This account of Jesus raising the only-begotten son of the widow of Nain is recorded for us only in the Gospel according to St. Luke. Luke records it because his purpose is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ, who has come into the world to restore His creation by reversing the damage of sin. The ultimate proof of this is His power over death. Yet, the prophets in the O.T. had also raised people from the dead. The O.T. reading for today delivers to us one such account, where the prophet Elijah also raises the son of a widow from the dead. Jesus does an Elijah here, but He’s greater than Elijah. The difference between Him and Elijah can be seen in the fact that Elijah calls upon God to raise the child from the dead. Jesus, on the other hand, does not need to ask God to raise this young man, but instead speaks as if He Himself were God and simply commands the dead man to rise. The result is that the Word of Jesus does what He sends it out to do: the young man rises from the dead, he begins to speak, and Jesus gives Him back to his mother.
That’s the main miracle that most of us focus on when we hear this account. And it certainly is a big miracle, to bring somebody back from the dead. But there’s an even bigger miracle here, and that is the Lord’s compassion, shown here towards the mother. If you believe that God is omnipotent, then you’d have no trouble believing that He has the power to raise the dead. The really surprising thing is that He has the compassion towards us to do it! The word “compassion” in the N.T. means an outpouring of mercy. One doesn’t simply have compassion, but also shows compassion. Compassion moves a person to action for the sake of another in need. Jesus saw this woman in need, not only as she was in mourning and despair over the loss of her only-begotten son, but also as she was now without security in Israeli society, having lost her only male heir and the voice of her family. Seeing her in distress, Jesus had compassion on her and gave her son back to her. In doing so, Jesus shows us God’s heart and how He is disposed towards us sinners: He is compassionate towards us. He doesn’t want sin and death to have the final word over us. He reverses their effects, overcoming them with His mercy, forgiveness, and love, and that through His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
But we might wonder, if God is so compassionate, why doesn’t He raise everyone from the dead? There were a multitude of other families in Jesus’ day who had lost loved ones. Why didn’t He just speak the Word and raise all of them up from the dead, as He did this young man, or later Jarius’ daughter and Lazarus? But then, even these died again eventually. Wouldn’t the compassionate thing really have been to let them stay in heaven, rather than bring them back to life only to die yet a second time? How can God be called a compassionate God, when He allows so much suffering, sickness, and death to continue in the world? It seems almost cruel that Jesus heals and raises only a choice few, only to let the rest of us suffer and die. Are we not objects of His compassion?
If Jesus had simply healed a few people of their diseases, raised some from the dead, and afterwards ascended into heaven, then, yes, it would seem that God were playing a cruel joke on us, and His compassion could seriously be called into question. But we’ve left something out: the cross of Christ, the ultimate sign of God’s compassion towards us. Of course, that doesn’t look very compassionate of God either, to allow His only-begotten Son to hang there and die in such an excruciating manner. The problem is, we are accustomed to recognizing God’s compassion only when things are going well for us. We see God’s compassion in healings and resurrections, but we fail to see it behind the suffering, cross, and yes even the death of His loved ones. People who see God’s compassion displayed only under signs of glory believe that God is merciful only when they’re happy, healthy, and successful. When something bad happens to them, however, they no longer believe God is compassionate towards them. Such thinking leads many Christians to conclude that they did something wrong and that God is now getting back at them for it by allowing them to suffer. But those Christians who trust that God is compassionate towards them for Christ’s sake believe that He is so even when it appears that He’s not, even when things are going bad for them, even when they are suffering and dying.
That is because God Himself enters into their suffering with them and sanctifies it with His presence. Jesus did not simply heal people, raise them from the dead, and then ascend into heaven. He went to the cross and suffered and died for you, so that He might not only atone for your sins (which, by the way, is the cause for all your suffering and death), but also that He might put Himself, body and blood, in the midst of your suffering and death, so that where you are, there He might be also. In His compassion He does not leave you or forsake you when you must bear the cross. He is there with you, not only with His cross, His suffering, and His death, but also with His victorious resurrection from the dead, that you might know that in Jesus the cross cannot harm you, nor is it the end for you. In His compassion Jesus has made sure that death itself can no longer separate you from God’s love for you in Him. In His compassion He has already given you new life in speaking the Word of life to you at your Baptism. In His compassion He continues to speak His Word of life to you through the forgiveness of your sins and through the eating and drinking of His body and blood. And in His compassion He will speak His Word of life again on the Last Day when He says to you just what He said to this young man: “Arise!” And you will do just what His Word says. On that day there will be no more death, no more mourning, crying, or pain. On that day you will see with your eyes the glory that He promises to all who trust in His compassion.
In His compassion Jesus allowed what touches you to touch Him. This is not only true with regard to your suffering and death, but also with your sins. In today’s account Luke makes a point of telling us that Jesus touched this young man’s coffin. Under O.T. Law, if someone touched a dead body or anything that the dead body came into contact with, he would be ritually unclean. The uncleanness of the dead person would be transferred to the clean person who touched him. By touching this young man’s coffin, Jesus became ritually unclean according to O.T. Law. Jesus became infected with death. And yet, Jesus’ touch cleansed the man. His touch gives life, not death. And that is the case with you, too. In His Baptism Jesus allowed Himself to be infected with your sin. Throughout His life He allowed Himself to come into contact with sinners, their sickness and death. And finally, He became a curse for you and me on the cross, where under God’s Law, anyone who hung on a tree was cursed by God. Jesus suffered all of this, so that He might transfer your uncleanness to Himself, that through His contact with you through your Baptism, through His Word, and through the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood you might become clean. Though sin and death infected Jesus, they were not the end of Him; He was the end of them. And that antidote He gives to you out of His compassion for you, so that even though you suffer and die now, you have eternal life and will be raised from the dead to live and reign with Him in His heavenly kingdom, when He comes again for you, just as He promises.
In today’s Gospel lesson we see Jesus beginning to reverse the damage done by our sin in raising this young man from the dead. And even though this young man would die again, out of His compassion Jesus has ensured that death will not be the end either for this man or for any who have been raised to newness of life by His words. Because Jesus overcame death and the grave, all who believe in Him live under God’s compassion and have eternal life right now and a resurrection of their bodies to come. In the meantime they live under God’s compassion towards them even in the midst of their suffering. Jesus does not abandon you when you suffer. He’s right there with you, causing all that happens to you to work together for your good. It’s what He began in you at your Baptism. There you were crucified with Christ, and there you were also raised with Christ. In this life you will experience both dying and rising with Jesus. But don’t despair of His compassion when you experience the former. Suffering and death are no longer signs that God is not compassionate towards you. Instead, they should point you to the suffering and death of His only-begotten Son for you, that through faith in Him you might not perish under His wrath but have eternal life. It takes faith to believe that God is compassionate even in the midst of suffering and death. This lesson is not learned in books, but in the school of experience, as you cling to the Word and promises of God in spite of all outward appearances.
A great Prophet has arisen among us! He is the Prophet of whom Moses spoke, saying, “The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to Him in whatever He tells you.” This Prophet is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who has visited His people and continues to visit them today, first in giving His life for us on the cross out of His compassion for us, then in delivering that compassion to us through His words of forgiveness, through the waters of Holy Baptism, and through His Holy Supper. This Jesus is never closer to you with His compassion than when you suffer and die with Him. Hear His words of compassion again today, that He died on the cross and rose again from the dead, so that you might have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Live under that compassion today, tomorrow, and until the day you fall asleep in the Lord, when in His compassion He will grant you a blessed end and take you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven. Amen.