Compassion

Introduction

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. It is the day for expressing love to someone. It may be a Hallmark conspiracy gone rampant, but lots of emotions on a day like Valentine’s. Expressions of love offered and accepted. There will also be sadness remembering previous Valentine’s Days with a loved one that is no longer near. Emotions are such an important part of our lives.

There are times when tears are the only thing that seems to make sense. I didn’t fully appreciate why people cry at weddings until my son got married. Now I know more. I didn’t fully appreciate why people cry at funerals when the deceased had lived a full life or when the person had been so ill. Now I know more. There are times when tears make sense. I have heard people say that they had a “good cry.” I know what they mean. The release of emotion is helpful. We are complicated people. A bundle of emotions, thoughts, and actions. We aren’t always able to explain our emotions. They just are there.

But there are times when tears make sense. When a parent buries their child; when a spouse buries a spouse. These are things that make sense. We understand the purpose of the tears and we know something of the pain. Our God understands our emotions as well. God in the flesh wept at the grave of one of his dearest friends. God expresses anger, love, wrath, grace, mercy, and in today’s text—compassion. As we study today we will see the compassion of God expressed at a time when tears made sense, but God decided the tears needed to be turned to joy.

A Widow’s Grief

We know nothing about this woman from Nain. Nain was about 5 miles SE of Nazareth. A small town. Hardly worth noting. But even in small towns life and death happens. Jesus, his disciples, and a large following go to Nain. Jesus sees the funeral procession. In just a glance, Jesus knew what was happening. A woman is crying. He knows. A woman who at some point in her life married; gave birth to an only child. Then her husband died. But her grief was managed because she had a child to care for and a child to care for her. And now her one and only child dies. Her only begotten dies. Luke uses the same word here to describe this child as John uses in John 3:16 to describe Jesus as the one and only Son of God.

Jesus sizes up the situation quickly. He sees the tears. He feels the woman’s breaking heart. He sees all the people. The absence of a husband is obvious. Jesus has compassion on the woman and her situation. I see him walking toward her and standing close to her so that she is forced to look at him. “Don’t cry,” he says. Can you imagine? What else is a woman supposed to do but cry. She is alone in this world. No other words. Jesus approaches the body of the dead young man.

The NIV mentions coffin. Wrong image. The body was wrapped in a cloth and was being carried on a large piece of wood. Not a coffin as we imagine it. The young man had probably died earlier in the day. Funerals usually happened on the same day as the death. No means to slow decomposition. Jesus touches the wood which is carrying the young man’s body. This would have immediately made him unclean in the Jewish law. But then one is only unclean if the body is dead. How can one be unclean if the body is getting ready to be alive? The mother has stopped crying. Now she has other emotions. Fear. Wonder. Curiosity. Confusion. All tinged with grief.

Jesus speaks to the body. Not to the crowd; not to the mother; not to his disciples. To a corpse that supposedly cannot hear. Jesus speaks and the young man gets up. Luke lets us know that the young man comes to life fully functional. He begins to talk. Wouldn’t you like to know what he said? And then in 7 short words Luke says something profound. “Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Like Elijah with the widow’s son being given back to his mother so Jesus is the great prophet. Even the people understand the connection. Filled with awe or fear they praised God for returning this young man to his mother. And Jesus’ fame spreads.

Life

Some come to this text and want to focus on Jesus’ compassion. Absolutely. Pay attention to the heart of Jesus. He has emotions. God in the flesh finds no joy in our sorrow. He understands our hurts and our heartaches. We serve a God who shares with us. A God who wants the best for us. A God who feels our hurts and one day will bring them to an end.

But there is another aspect to this story. Perhaps it grows out of our 21st century mind, but of all the people and all the places and all the little towns in Galilee—why this one and this woman? Surely there were other widows whose only children died? And why not all of them? Why didn’t Jesus go around and raise every person from the dead or at least more of them? These questions and thoughts come from our own hearts. God can heal. But he doesn’t heal everyone. So the question then moves to why one and not another? Are we merely pawns in God’s cosmic chess game?

These questions come from a God given desire for what is right. This means that our hearts are made to understand and to make sense of the senseless in this world. We want things to be fair. And too much of life isn’t. Then we want some explanation. These questions also come from a heart that understands that our pain is no greater than another’s pain but it is our pain. Our pain overwhelms us. A loved one that we depend on dies; a child that is innocent dies. Our pain is real and we want an explanation.

No simple answers. Nothing I can say that would necessarily take away the fog so that we see clearly or to take away the pain. It isn’t particularly helpful to know that Jesus came to this earth to preach and teach. Miracles were for confirmation purposes. His purpose was not to rid the world of all disease so that no one would die.

This young man was given back to his mother. But he died again one day. He wasn’t raised never to die again. We don’t know if his mother died first or if he did. But the pain would have been real for either of them. Here is part of what this story is to say to us. This story demonstrates that Jesus has the power over death. In this case, at that moment the young man lived. But the point was death cannot stand against the power of God. As Daniel Bock says “when the way of Life meets the way of death, death loses.”

And for us who stand in the land of the living knowing that each day brings us closer to the reality that a grave is waiting for us and that for loved ones who remain that pain and grief will be very real, the Way of Life speaks to a corpse and with the power of God at his disposal says “Not today.” And the day will come when the Power of God which lives in those who have faith the Way of Life will one day hear the voice of Jesus say “Get up.” And we will come up out of our grave to live. Not just so we may die again but to live forever with the God who understands our pain and our grief and wants so much to provide an end to our tears forever and ever. Invitation.

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