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.
In our Gospel reading today, we read about a well-known event in the life of Jesus, where he raised from the dead a young man, who was the son of a widow from the town of Nain. Now, there are many amazing passages in the Gospels where we read about Jesus raising people from the dead, particularly this passage, but also there is the occasion where a young girl, the daughter of a man called Jairus, is raised from the dead, and also in the Gospel of John, we read a lengthy account there about the raising of a man called Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. And of course, all these events point forward to the wonderful occasion where Jesus himself raises himself from the dead.
Now, as Christians, and especially as Lutheran Christians, we derive all of our teaching from the Scripture, from the bible. And when we pastors go about the task of preaching, we should not preach anything that is not from the Bible, because it is not our word that we preach, but the word of God. Actually, Luther once wrote, that a pastor should never ask for forgiveness after he has preached, because he should not apologise to God for speaking his Word. And he also says, If you can’t say that, you shouldn’t be a preacher.
Now, when we talk about the Scripture, we confess that it is inspired, inerrant, infallible, meaning that the Holy Spirit has given to these different writers the words to speak, and has breathed out the Scripture, and also that the words of the Scripture are without mistakes and errors, and that we can always rely on it to speak to us the facts and the truth. Jesus says: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He also says: Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. We also read in 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. We also read in 2 Peter 1, where it says: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
So, the Holy Scriptures are a totally unique book, and unlike any other book. Each of the books in the bible has a human author, but also because the Holy Spirit inspired them, and gave them the words, and led them along, these words are nothing less than the very Word and words of God. Now, because the Scripture is the Word of God, it also means that there is no mistakes and errors and lies contained in it, because, as Paul writes to Titus: God never lies. We read in Proverbs 30:5: Every word of God proves true. Even Jesus himself says: The Scripture cannot be broken.
However, there is something that we often forget when it comes to the Scripture. When we say that the Scripture is without errors, we also need to remember that the Scripture often recounts to us and reports to us various facts which actually happened sometime in history. And so, as a pastor, I am called to preach to you the Word of God, and sometimes it happens that we study a passage, like our Gospel reading today, and we look at the Greek, and we study it, and all that kind of thing, and then we can get into the pulpit, and say things like: “St Luke is very clever in his use of the past tense in our Gospel reading.” Then a pastor might say to himself, I’ve preached the text, the whole text, and nothing but the text. Now, sure, the grammar, and the way in which sentences are constructed, and studies about how this particular word is used here or there, is a very useful thing.
However, that’s not the main thing we’re called to preach. In our Gospel reading today, there are not just words here on a page, in the Scripture. But these words actually make a claim about history, that something actually happened, in a particular place, and at a particular time, and that particular people were involved. What do I mean? I’m saying, that in our Gospel reading, Jesus raised a man from the dead. He did it, it happened, it happened in history, people saw it, they witnessed it. That’s what happened, and that’s what we’re called to preach.
Take, for example, the Gospel reading about Easter. What does it mean to preach the text on Easter Day? It doesn’t mean that we tell people how Mark or Matthew used the present tense, or how this word in Luke is also used in a similar way by John. All that is interesting, but it’s not the true Christian preaching. The thing we pastors are called to preach on Easter Sunday is the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead.
Now, back to our Gospel reading today. Why I am making such a big point of this? Because there is a terrible thing which has infected and corrupted and is destroying many churches today, which is what we might call “liberal theology”. It is a true cancer. And what it does is separates the words of Scripture from the living and breathing work of the Holy Spirit in history. On the Day of Pentecost, we read that the apostles were filled with the Spirit, and the people say: We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. Did you hear that? The mighty works of God.
And so, reading the Bible for many liberal Christians is no different from reading a fairy story, or some literature, or some plays by Shakespeare. And so, there are many theologians and scholars who know their Hebrew and the Greek very well, but they just don’t believe what the Scripture says, and they don’t believe the claims that the Scripture makes. They will protest and say, “But we take the Scripture very seriously.” Yes, yes, yes—when I was in high school too, I studied Shakespeare, and I enjoyed it, and I took it seriously. I just didn’t believe it. There is a difference between “taking the Scripture seriously”, and believing it. Yes, we should take the Scripture seriously, and we should also believe it.
