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And it came about soon afterwards that He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large multitude. Now as he approached the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt, and he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. And fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us,” and “God has visited His people.”  Luke 7.11-16 NASB

WidowofNainWhen Jesus raised the widow of Nain’s son the effect upon the crowd leaving the city, and the crowd entering it was fear.  They were “gripped” with fear. I must admit His actions that day have an opposite effect on me. Few episodes from His life make Him more real, and more accessible to me than the handing of this young man back to his mother.

            I was thinking about this last Wednesday night as Greg Scates did a masterful job presenting this passage during our summer series. He compared this resurrection account with Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son in I Kings 17. There were many similarities and some glaring differences.  The biggest difference, of course, is the lengths Elijah has to go to raise the Widow of Zarephath’s son, and how Jesus only has to say “Get Up!” I thought of another difference – a detail that makes this resurrection story different from all others.  The raising of this young man is unsolicited.  Jesus just does it because He cares and He can.

            Jesus sees a woman crying and like almost any other man he feels compelled to make it better – to do something to fix it. It is very much like the moment at Bethany when Mary falls weeping at his feet in John 11. Jesus shakes and cries and says “Where have you laid him?”  There was none of the theological discourse he had with Martha – just a visceral reaction and a need to act. Jesus is God and can raise the dead. Jesus is a man, who responds the way most any man would.  I hear Jesus say “Don’t Cry,” and then fix things and I feel closer to him as a man, as a disciple, as a younger brother.

            When I was 22 and conducting my first funeral I chose this passage as my text. It was a funeral for a man I didn’t know – who had been estranged from his family in Ohio for decades, but who was back in Ohio to be buried.  I told this story and said that we all have different relationships with each other, and we all have different relationships with Jesus, but that there is one constant – that Jesus cares. I told them that whatever they were feeling that day Jesus understood, and he cared.  What is more, Jesus was waiting to address their most urgent needs. I thought to use that passage in a moment of panic and desperation, thinking that if I was more mature I would have something better to say.

            Thirty years later I haven’t thought of anything better to say. I have used this passage many times since, always with the same effect: a sure sense that Jesus is present, and that He cares.  There is no fear in that, in fact it has the opposite effect.

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