March 17: Four Special Meetings

Blessings and Woes

Luke 6:17-49

The Faith of the Centurion

Luke 7:1-10

Matthew 8:5-13

John 4:46b-54

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

Luke 7:11-17

Our reading today includes the first of three times that Jesus raised someone from the dead. Luke 7:11-17 records four special meetings that took place that day at the city gate of Nain:

1) Two large crowds met.

One was following Jesus, heading into the city, while the other was following the widow and her dead son, heading to the cemetery. No doubt, these two crowds stood in stark contrast to each other. While the crowd from Nain was mourning the loss of one of their own, the crowd following Jesus would have been excited having witnessed his miracles and heard his teachings. At the central point of this meeting between these two crowds, we witness the second meeting…

2) Two sufferers met.

Jesus, called by Isaiah a “man of sorrows”, could easily identify with the widow’s grief. He doesn’t seem to be drawn to the large crowd leaving the city. He is, however, drawn to the suffering woman, so much so that the New Living Translation says, “his heart overflowed with compassion”. His attention is then focused on the one to be buried, and we see our third meeting…

3) Two only sons met.

One alive, but destined to die; the other dead, but destined to live. Jesus first does the unthinkable – he touches the bier (or coffin) carrying the dead son. It was a forbidden act that made Jesus ceremonially unclean; but in doing so he accomplished his purpose, namely to stop the funeral procession. He then wastes no time and tells the other son, the only son of his widowed mother, to arise – to get up. And he does – leading us to the final meeting to take place that day at the city gate of Nain…

4) Two enemies met.

Jesus met there with death, the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), and overcomes! The dead man sat up and began to talk, a sign that he truly was alive. And though this cannot be considered a true resurrection but a resuscitation since the man would eventually die again, we know that Jesus eventually won the victory over death by his own resurrection after his death at Calvary.

One parting thought as it relates to our theme of the FULLER LIFE:

Jesus was definitely moved with compassion as he saw a grieving mother, but there is more to this story that Luke tells us. He made sure we knew that this woman, already a widow, was now childless with the death of her only son. Not only was her grief great, but now her financial needs would be great and very likely would remain unmet because first-century culture did not provide many if any resources for widowed women with no children. The restoring of her son to life also brought back her only means of survival.

Just as he most assuredly was concerned for the well-being of this woman, Jesus is concerned for you as well. It is why he came, so that you would have life and have it to the full!