As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.
Here Jesus happens upon a widow on the way to bury her son. Nothing unusual about this, but His reaction is - When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
Jesus doesn’t stand respectfully at a distance. Instead He does what at first seems very ill-mannered – He interrupts the funeral!
Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
It has been our sad duty to attend many burials. What would have been our reaction if something like this happened at one of them?
They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people."
The people that day experienced an astounding miracle! But today we know something they didn’t. We know about Jesus’ resurrection!
This event portends Jesus’ intention to provide a resurrection from the dead for every person who trusts in Him. This is the Christian hope!
Such a hope is foreign to millions living without knowledge of Jesus. This was the case behind the Iron Curtain during the Soviet Era.
Typically, as the deceased’s coffin was lowered into the grave, each person respectfully tossed in a handful of dirt with the words – Goodbye Comrade.
To them, death marked the end of the road. The final stop! Goodbye.
Jesus turned the widow’s mourning into joy. He conquers death. That’s why every Christian spells hope – JESUS!
It is interesting to me that this is one instance where people didn't bring a problem to Jesus - but instead, he reaches out.
ReplyDeleteUsually people brought their lame and sick to him. Mary and Martha had called for Jesus, because Lazarus was sick.
Here, Jesus is simply walking up to the city when out comes this funeral procession. No one asks him to heal or raise this man.
But Jesus sees, and knows. This is a widow, who has no husband to support her. The ony son of this woman was not merely her last family, it was her last financial support as well.
Are we willing to reach out to the hurting? Are we willing to enter uncomfortable situations? Are we bold enough to step in when it's not really any of our business, even if we could help?
Jesus did.
And we should be striving to be more like him, right?