Now, I’m making a big point of this, because for us in a place like Australia, or any western country like America or England or in Europe, this is our greatest obstacle culturally when it comes to reading the Bible. Many people will come to church in our country, hear it read that Jesus raised a man from the dead, but they won’t believe it. They will think: what does this passage mean for me? How is it relevant for my everyday life? How does this passage relate to me personally? And in asking these questions, they have completely missed the point, that this event happened, and that Jesus did it.
Let us pray to our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who is the true leader and Head of the church, our faithful Saviour and our God, that he may fill us with the Holy Spirit and with his gifts, so that our eyes may be opened as we read the Scriptures, and that any scales from our own presuppositions and culture would be removed, and that the precious truths of the Gospel would not be veiled from us. Rather, we ask that the Jesus would fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that our eyes and ears would be opened, in fact that our whole bodies and souls would be raised from the dead and brought out of darkness into light, and that we would be attentive and take notice of these precious things, that we would savour and treasure them, just like we had found a treasure hidden in a field, or a pearl of great price. Come Lord Jesus! Come Holy Spirit! As we say in the Gloria: You alone are holy, you alone are Lord, you alone, O Christ, with the Holy Spirit, are Most High in the glory of God the Father.
So, let’s read our text. It says: Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. Just before this passage, in the previous chapter, Jesus had chosen his twelve disciples, and ministered to a huge crowd, by healing them and casting out demons. And then he gave them a wonderful sermon, with many things a bit like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Then after this, Jesus healed a centurion’s servant. So, in all these things that have been going on, we see that Jesus has a large crowd that is following him. There have been many wonderful things that he had been doing, and so people were interested in what he was going to do next. But also, in what he was about to do, there are already many witnesses there, many people who were going to see what Jesus would do with their own eyes.
Also, in the Gospels, when Jesus goes to a particular place, the town is often mentioned, whether it is Nazareth or Capernaum or Cana or Jerusalem. Here, the town is called Nain. It still exists today, and people can visit it. It’s always good for us to remember that these places are real places, as real and as tangible as our local shops. All of this reminds us of the fact that Jesus in his great mercy and his great love and compassion lived and walked and breathed and went around to real places at a real time and met and dealt with real people.
We read: As Jesus drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had 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.
Here we see a funeral procession, and it was a very large funeral. Now, sometimes, we see a large funeral, when there is a very important or significant person, like we saw when Queen Elizabeth died recently. However, sometimes, we also see a large funeral, when there is a particularly tragic death, for example, when someone dies young or in an accident, and people from far and near are especially moved by the whole thing, and so they decide to go to the funeral, in order to show their support for the family who remain behind. In our reading, something like this has happened, something particularly tragic. Some time before, there is this woman, who had lost her husband. And she had only one son, and now he had died. And so, this whole business is very sad indeed, because this woman had outlived both her husband and her son. Of course, this would be a very sad business in any culture, but we should also remember that in those times and in that country, widows were much more vulnerable then than they are now and in our country. Not only did they lose family members, but also her husband and her son would have been the ones who had provided for her, who would have gained an income from their work, and then looked after her. She’s lost all of that now.
And so we see just what an enemy death is. We rely on people, we need them, not just in a selfish way, but it’s a completely natural thing for us to live together and with people, and in such a way that we help each other. That’s the way God has made us for community. However, death comes to us as our wages. St Paul says: The wages of sin is death. We are all sinners, and God takes away our life, not because it is of any delight to him, but because it is what his justice requires. The life the pours forth from the heart and the mind of God is a life that is completely without sin.
We also see in our reading two crowds. There is a large crowd following Jesus, and there is a large crowd following the woman. This is the way things are in our life: we are either following after death, or we are following after Jesus. Now, of course, for us Christians, we will also die one day. But to follow Jesus means that when we die, we have nothing to fear, because we are with him. For those who don’t have Jesus, there is much to fear, because to die in our sins is a frightful and terrible thing. Even we know from the Scripture, that there is hell, an eternal judgment and punishment for those who have come to Jesus. There is a large crowd in our world today who are simply walking towards death and toward eternal death.
But Jesus has his own crowd with him. Sometimes, we often might feel as though those who follow Jesus are a small crowd. But Hebrews 12 says: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud [not just a crowd, but a cloud!] of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings to closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.
