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3. Sunday after Pentecost, 06/09/2013
Sermon on Luke 7:11-17 (RSV), by David M. Wendel
"Tears of Grief and Tears of Joy"
[11] Soon afterward he went to a city called Na'in, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. [12] As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died 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] And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." [14] And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." [15] And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. [16] Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!"[17] And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Dark and Dismal Reality
There is certainly much in this gospel account that tugs at our heart-strings. First, is there any situation in life more sad than the death of a child before the parent. In my 32 years of ministry, there are few more gut-wrenching moments than when a parent sobs in the pastor's arms saying, "Pastor, it's not supposed to be this way. A child shouldn't die before the parent!" And truly, that's not the way it's "supposed" to happen. But then, if that weren't enough, the grieving mother is a widow! There might be some comfort to be had by mother and father who can cling to each other in their time of loss. But no, in this instance, the mother is a widow, having already suffered the loss of her husband. In Jewish culture and religion, a woman with no husband and no son would be without hope-seemingly abandoned by God, for some perceived sin or disobedience. A woman with no husband or son had no standing in Judaism, so that she would often have no recourse but to become a beggar, or a prostitute. And finally, this woman was now totally alone, because this was the only son of the mother. So that this woman's situation reaches through the ages, to touch our hearts today, in much the same way that it surely touched the hearts of those who, in her day, walked with her and wailed with her, as her only son was carried out. There are lots of tragedies in human life, and lots of occasions for tears, but none so terrible as this-in all the fullness of its dark and dismal reality.
"Don't Weep?"
And while we hesitate to ever sound as if we're judging, or criticizing the Lord Jesus, doesn't it strike us as troubling, that Jesus says to the woman, "Do not weep." If I were walking alongside that woman, and someone had come up to her, or to any parent in a similar situation, and said, "Don't cry..." I might've hauled off and-pushed them out of the way-for such an insensitive and uncaring comment. Don't cry? Woman, don't weep? Why would anyone say such a thing? And yet, people say such things all the time, don't they? Grief stricken folks often suffer such rude comments, after the viewing or the funeral, which we can only chalk up to mourners who are uncomfortable and unsure what else to say, so they say things like, "well, you can have another child, can't you..." or "well, I guess God needed your child more than you..." Insensitive, uncaring comments are often uttered at the graveside, unfortunately.
Jesus Has Compassion...on Her and Us
But's that's not the situation, in this situation, with Jesus, is it? Because Luke tells us that when Jesus saw the woman, he was not oblivious to her grief, or uncaring that she had lost her only son. No, Jesus saw her-and knew what this meant for her and for her future-Luke tells us Jesus had compassion on her-and could say, "do not weep", not to stifle her feelings or emotions. Jesus could say, "do not weep", not to ignore what she was suffering, but he could say this because he knew what he was about to do-and how it would change this woman's life, and restore her future, and give her hope and meaning to life, once again. For after saying, "Woman, do not weep", Jesus came and touched the dead son's pallet, caring not that this would make him ritually unclean, caring not a whit what the Jewish rules and regulations said about not touching death, caring only for the woman, in her grief. And Jesus said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!" And behold, the dead son did arise-he stood up, and spoke, and Jesus gave him-returned him to his mother! And that's why Jesus said to the woman, ‘do not weep', because death would not have the final word, for the son, or for the mother. And if the woman wept, then, it would've been tears of joy, and hope and promise for the future!
Which causes us to wonder-those of us who have loved and lost-sons and daughters, husbands and wives, close friends. Did Jesus have compassion on us? Did Jesus see and know our loss, and our grief, and how we would struggle and perhaps struggle still, in life? There are times when we are suffering a deep loss, and such accounts in Scripture dig only a deeper hole for us, send us into deeper depression, because we see what Jesus did then, and wonder why he isn't still doing that now? We wonder, why didn't Jesus do for me, what he did for the widow?
Restoration or Resurrection?
The point is, of course, that he does. But permanently. Although our loss seems great and deep, and so it is-the fact of this account from Scripture is that the son was given back to his mother, for a time. Mother and son, would eventually die. There would be more grief, because the son was only restored to the mother, not truly resurrected. For the son's life was restored, until the time of his natural earthly death, which would come sooner or later. Perhaps he would still die before his mother-no one knows! But the message of this account, the good news for us, for you and for me-is that our Lord sees us, and knows us, and has compassion on us-so that he will say to you and to me, "I say to you, arise!" And we will arise! We will arise to new life, and to a resurrection life that will never end! Jesus will not simply restore us to life here and now, but after death-He will raise us to new and never-ending life, so that we will never die again. So that we will exist, in Him, forever.
Tears of Grief Replaced by Tears of Joy
And that's why our grief, so deep and so great, finally can be replaced by tears of joy, and hope and promise. Because we know that Jesus Christ is Lord of life and death. Because we know that as Jesus Christ has been raised from death, himself, he was but the first-fruit of those who had died, and would be raised, so that we would have a sure and certain hope in resurrection from death-to live in communion with all those who have died in the Lord, and been raised to new life with Him.
Because Jesus Lives!
Which, I must say, leaves me baffled how so many in our world can continue to reject Jesus Christ, and fail to believe in Him. It leaves me baffled how so many so-called Christians, can call themselves Christians, but deny the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus, and the hope and promise of eternal life that Jesus, risen from death, has won for us! A Jesus who is still dead and buried, like my beloved saintly grandparents, may live in our hearts and minds as we keep the memory of them alive. But that is a very different thing from a Jesus who was truly crucified, dead and buried, but raised by the Father. Raised literally, physically, to be with us always, even to the close of the age. Yes, after seeing Jesus restore the widow's son to life, Luke tells us, "Fear seized them all-but still they glorified God, saying, ‘A prophet has arisen among us-and God has visited his people!" The people didn't know exactly what had happened, but they did know, and believe, and testify to the fact that the Lord had visited his people. And because Jesus is risen, God continues to visit his people. God continues to give us encouragement, and strength and comfort and yes, hope-because the Lord of death and life-lives, and is with us, and will be with us in death, to say, "Arise!" And we will rise. We will be resurrected unto life everlasting. May that hope and promise for the future, give to us the courage to live, and live fully, today-because Jesus lives!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.