesn't come to say, you know, don't show any emotion. He comes to comfort her and to say to her, don't weep, because there's no need for weeping. Because of what he's going to do for her. Let's remember that in this remarkable story where we focus so much on the resurrection of the dead, Jesus is also rescuing this woman. He's come for her as well as for the dead. He's come to help her, and so he acts. He can say, weep not, because he's going to raise this son back to life. And he does it to be sure for the son, but he does it also for the mother. You see, Jesus has revealed how he comes to rescue the needy. And in that culture, to be a widow without a family was to be needy and very likely rather desperate. To be a widow without children was often to be someone without any economic resources. Certainly, she was grief-stricken. She was facing great loneliness. She was facing perhaps danger. And Jesus has come to rescue her, because Jesus has had compassion on her, because Jesus has seen her need and has come to her. And so I think the first thing that Luke intends for us to see in this text is the compassion of the Savior. I think we often rush to see the power of the Savior, and we'll get there. But I think over and over again in the history of the church, there has been sometimes a temptation to neglect how loving, how compassionate, how good Jesus is, how he sees us, how he cares for us, how he comes to us. And this story is a beautiful picture of the Savior coming to one in need to rescue. and then we do indeed see the resurrection. Jesus can say to the widow, weep not, because he turns immediately to the bier on which the body is laid out to be buried, and says, comes up to the bier, touches it, stops it. There are bearers, pallbearers, who are really carrying the beer on which the body is laid out. And he touches the beer, stops the carriers, and says, Young man, arise. There must have been, for a moment, at least those close enough to really see what's going on and hear what Jesus has said a moment of hush. Young man, arise. What will happen? What will happen? And what happens is the young man sits up, and the young man speaks. I think Luke records that little element that the young man speaks as part of the evidence he wants to present. You know, when Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles, he talks about how Jesus had shown himself to be alive by many proofs. And Luke is interested in proof, in evidence, in collaboration of what he declares. And this is a proof, you see. This man is really alive. This isn't just some kind of stiffening of the muscles. that he might sit up. He's really alive. He speaks. And the text very wonderfully says, and Jesus gives him to his mother. He must have gotten off that beer. Can you imagine the big hug? I assume ancient people hugged. Cultures are different. But here's a wonderful reuniting. Jesus, in the raising of the young man, has not forgotten the mother, but gives her son now alive to the mother. And what extraordinary power. This isn't tricks. This isn't deceit. He's not some magician. But here is a situation in which a whole town testifies that this man was really dead and they're on their way to burying him and Jesus has raised him up so that he's alive. He's talking. He's reunited with his mother. What extraordinary power. What extraordinary power. And it's in this moment that we see that one of the great concerns of this text is that we would all see Jesus is the Lord of life. Jesus is the life bringer. Jesus is the one who will give life, even to the dead. And here's a wonderful promise for us. Here is a foretaste of the very heart of the work Jesus came to do. Jesus came not only to die on the cross for the sins of his people, but also to be raised to newness of life for the life of his people. That's the truth of what's revealed here. That's the truth of what this scripture is teaching us. And we see a kind of anticipation of that when in verse 16 the people react by saying, a great prophet has arisen among us. That word arisen is the same word that Jesus has used to the dead young man, arise. Jesus is the risen prophet, in a profound sense, for his people. He's the risen Lord for his people. And that's why it is so important that we confess that we believe in the resurrection of the dead. That's a point I think we don't always emphasize enough. We don't just believe in everlasting life. We don't just believe in the immortality of the soul. We don't just believe that now the dead in Christ are with him in heaven. We do believe all those things. But that's not the end. That's not the end of the story. God made us to be beings with souls and bodies. And the promise is that Christ, when he returns, will reunite souls with bodies. that we will live forever as the glorified beings he originally made. Now, that's hard to believe, isn't it? For 2,000 years, Christians have been burying their dead in the hope of the resurrection. It's a long time to wait. But that's the promise of the Savior. That's the promise repeated throughout the Scripture, that we will be raised to newness of life. That when we stand at a grave, it's not the last word. But Jesus is Lord of life. And just as he could raise this young man from the bier on his way to the grave, he'll be able to raise those in the grave. That's the promise. That's what we hope from him. That's what he said he will do. What a remarkable thing. What a glorious promise. What a great hope that is ours. Now, we don't know exactly what the body will be like. Paul talks about that a little bit in 1 Corinthians 15. I have certain improvements I'd like made in mine. And the great promise is not exactly how tall we'll be or how thin. But the great promise is all the aches and pains will be gone. That might not mean so much to you young people, but for those of us who are a little older, that is very welcome news. The aches and pains will be gone. The frailty will be gone. There'll be a renewed strength of mind and of body, and how glorious that will be for us. He's the Lord of life. This little story is just bursting with the love and the life of the Savior. And so we see the rescue of the widow. We see the resurrection of the son. And then we see the report spreading out throughout the countryside. People are impressed. People are impressed. And they're talking. And as they talk to their neighbors, even though there's no social media and there are no telephones. There are none of the kinds of ways in which news spreads today, yet news spread quickly as neighbor talked to neighbor about the amazing thing that had happened in Nain. And look what we're told, first of all, verse 