Luke 07.11-17 What we will study this morning
in The
Meeting of Life and Death…01. His
Compassion (Luke
07.11-13); 02. His Touch (Luke 07.14-15);
and 03. His Glory (Luke 07.16-17).
01. His Compassion (Luke 07.11-13)
Luke 07.11 “Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain”
It is interesting to note that in the Gospels only Dr. Luke records this
account that we are going to study today, and this is the only place in the
Bible where the city of Nain is mentioned. The phrase “Soon afterwards” brings us back to
the healing of the centurion’s servant that we studied last time (Luke 07.01-10
| Who is Worthy). The phrase “Soon afterwards”
means an indefinite time, but it seems to suggest that this took place was only
a few days after the healing of the centurion’s servant.
Nain is a tiny village about twenty-five miles southwest of Capernaum,
and about six miles from Nazareth and its name means “pleasant”. Nain was in
the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19.17-23). Issachar was the fifth son
born to Jacob and Leah (Genesis 30.17-18) and Jacob’s ninth son
overall. In Genesis
49.14-15, Jacob, on his deathbed gave a prophecy for each of his
sons. Regarding Issachar, Jacob said that he is likened to a strong donkey,
just content to rest in the pleasant pastoral environment that the tribe had no
will to fight for independence and later were invaded by enemies (Genesis
49.14-15). Nain is nestled up against a hill, and on the other side
of that hill was the village Shunem, which is where Elisha raised the young man
from the dead (2Kings
04.08-37). About three miles away was the village of Endor, which is
where Saul came to the witch right before his last battle against the
Philistines, who were camped in Shunem (1Samuel 28.03-25; 1Samuel 31.01-13).
Luke 07.11 “and His disciples were going along with Him,
accompanied by a large crowd.” Jesus, his disciples and a large
group of people made a full day’s journey from Capernaum to this small village
of Nain.
Luke 07.12 “Now as He approached the gate of the city, a
dead man was being carried out” Most cities at this time were surrounded
by walls for protection, though there are some of think that Nain didn’t have
walls because of its small size. Even if it didn’t have walls, it would have a
gate. The gate of the city was usually opened during the day so that people can
come and go as needed, and it is there at the gate where the elders of the city
would meet to judge and settle matters (Genesis 19.01; Deuteronomy 25.07-10; Ruth 04.01-11;
Isaiah 29.21),
transactions made and people would come to socialize there.
The Jewish people never buried their dead in the cities for
they were commanded in the Law that anyone touching a dead person was unclean
and had to remain outside the city for seven days (Leviticus 21.01; Numbers 05.02;
Numbers
19.11-22; Numbers 31.19). The only people that were
buried in the city were the kings and other important people (1Samuel 28.03; 1Kings 02.10;
1Kings 11.43;
1Kings 14.31).
This must have been in the late afternoon or evening, because it was a full
day’s journey from Capernaum to Nain, and typically they buried the dead the
same day that they died.
Luke 07.12 “the only son of his mother, and she was a widow”
To make matters worse was that this dead man was the only son of his mother,
and she was a widow. At that time, widows had no way of being able to provide
for them. The death of an only son was the epitome of grief in the Old
Testament. Jeremiah exhorted Israel to “put on sackcloth And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only
son, A lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer (Babylon) Will come upon
us.” (Jeremiah 06.26) In Amos 08.10
the LORD warns of a coming judgment on Israel that would be “like a
time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter
day.” The LORD in Zechariah 12.10 compares Israel’s future
mourning over her rejection of Jesus as that for the death of an only son: “I will pour
out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of
grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep
bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
Luke 07.12 “and a sizeable crowd from the city was with
her.” This crowd would have been made up of family members, those
who knew the family, possibly some professional mourners. Leading the group
would be a herald proclaiming the good deeds of the dead man. After the herald,
there would be women, and this was a custom found only in Galilee, because as they
taught that it was woman who had introduced death into the world. The dead
would be carried on an open coffin, more like a stretcher and brought outside
the city to be buried. Following the dead, there would be the relatives,
friends, and musicians playing on flutes and cymbals, and others who were
called the “sympathizing multitude”. For it was believed that you were mocking
God the Creator if you didn’t follow the dead to the burial place, applying Proverbs 17.05. (cf.
Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of
Jesus the Messiah [Peabody; Hendrickson, 1993], Bk 03, Ch 20, p382-34,
1.555-58)
Luke 07.13 “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for
her,” As the two great multitudes of people start to converge, Dr.
Luke tells us that when He saw her He was filled with compassion. Many people
have the wrong idea of God, thinking that He is a God of wrath and anger,
seeking out whom He can punish and send to Hell. David tells us “YHWH is
compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”
(Psalm
103.08; see also Exodus 33.19; Exodus 34.06-07; Deuteronomy
04.31; 2Chronicles 30.09; Nehemiah 09.17; Nehemiah 09.31;
Psalm 78.38; Psalm 111.04; Psalm 112.04;
Psalm 116.05;
Lamentations
03.22; Joel 02.13; Jonah 04.02) Jesus,
being the Son of God, displayed compassion all throughout His ministry for He
is “a
merciful and faithful high priest” (Hebrews 02.17). He was not “a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all
things as we are, yet without sin.”
