Luke 7:11-17
11 Now it happened, the day after, that [Jesus] went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. 12 And when He came near 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 large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. 16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.” 17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
Lord God, heavenly Father, You sent Your Son to be made flesh, that by His death He might atone for our sins and deliver us from eternal death: We pray, confirm in our hearts the hope that our Lord Jesus Christ, who with but a word raised the widow’s son, in like manner will raise us on the last day and grant us eternal life. Amen.
It’s not often that we get to talk about death, directly, outside of a Christian funeral. Yet, our text for today highlights the importance of the sobering reality that we do not know when death will overtake us. “When Jesus came near the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.”
Death is not a respecter of persons. And even though it is “normal” to die when we reach a ripe old age, there are all kinds of exceptions to that which is normal. This should remind us of the reason for which we die in the first place. “In the day you eat of it, you will surely die.” Death is the consequence of the sin of Adam, our first father, and because he disobeyed God’s voice and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we too will taste physical death even if our sin doesn’t reach the level of Adam’s sin. 1 And again we read, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.” 2 And St. Paul warns, “The wages of sin is death.” 3 Humans are brought into this world deserving of death, judgement, and everlasting condemnation for all that they have done wrong. They have inherited not only Adam’s punishment, but they’ve also inherited Adam’s appetite or desire to do wrong, as well as the desire to do right for the wrong reason. Mankind’s natural ability and desire to do good 1 Rom 5:14 (NKJV)
2 1 Cor 10:13
3 Rom 6:23 a
was completely corrupted in the fall and because of that, we have no right to expect any good thing from a just and perfect God.
So, the question we are prone to ask when death and tragedy strikes is as follows, “How could God allow this to happen?” Or “How can God be good if he allows evil in the world?” Instead, we should direct our thoughts toward the fact that even a millisecond of our lives is filled with more blessings by God than we can number. Every second we remain alive we receive more blessings than we deserve. But this is not something the unconverted individual can recognize. “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 4
It is natural to have questions for God, but our questions should be guided by what Scripture reveals instead of by a mind that has been indoctrinated by the world and the sinful flesh. The psalmist rightly laments to God about all the evil in the world and the evils he is personally experiencing, but in the midst of his lament, the psalmist ends his complaints knowing the ways in which God has provided. We hear such an example in the words of Psalm 13,
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4 Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Because we are God’s children, we are tempted to think that we somehow deserve better than the unbelieving world, but is that really true?We, who know God’s Commandments, are still likely to break them, even though we know better. As St. Paul writes, “[We] would not have known sin except through the law.” 5 The law defines sin, but it doesn’t give us the power to overcome it.
Shouldn’t God then hold His own children who have been taught His will to a higher standard than those who don’t know Him? But the truth for all of us is that death is a great equalizer which levels the playing field. “Death spread to all men, because all sinned.”6 Christians die at no lesser rate than those of the unbelieving world, save the fact that they are less likely to engage in life-endangering behavior. This reminds us that even 4 1 Cor 2:14
5 Rom 7:7
6 Rom 5:12
if we act and live better than those around us we are still guilty and deserving of death just like the rest of them, because all mankind will return to the dust. As we heard earlier, “The wages of sin is death.” It stands to reason then that if we are destined for death, surely we have sinned and earned death through our sins, just as the prophet Ezekiel proclaims, “The soul who sins shall die.”7 But because of Jesus, death no longer has the last word over those who trust in Jesus as St. Paul proclaims, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 8
Just as Jesus had compassion on the widow at Nain who lost her only son, God in Christ, has had compassion on us because of our predicament. We were born spiritually dead and enemies of God, we deserve physical death and eternal separation from a perfect, holy, and just God. Yet, “When we were still without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.”9 God sent His only Son to suffer and die in our place, so that we would not have to suffer and die everlastingly. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”10
So even though we deserve death and judgement, Jesus interrupts our funeral processions to present us to our rightful mother, the church. He presents us to His church as a spotless bride which no sin can corrupt. In Holy Baptism, He cleanses us and makes us children of God. With the absolution, He reminds us that all our sins have been forgiven and He points us to the cleansing we received in our baptism. In the Lord’s Supper, He feeds us with His own body and blood which He sacrificed for us on the cross for the forgiveness of sins to nourish our faith and cause it to grow. Through these means of grace, He showers upon us what we so desperately need to assure us that our sins are forgiven and where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation.
But how does the Gospel comfort our troubled hearts in the midst of death and tragedy? Not only do we see from the Gospel lesson Jesus’ almighty power over death, but we also know that Jesus rose triumphant from the grave to never die again. “He is not here, He is risen.” 11 The young man at Nain had to go through physical death a second time, but death for the Christian has lost its sting because Jesus satisfied the righteous demands of the law and paid the price for our disobedience. Paul writes in the letter to the Christians in Corinth, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 12
7 Ez 18:4
8 Rom 6:23
9 Rom 5:6
10 Rom 5:8
11 Ma< 28:6
12 1 Cor 15:3-4
“Because Christ is indeed risen from the dead, he has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For since by man came death, by the Man [Jesus Christ] also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”13 This means that the grave is a peaceful resting place for the bodies of all those who die with faith in Christ. Thomas Kingo in his famous Easter hymn “Like the Golden Sun Ascending” expresses this truth in the following way,
2. Thanks to Thee, O Christ victorious!
Thanks to Thee, O Lord of life!
Death hath now no power o’er us,
Thou hast conquered in the strife.
Thanks because Thou didst arise
And hast opened Paradise!
None can fully sing the glory
Of the resurrection story.
8. Unto life Thou shalt arouse me
By Thy resurrection’s pow’r;
Though the hideous grave shall house me,
And my flesh the worms devour;
Fire and water may destroy
My frail body, yet with joy
I shall rise as Thou hast risen
From the deep sepulchral prison.
9. Grant me grace, O blessed Savior,
And Thy Holy Spirit send
That my walk and my behavior
May be pleasing to the end;
That I may not fall again
Into death’s grim pit and pain,
Whence by grace Thou hast retrieved me
And from which Thou hast relieved me