16. Fear seized them all. Fear seized them all. It made me stop and think a little bit. How often does fear come into the equation of thinking about religion? Is there anything that evokes fear today when it comes to religion? I guess I thought a little bit about this in the last week with the story of the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein. And I guess one of the things that struck me in the news reports is how over and over again people said, oh, this is terrible, now he won't face justice. And I waited for just somebody to say on television, oh, yes, he'll face justice. Oh, yes, he'll face justice. You see, sadly, increasingly, we live in a world that believes that the grave is the end. That after death, there's a great nothingness. That there's nothing to fear beyond death. And the scripture over and over again says, there's much to fear beyond death. Seems to me not long ago, there would have been someone to comment. Well, he goes to another justice. He faces a greater justice. He faces a longer sentence. These people knew something of fear. And they knew fear that, as they would express it, a great prophet has risen among us, for which they glorified God. You see, in the first century, there was a great expectation that Messiah might be coming. And one of the ways in which the people thought about the coming of Messiah was what Moses had prophesied in Deuteronomy 18. You remember? Moses had said, One day a great prophet like unto me will arise among the people. And that had been interpreted rightly as a messianic promise. And so one of the ways to recognize Messiah was that he would be a great prophet. And here in this moment of Jesus raising the dead, the minds of the people went to Elijah, a great prophet, and Elisha, a great prophet, both of whom had raised the dead. You remember that? Some scholars think it may well be that this little town of Nain was either the town or near the town of ancient Shuman. Shunam. I don't know why I have so much trouble pronouncing it. Shunam. You know what I mean. That is the very place that Elisha had raised the dead. And so here's this consciousness in these people. We've just seen something happen that is one of the most remarkable things in the whole history of our people. We have just seen amongst us with our own eyes something as great or greater than what Elisha did or what Elijah did. As Elijah raised the son of the widow of Nain, of the widow of Zarephath, as Elisha raised the child of the woman, the Shunammite woman. So now Jesus has raised the dead. What kind of prophet is this? This is a most remarkable moment. A great prophet has risen among us. And if they're thoughtful in this moment, or as they reflect on it as the days go by, they must have thought, he's even greater than Elijah and Elisha. You remember Elijah and Elisha had raised the dead, but very privately, very out of the way. Here, Jesus had done it very publicly, very visibly, very obviously. You remember that Elijah and Elisha had raised the dead, but with great effort. We're told about travels and actions and intense praying, whereby Elijah and Elisha raised the dead. Jesus does it with a simple word of command. It's very important, isn't it? Elijah and Elisha were great prophets, but in the service of God, they had to pray for what happened. Jesus is God come in the flesh, and he doesn't pray. He simply commands, and it happens. Elijah and Elisha had known well both the woman and the child and were filled with compassion out of that human knowledge. But Jesus has come to strangers, and yet is filled with compassion for them and their need, and provides for them. Surely a great prophet has arisen among the people. And then they say, God has visited his people. That's an interesting expression, not one that we find often in the Bible, but one that we find at very key moments to talk about high points in redemptive history. Genesis 50, verse 24, we read, And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And then in Exodus 4, verse 31, we read, Moses and Aaron said to the people, when they heard that God had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down their heads and worshipped. The visitation of God was for the Exodus, the great saving moment of the Old Testament. It was God's powerful intervention in history to save. And now the people are saying we're seeing something parallel. We're seeing something the same. When John the Baptist was born, Zechariah at the birth of John declared, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise will visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness. The people have recognized something powerful has happened. Something amazing has happened. Something that is the fulfillment of prophecy has happened. Something that points to God being powerfully, almost uniquely present amongst them. And they're reporting this far and wide. They report what they saw, a resurrection. They report what they felt, their fear. They report what they said, they glorified God. But I can't help but ask myself, did they miss something in the reporting? They talked about Christ's power. They talked about God's glory. They talked about the amazing resurrection. But we don't see anything about them reporting Christ's compassion. And I think we'll see as we go along, this is a problem. In Jesus' day, they sometimes saw his power and not his love. They sometimes saw his strength and not his compassion. And this story is given to us, I believe, so that we might not make that mistake. That we might indeed see that Jesus is Lord of life. that He is God come in the flesh, that He is glorious beyond our imagining. But in His power, in His Lordship, in His divinity, He is also always in being Lord of life, the Lord of love, the Lord of compassion, the Lord of mercy. And so the Word of God comes to us this morning to say to us, see Jesus in His power and glory. But in that power and glory, don't fail to see him as the one who in compassion sees you in your need, sees you with love, sees you with his care, and calls you to him to find life and hope and love in him. May God grant that that's true for every one of us here together today. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, how we thank you for Jesus and how we thank you for the word that draws us to him and shows us so clearly who he is. And we see our temptation in one way or another to distort him, to deny him his power or to deny him his compassion. Help us to rest by a true and living faith in him as your word declares him. For truly in him we see such glory and such love. Hear us and bless us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.