(Hebrews
04.15) because He Himself “has suffered, He is able to come to the
aid of those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 02.18; see also Isaiah 53.04-08)
It was His compassion that when He saw this widow, He was
able to tell her, “Do not weep.” (Luke 07.13) Yet the compassionate
words of Jesus towards this widow would have been cruel if He didn’t have the
power to back them up. Paul tells us that when a loved one in the LORD dies, we
have hope (1Thessalonians
04.13)! On the path that led out of the town and into the burial ground,
we see the meeting of two groups of people. We see the Lord of Life meeting the
son who died. Jewish custom would have mandated that as the two groups meet,
that the group with Jesus would join the procession to the burial ground out of
respect for the dead. (cf.Alfred Edersheim, The
Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Peabody; Hendrickson, 1993], Bk 03, Ch
20, p382, 1.554)
02. His Touch (Luke 07.14-15)
Luke 07.14 “And He came up and touched the coffin; and the
bearers came to a halt.”
Remember, anyone touching a dead person was unclean and had
to remain outside the city for seven days (Leviticus 21.01; Numbers 05.02; Numbers
19.11-22; Numbers 31.19). So for Jesus to touch the
stretcher bearing the dead body would have made Him unclean as well. Jesus was
displaying that He has power over sin and that He was not like the Pharisees
who separated themselves and would go to great lengths to avoid touching the
dead. It is a false religion of pietism that gave their followers the idea that
they were holy when they really weren’t.
Luke 07.14 “And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”” It is interesting to note that Jesus spoke to
this dead man as if he was alive. Now He demonstrates His power over death, for
He has
the power of life and death (Revelation 01.17-18). Paul in Romans 04.17 tells us that God
can only do what Jesus did here by speaking to the dead as if they were alive. Jesus, because He is God, could speak to
that which is dead and bring life to it (John 05.26-29). It should be noted that
nowhere in this account do we read that Jesus was asked to raise this dead man,
and that this miracle was not conditional on the faith of someone. Faith is not
a condition that needs to be met for God’s power to operate. Some of Jesus’
healings involved faith (i.e. the centurion’s servant Luke 07.01-10). To view human faith
as the key to unlocking healing is a lie from the pit of Hell. Faith is always
present in salvation, but not in all healings (John 05.21; John 11.25).
Luke 07.15 “The dead man sat up and began to speak.”
As is always the case when God heals, it was instantaneous and completely. No
need for physical therapy for this man, for he was immediately restored to full
strength. Dr. Luke records that this man “sat up”, a Greek medical word (G339 anakayizw anakathizo) that
is only used by Dr. Luke here and in Acts 09.40. This medical word was used to describe
how the sick would sit up in their bed. When this man “sat up”, it was proof that this man was
now truly alive.
Luke 07.15 “And Jesus
gave him back to his mother.” More than likely this meant that Jesus
took him by the hand and presented the previously dead man to his mother. Jesus
turned the widow’s mourning into dancing (Psalm 30.11; Jeremiah 31.13).
03. His Glory (Luke 07.16-17)
Luke 07.16 “Fear gripped them all,” They were
shocked seeing Jesus raising the dead son of a widow abruptly, which brought
the funeral procession to an end. They were overwhelmed by the power of the Son
of God, as we have seen before in Luke 01.65 (after the birth of John the
Baptist), Luke
05.08 (Peter and the great catch of fish), and Luke 05.26 (the healing of the
paralytic). In response “they began
glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!”” Being
in the town of Nain, they all knew about what Elisha did in Shunem, which was
located on the other side of the hill, when he raised the young man from the
dead (2Kings
04.08-37). So for them to equate Jesus with being a great prophet,
they were comparing him to the two prophets that raised the dead, Elisha and
Elijah (1Kings
17.17-24).
Moses though, foretold of a great prophet coming to Israel
in Deuteronomy
18.15-19. By the time of Jesus, the leaders of Judaism were still
looking for the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy (John 01.19-25). Peter said that
the religious leaders search should have stopped with Jesus (Acts 03.12-26).
Luke 07.16 “and, “God has visited His people!””
This is essentially the same thing that Zacharias the father of John the
Baptist said about the coming Messiah and that He would redeem His people. This
phrase was used throughout the Old Testament to signify that God has come to
help His people (Ruth 01.06; 1Samuel 02.21; Psalm 106.04; Zechariah 10.03).
Let us be reminded that the people of Israel have been in spiritual darkness
for 400 years, for the LORD was silent since Malachi in Malachi 04.05-06. Now they realized that God has indeed
visited His people, for only the Creator can give life to the dead.
Luke 07.17 The
message was more than likely that God had risen up a great prophet who had
shown his calling by raising the dead. The sad truth of this miracle is that
the people missed the point that God was truly in their midst, in the person of
Jesus the Christ. They missed the fact that Jesus was the Great Prophet that
Moses spoke about (Deuteronomy 18.15-19). His compassion
was a comfort to the mourning widow, for “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in
trouble.” (Psalm 46.01) It was at this time that she needed to
hear, “Do
not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your
God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you
with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41.10) and “When you pass through the waters, I will
be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk
through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.”
(Isaiah
43.02) and to be reminded that “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they
comfort me.” (Psalm 23.04) Paul tells us that that
God is “the
Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction
so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the
comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
This widow’s son was dead, just as we were dead in our
sins, before acknowledging Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (Romans 10.09-13). Paul writes “And you were
dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the
spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all
formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But
God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved),” (Ephesians 02.01-05)
