THE RAISING OF THE WIDOW’S SON

This next miracle takes place in a city called Nain. This town was located a good 25 miles away from Capernaum on the edge of the Plain of Esdraelon. The name Nain in Hebrew meant "Pleasant Place" and was said by the rabbis to be a reference to the promise given to Issachar that he would inherit a land that was pleasant (Genesis 49:14-15).

As Jesus traveled up from the Sea of Galilee, He came at last to this small town. It is here that Life would meet Death. A mourning woman who once brought a son into the world is mourning the departure of that son. And the Son of God who brought all things into being would now intervene.

Notice how the passage begins: Soon afterwards. It takes place on the heels of the account of the healing of the Centurion’s servant. We are meant to notice a contrast between the two accounts.

Here is the point of the comparison. Jesus did not play favorites. He was willing to reach out to every spectrum of society. Rich and poor. Men and women. The high and the low. He came for all.

Can you imagine the scene? There are two crowds approaching the gate of the city. They are coming from opposite directions and they are characterized by two entirely different moods. The crowd with Jesus is joyful and jubilant. They have seen the power of God at work in a very mighty way. Not only has the Lord been glorified among the Jews, but even Gentile Centurions have also come to pay Him homage and to recognize His authority.

The other crowd is made up of the people of Nain. They have come for a different purpose. They are mourners accompanying a widow and the body of her son. They are headed for a tomb. Leading the procession would be the women. Tradition had it that they would lead because Eve had led the human race into sin. Behind would come the other mourners and finally the funeral bier on which lay the deceased.

Being a widow is difficult in any age. The woman had lost both her husband as well as her only son. There was no social security in that day and employment opportunities for women were virtually non-existent. In losing her son, this woman had lost everything.

We do not read anything about this woman’s faith. There is no mention of any entreaty she might have made. She had done nothing to merit a miracle. Instead Jesus took the complete initiative.

Why? What motivated Him to act? Luke says that he felt compassion for her. She had a deep need and He moved to fill that need.

"Do not weep." This has been said far too often at funerals. It is the wrong thing to say. Grief at a funeral is entirely appropriate. Death is an enemy and the death of a loved one is a great loss. Nevertheless, Jesus told her not to weep. He alone had every right to tell her this because only He could remove the cause for her grief.

The actions of Jesus were highly unusual. First of all, He touched the coffin. This would have made Him ceremonially unclean. For a Jew to touch the dead was to come into contact with that which defiled. Jesus is going to take the deadness that defiles and turn it into life.

Now He addresses Himself, not to the mother or to those bearing the coffin, but to the one in the coffin. He tells him to arise. The healing seems to have been immediate. This was no comatose patient. He came to life and began to speak. I wonder what he had to say.

What Jesus did for this young man, He will one day do for all of His people. There is coming a day when the Son shall command all to arise and they shall come from the grave.

Jesus had performed a number of miracles up to this time, but this was the first time he had ever raised the dead. There are only three occasions where Jesus is described as having performed such a miracle.

The response of the people to this miracle was that fear gripped them all. A lot of commentators want to pass this fear off as being merely awe and reverence. It certainly included those emotions. But there were other terms that could have been used to describe those things. Instead we read that they experienced fear.

Why fear? Because they realized that Jesus was someone who was different. They realized that God had drawn near. They realized that the supernatural was at work in a way they could not possibly understand. And the result was awe and reverence and fear.

That will always be our response when we come into contact with the presence of God. That was the response of Isaiah. You remember his experience. He was given a vision of the Lord sitting upon a throne with Seraphim standing about Him.

Do you see his reaction? It was one of fear. Here is the point. If you have come into the presence of the Lord and have not felt just a bit of fear, then you have not come into the presence of the Lord.

In C. S. Lewis’ classic Narnia Chronicles, he introduces Aslan, the Christ-figure, when the children ask whether Aslan is a man:

That is a fitting illustration of the Lord. He cannot be accused of being "safe." But He is good and holy and just and gracious and full of compassion. When you have come to the point of fearing Him, you have taken the first step toward true wisdom.