This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am
Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
And [Jesus] said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
Prayer: May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Today in our reading, we have a wonderful passage where we read about Jesus raising a young man from the dead. This passage touches upon a number of articles of faith for us as Christians. For example, we realise that this passage makes an amazing claim about a historical event that happened, and so this passage touches on the fact that we believe that the Scripture is infallible or inerrant or without errors.
Over the last couple of centuries or so, there has been much debate in churches, and also in the Lutheran Church, about the topic of the inerrancy of the Bible. This debate is about whether the Bible has mistakes in it or not. Now, we believe—and Lutherans have always believed—that the bible is without errors and mistakes. And this is not to say, that we don’t realise, sometimes when we read the bible, that there are some things or some claims that we don’t understand, or that we don’t know how it all works out. Of course, we sometimes scratch our head and ask, “How could that be?” But a lot then depends upon our attitude toward the Scripture. Do we simply say: “Oh well, you can’t trust the bible on everything”, or, “oh well, the bible has mistakes, and that’s it”? Or do we actually trust that God knows better than us, knowing that there are all kinds of things that we don’t know, and that we might never know in this life?
Here in our reading, we have a claim that is completely beyond our comprehension, that Jesus raised a man from the dead. And this is not the only time something similar to this is written about. Of course, many people in our world today would find this difficult to believe. However, instead of scoffing and ridiculing, we should turn to Jesus himself and realise that he is a person who is far beyond our understanding in every way imaginable. In fact, we confess that he is both true man and true God in the one person. So what happens in our reading today completely leaves us in awe and complete and total amazement. If this is what Jesus can do, and which he actually did do 2000 years ago, what do you think he can do amongst us?
There are so many things that are part of our regular liturgy week after week, that simply give voice to this amazement and awe. If Jesus has the power over death and life, then it is no wonder that we come to him confessing our sins. No wonder we call out, “Lord have mercy.” If Jesus has to power over life and death in such a way that bring such incredible joy and strength to people, and to completely change people’s sorrow into complete and utter happiness and rejoicing, no wonder we say, “Glory to God in the highest! Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the highest!”
Just think about the greeting we say before the prayers: The Lord be with you. The same Lord who raised this man from the dead is with you. Can you imagine what this even begins to mean for us as Christians? Can you fathom it?
Actually, in the Old Testament, we also read about Elijah and Elisha raising people from the dead. In the Gospels, we read about Jesus raising people from the dead on three different occasions. For example, there is this event in our Gospel reading, where Jesus raises the widow’s son from the town of Nain. There is also an occasion where Jesus raises from the dead the twelve-year-old daughter of a man called Jairus. And, also there is an occasion where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, who was dead already for four days, who was the brother of Mary and Martha. But then, also, all of these events point to the central claim of the New Testament, that Jesus himself who died on Good Friday, was raised from the dead three days later. We know as Christians that nothing like this normally happens in every day life in the lives of most people, both now and throughout history. But this is the hope that we cling to as Christians, not just that this is possible, that it can be done, but that is has been done, and that it will be done again. So let’s ask the Holy Spirit to increase our faith, so that we are not ashamed to believe in what we think is humanly impossible, but trust what the word of God says in a simple, child-like way, about the resurrection.
In our reading today, it says: Soon afterwards [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who has died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her.
There are a few little details that Luke and the Holy Spirit tell us about this event. We see that there were a lot of people there: there were a lot of people following Jesus, and there were a lot of people following the mother of the dead man who were attending the funeral. Jesus had a large following, and also the funeral they encountered was a large funeral. And there’s a reason for these large crowds. Firstly, Jesus was an amazing person, and the amazing things he taught and the amazing things he was doing gathered a crowd. But also, the death of this young man was a great tragedy. The man had died in the prime of life, and his mother had already buried her husband. So the news of this great tragedy had spread, and people had gathered in large crowds because of this terrible event.
But then these two crowds meet. One crowd has a dead man at the front, one crowd has the author of life at the front. One crowd is a crowd of tears and of sadness, one crowd is a crowd of joy and of rejoicing.