So, there have been many who have followed Jesus before. And this crowd who follow Jesus are following their Good Shepherd, who has life and every good gift in his hands. We follow after Jesus who has died in our place, and died for us, who has laid down his life for the sheep, who has paid the price for our sin with his own life and with his own blood. And not only that, but he has risen from the dead, and has baptised us into his own life, and filled us with the Holy Spirit. He continually sends to us the Holy Spirit so that we would meet him in his church, through his Word and Sacraments, so that he would lead us, and draw us after him, and pour out upon us every spiritual gift that we need. He is our wonderful Saviour, our Redeemer, our God, our life-giver, our leader, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Let’s look at the next verses in our reading. We read: And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.
First of all, we see that Jesus looked upon this woman, and that when he looked upon her, he didn’t look on her with disdain or with anger, or anything like that. He saw her and he had compassion. This is at the heart of our faith as Christians: that we trust in Jesus, the one who looks upon us, who see us, and who has compassion on us. Can we even begin to imagine how wonderful a thing it is for Jesus to look on us, to see us, to behold us, in all of our hopelessness, in all of our weakness, in all of our sin, in all of our sadness? Can we even begin to imagine what a wonderful thing it is that Jesus has had compassion on us, and continually shows his infinite and perfect and great compassion?
Jesus says to the woman, “Do not weep.” He does this because he really has it in his power to turn her sorrow into complete and total joy, and he will do it. We read: Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. To walk up to a woman in her time of grief and to say such a thing, and to touch the coffin at such a time, was an incredible thing. If Jesus had not done anything after this, he would surely have been arrested and put away as some kind of madman. At this time, everyone would have been very much confused.
Sometimes, it is like that for us too, where we hear and learn a particular word of God, but we don’t understand it, or we don’t appreciate the meaning of it, or we just don’t get it. Such a thing happened at the footwashing, where Peter didn’t understand why Jesus was doing this thing. Jesus said to him: What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. So when Jesus says to the woman, “Do not weep”, he calls her and the people to wait and see what amazing thing he will do. Many times in our lives, we don’t understand what God is doing with us, why we are going through some particular hardship, why he is leading us through some darkness or confusion, but we should just trust his word, and wait to see what he will do.
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 now we see the amazing power of Jesus word, and what he can do, and what his words do, what they create. These are words which are filled with the Holy Spirit, and so they have the power to even raise from the dead. Even they have the power to make alive a person who is no longer alive and even no longer able to hear.
Even this is the way we are converted to Christianity: we are called to life by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit from the dead. We were dead in our trespasses. Also, on the last day, there will also be a great resurrection from the dead, which Luther summarises 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.
Even when think of Jesus and his Word, we cannot even begin to imagine the great power and effect it has. After all, this is the same word that created the world, and said, Let there be light. This is the same Word we come to hear in the church, which we read in the Scripture, which forgives us our sin, which promises us eternal life. This is the same Word which empowers baptism in such a way as to bring people into Christ’s kingdom, and which renews people and gives them new birth by water and the Word, by water and the Spirit. This is the same Word which empowers the Lord’s Supper in such a way that we are fed with the body and blood of Christ here. Everything is through the power of Christ’s Word. And the word itself is spoken not just by anyone, but by this wonderful Jesus, who even today comes and meets us and deals with us personally, and who fills us with the Holy Spirit, in such a way that we become living temples of his Word and His Holy Spirit. Even in Romans it says: 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.
And so, we read at the end of our reading: 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.
The passage concludes by telling us of the great fear and amazement of the people. Their mouths overflowed with praise and thanks for the wonderful things that they had seen. They glorified God in the presence of each other, they told other people what they seen, and the news spread in all kinds of directions.
In the same way, let the greatness of what Jesus did among these people truly sink in with us, and let the amazement of the whole event take root in us, that we would not just sit and let this all pass us by as if we are waiting for a bus. Jesus has done wonderful things, truly amazing things! If our hearts and minds and mouths and tongues could comprehend it, and could even express it in words, and could even describe it.
They glorified God. Let us also glorify God, and say: Glory to God in the highest. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Hosanna in the highest! They said: A great prophet has arisen among us! God has visited his people! Even today, as we gather together as his church, we come into the presence of our living Lord Jesus, who is the Lord and master of life. We hear and listen and keep and hold to his words, the words of this great prophet! And we also recognise him and confess him as our God, who has visited his people. He even visits us today, and walks with us each day, and leads us, and in the midst of all things dead and dying, he speaks his living words, his words of life. Amen.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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