Trinity 16, 2023

*This sermon was preached from an outline, but here’s the manuscript that I wrote for it.

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

St. Luke 7:11-16

Trinity 16

September 24, 2023

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We have now come to a turning point in the Church Year. During this time of the Church Year, we begin to turn our focus to the Last Things or the Last Days. The miracles Jesus performs, His interactions with the religious elite, and the parables He uses to teach, are almost all concerned with pointing us to the Last Days and help us realize that we are currently living in them, even now. His miracles undo death, they correct fallen creation. His interactions with the religious elite prove that He is no ordinary prophet or rabbi. And the parables He tells all point to what is to happen either immediately prior or on the Last Day. All of these things—what He says and does—prove that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Today, quite wisely paired together in our lectionary of readings, is recorded for us Elijah’s raising of the widow of Zarephath’s dead son and also our Lord’s raising of the widow of Nain’s dead son. So it is, that our focus shifts toward the life everlasting that all believers in Christ are waiting for.

Two necessary questions will be taken up today. The first: what is this text about? And the second: what does this type of miracle teach us; what do we need to hear and what should we learn from it?

According to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is in the midst of His earthly ministry. Immediately prior to the Gospel account for today, Jesus was in Capernaum where He healed the Roman centurion’s servant, who told Jesus He was not worthy to come under his own roof. All the centurion requested was that Jesus speak the word. He knew Jesus had power to do so and He did. He healed his servant.

Capernaum is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. Afterward, Jesus, His disciples, as well as a great crowd travel south, in my mind most likely around the western side of the Sea of Galilee, and went to a town called Nain. Nain is about ten miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee and about ten miles southeast of Nazareth. Jesus is amongst His people. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out. He was, in fact, the only son of his mother. Luke is quick to point out that this woman who had lost her only son was a widow. This was not her first funeral. This was not the first funeral of someone who was close to her and someone whom she loved. Her husband was already dead. He could not take care of her. And now, her only son, likewise, dead. Who would take care of her? Who could she rely on? Who would go work in the fields, build her a house, comfort her in her grief? Not her dead husband or her dead son, because they’re both dead. All she can do is weep. 

Can you imagine her grief and her weeping as she followed along in this funeral procession? Some of you probably can. Some of you truly know her grief because you have lost your own beloved. We have widows and widowers in this congregation and they know. They know. They understand. They can empathize with this widow from the town of Nain. They know the pain and the heartache and the suffering that their beloved spouses endured, whether that was because they were dying with cancer in a hospice bed, a long-drawn-out battle, or even something such as a sudden heart attack. 

At the same time, there are members of this congregation, some of you, some of you sitting in the pews here today, who know and have experienced the very real pain of moving on, of living out this life, even though your child is dead, whether that be because a car accident took them away from you or because of an illness or a miscarriage or whatever it was. And so perhaps you also know the anguish of this widow from Nain, who lost her only son. There is a time for weeping.

But behold, here comes Jesus, walking into town. When He saw her, He had compassion on her. She was weeping. And she was right to do so. For Solomon says that there a time for everything. Now was her time to weep. She was weeping for her dead son and also, most likely, her dead husband. Now was her time to weep. But Jesus interrupts this funeral procession and says to her, “Do not weep.” Then He came and touched the open coffin and said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And so, he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And Jesus reunited him with his mother. It would be like if we were processing out to the walker cemetery for the graveside service in our cars and Jesus happens to show up and meets us out by the Central City Highway intersection and interrupts our procession to the cemetery.

We believe in the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting. We know, we believe with absolute certainty, as the center of our hope, that we will be reunited with all of our loved ones on the Last Day. They will be given back to us. We will see them again, laugh with them again, hug them once again. We will not forget them. We will remember them. And in the perfection and bliss of heaven, we will actually know them and love them better and in a surer way than we did here. Because in heaven, we will be confirmed and seals in perfection, like the holy angels. We will know and love our loved ones better at that time than we ever could here on earth. That is something we look forward to.

But Jesus does here, in a sense, is speed up that process for the widow of Nain. She gets her son back early—something that will happen to us as well eventually, when Jesus comes again. And He does this to show that He is the God of the living. God is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living. This is what Jesus says when He gets into the debate with the Sadducees about the widow who had seven husbands but they all died. “Who will be her husband in heaven?” They ask. The Sadducees deny the Resurrection. That’s why they’re asking this question. Jesus tells them, “You’re wrong.” Jesus knows they’re asking this because they deny the Resurrection, so He reminds them about Moses and the burning bush. And so also He reminds them of the name that God gave to Moses. God tells Moses in the burning bush, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He doesn’t say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but then they all died and because of that I’m not their God anymore because they’re not alive to praise me anymore.” He says, “I am, I still am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are alive in Me. Death has been changed to only a portal, by which we pass through into eternal life—a life greater than the one we live now. And so also, I am the God,” He says, “of your dead husband, your dead wife, and of your dead children because they are alive in Me.”

Jesus is the God of the living, which means He is still the God of those who have died in Him. Because those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, still believe in Him. And He is not the God of the living, making those who have fallen asleep in Him alive simply because He’s all-powerful or all-wise or all-loving, though He is. He is the God of those who have died in Him because Jesus died. Jesus died but Jesus lives. So everyone who falls asleep in Jesus truly lives.

That’s what this miracle shows us. This is why Jesus touched the open coffin. He takes on all ceremonially uncleanness into Himself so that the boy might be raised back to life and come out of the coffin. The boy comes out of the coffin so that Jesus can get in. Because if Jesus raises someone from the dead, someone must take his place. A payment must be made. So Jesus Himself takes his place, takes your place, takes your spouse’s and your child’s place.

And so likewise, in a similar manner, later, after Jesus dies, Joseph of Arimathea gives up his tomb. But that’s no real sacrifice. It’s not like the Widow’s Mite—some great act of generosity. Since Jesus died, Joseph doesn’t need it. Jesus has taken his place in death. Death is now just a portal that leads to life. Jesus has taken your place in death. But Jesus is not dead. Jesus lives.

“I am the resurrection and the life,” says the Lord. “He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” He has taken your place. He has robbed the grave. Death has no sting. The grave has no victory.

In +Jesus’ name.