What happens? We also read that this man was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. These details have a cultural significance for the people of that time that is a bit different to us. At one time, this woman had a family of three: herself, her husband and her son. But now she is alone. In our culture, this would also be a terrible thing. But in those days, widows were especially vulnerable, because unless you had someone to look after you and provide for you, like the lady’s son, then she was in real danger of becoming quite poor or homeless. In the New Testament, there are many passages, especially in St Paul’s letters to Timothy, where Christians are told to look after widows. Today, in Australia, widows are not quite in the same need to be cared for as back then. But in those days, widows were very vulnerable people.
What’s amazing in our reading today is that nobody asked Jesus to do anything. In many passages where we read about Jesus performing miracles, we read that people came and presented themselves to him, or that they specifically asked him for something, and that Jesus then answered their request. But here in our reading today, nobody asks him to do anything. There were plenty of people with Jesus, and there were plenty of people with the woman. But nobody on either side of the fence asked Jesus if there was anything that he could do about the situation.
And I think it is fair to say that the same is often the case for us. We Christians, we who are part of the crowd who are following Jesus, and those who are unbelievers, who are part of a crowd who are following death, often don’t ask Jesus for anything in many situations. Here in the face of death, perhaps nobody expected him to be able to do anything about it. After all, death is death. Once it’s done, it’s done, isn’t it?
But here in our reading, Jesus gives tremendous strength to his words: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. We often don’t ask Jesus for things when we can’t already see his answer. When we have our own answer in mind, then we ask him, because then we think that something is possible. But when the answer to our problem is impossible, we don’t ask. Is there some impossible thing in your life that don’t you talk to Jesus about, that you don’t ask him about, because you think he’s weak and stingy and powerless, weak and stingy and powerless just like you? Don’t look to yourself! You’re not God, but He is.
Anyway, in our reading, prayer has nothing to do with it. There is no faith like grains of mustard seeds in our reading asking for mountains to be moved. What happens in our reading is that mountains are moved anyway. And this is a wonderful thing. Jesus doesn’t simply wait for weak, stammering, stuttering people, he doesn’t wait for the mustard seeds to appear. He simply acts. He simply does his thing. Nothing in this reading depended on anyone looking to him, it all depended on him looking to them. We read: When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her.
The gift of Jesus’ compassion is a truly a wonderful gift beyond anything that we can fathom or imagine with our tiny, puny minds. Whether or not, we have a dead son in front of us is not the point. We have all kinds of things in front of us that are dead. We carry around with us a dead, sinful, human heart. We live in a dying, dead world, infected by sin. We live amongst dead people in a world of death. In the midst of life we are in death. And so, the most wonderful gift that we can receive in this life, is to know Jesus, and his compassion, and to know his compassionate heart. Everything we have in this life is a result of his perfect and wonderful compassion.
Look in our reading too: Jesus has compassion upon the woman before he has done anything. We often ask the question: If Jesus is so compassionate, why doesn’t he do something? Why doesn’t he do something for me? Well, what you have is Jesus. What you have is his compassion. What you have is the sure promise that he has directed his gaze and his eyes upon you. In the Magnificat, that wonderful hymn or song that Mary sung during her pregnancy, it says: He has looked on the humble estate of his servant. He has looked! Amazing – at that time, there were all these rulers, Caesars, governors, tetrarchs, and all kinds of people, all of whom history has completely forgotten and for all intents and purposes knows nothing about anymore. But in a little kitchen somewhere, there were two pregnant women, Mary and Elizabeth, who were having afternoon tea together, a cup of coffee, with some scones, jam and cream, or something. Who knows! And Mary says that the God of heaven and earth has looked not on all the big-wigs in the world, the huffers and the puffers who want to blow people’s houses down, but on the humble estate of his servant. And even at that time, Jesus hadn’t even done anything yet. He was just growing in her womb. He hadn’t healed any lepers, he hadn’t died, risen, ascended, or anything!
So don’t worry about what Jesus hasn’t done yet. The fact is, he is with you, he has compassion, he looks upon you in your humble estate, even though nobody else in the world gives a brass razoo about you, or bothers to look upon you in your humble estate. The fact is: he does, and that’s all that matters. And he is the all-compassionate One, He is compassion itself, He is compassion through-and-through. We don’t even know what compassion is until we have met Him, and even then we still can’t comprehend it in all its greatness and its magnitude.
So, we read that Jesus has compassion on her, and he says to her: Do not weep. This is just like a father or a mother with a little child who is upset about something, and we say: Don’t cry. Jesus does something similar with this woman. But people must have thought it was crazy. Obviously, she had every reason for crying. She had nothing anymore. Her whole family was now dead.
But Jesus says this, do not weep, don’t cry, not because he doesn’t care. It’s not as if Jesus is annoyed by people who cry. No—it’s because he is about to show to her the wonderful reason why she doesn’t need to cry. Jesus is not just compassion itself, but also he is hope! With Jesus there is always something special about to happen in the future, the kind of thing that gives us joy, and not dread. When Jesus tells the woman not to weep, he calls everyone who believes in him to wait for something that is about to happen. Often in our Christian life, we are called to wait. The Psalm says: Wait for the Lord! Be strong and let your heart take courage! Wait for the Lord! We look at ourselves and we see our weakness and our hearts being fearful. But then Jesus comes and he says to us: Do not weep. Don’t worry about all that. You have me, and when you have me, you have everything. Just wait with me now, and see what’s going to happen.
So we read: Then [Jesus] came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Here we see the wonderful gift of the resurrection! Today many Christians who come to church don’t believe in the resurrection, and this is a terrible thing. We confess the resurrection from the dead every day and every week in the creed. Luther also puts this very nicely in the Small Catechism: On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
In Ezekiel, we read about the prophet being taken to a valley of dry bones, and God asks him: Son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel says: Lord, you know.
Yes, the Lord Jesus not only knows, but he has done it! He has even done it to himself, and we believe, as St Paul says, that he is not the last person to rise from the dead, but the firstfruits of those who will rise from the dead.
The body that we have is not some kind of throwaway thing, it is not the chip packet that we throw away after we’re done with the chips. God created the body and the soul. When we die, our soul is separated from the body, and we say that we go to be with Jesus, just as he said to the thief: Today, you will be with me in Paradise. But then also, there will be a resurrection from the dead on the Last Day, and for us who believe in Christ, this resurrection will be a wonderful healing of our bodies. Our souls will be reunited with our bodies, but in such a way that that our bodies will be completely transfigured and glorified. They will not stink of death anymore, and there will be none of the ailments, the diseases, the frailties, the weaknesses, and everything that we have had to deal with in this earthly life. We read in Philippians that Jesus Christ… will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.
That’s why at the Lord’s Supper, we say: The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy precious blood strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life eternal. The body and blood of Jesus is given to us even here on this side of the grave to strengthen us in the hope of the resurrection. Even in the meantime, we read in Romans: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. What a wonderful comfort and a wonderful promise!
We read at the end of our reading, that Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
These words are very profound and rich, and we could still talk about them another day. The people make a really wonderful confession about who Jesus is. They say: A great prophet has arisen among us! He has come from among us, he’s a true man, a true human being, just like the rest of us. He came from a carpenter’s family, he’s an everyday guy like one of us, and yet he’s become a great prophet!
But also, they say: God has visited his people! He is not only a true man, but Jesus is actually also true God, and in this person, Jesus Christ, God visits his people. Jesus is both a true man, a great prophet who arose among those people, but he is also true God who visited his people. This is our wonderful comfort and joy as Christians!
So, as his baptised people, we should take great encouragement from this little event that happened so many years ago. Let’s commend ourselves—we who are weak, we who are even dead, spiritually dead and physically dying—to Him, and let us trust Him, our compassionate Jesus, to make us alive, to make us living Christians with a living hope, who will live eternally with Him who lives eternally! St Paul says at one point in 2 Corinthians: We were so burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. Amen.
And the peace of God which
passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds safe in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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