The Raising of the Widow of Nain’s Son
Introduction
Today’s Gospel reading isn’t a very easy passage to speak on.
I think the key to understanding why Luke included this story in his Gospel can be found in the final passage of Lk 7 - Luke 7:18-35
John the Baptist has held in prison by King Herod for a long time and is beginning to lose his faith
So he sends some of his followers to ask Jesus if he really is the Messiah.
And Jesus responds in Lk 7:22 by saying
“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the Good News is preached to the poor”
Strange response, isn’t it?
Why didn’t Jesus simply say “yes”
I think there are two answers
1. Jesus wants us to look at the evidence to come to our OWN conclusions
2. Secondly, the term “Messiah” was a highly charged term at the beginning of the third Decade of the First Century AD.
But I don’t want to focus on either point this morning.
In considering the story of the raising to life of the Widow of Nain’s son, I’d like to look at the compassion of Jesus.
It is a story outside my experience because I have never seen any one raised from the dead.
And I am sure it was outside the experience of those attending what they thought would be a “normal” funeral.
Try to imagine the scene – and how the mother must have felt.
1. The hurt in the death of a child
Of all deaths, the death of a child is most unnatural and hardest to bear.
Story: When my brother Eddie died in Jan 2001 at the age of 36, my mother said: “It isn’t right for the children to die before the parents”.
And I am sure Eddie’s death drove my Mum to an earlier grave.
It is trauma to lose a child.
2. The loss of the bread winner
What was even harder for the widow of Nain is that not only had she lost her husband but now her only son was gone too.
A widow in those days was in a very vulnerable position if there were no male relatives to protect and provide for her.
There was no social security network.
She would have to go gleaning in the fields to get food to eat
One of my favourite books is the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament.
If you recall the story, Naomi comes back to Bethlehem from Moab as a widow.
And she brings with her a Moabitess - her daughter in law Ruth who is ALSO a widow.
And to provide for the two of them, Ruth has to go and glean in the fields.
Let me just read you a little bit from Ruth 2
1 Naomi had a powerful relative named Boaz, through the clan of her husband Elimelech.
2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go and glean grain in the field of anyone who will allow me.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
3 So she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz, of the clan of Elimelech.
4 Soon, along came Boaz from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The LORD be with you,” and they replied, “The LORD bless you.”
5 Boaz asked the young man overseeing his harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 The young man overseeing the harvesters answered, “She is the young Moabite who came back with Naomi from the plateau of Moab.
7 She said, ‘I would like to gather the gleanings into sheaves after the harvesters.’ Ever since she came this morning she has remained here until now, with scarcely a moment’s rest.”
8 Boaz then spoke to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in anyone else’s field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my young women.
9 Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them. Have I not commanded the young men to do you no harm? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the vessels the young people have filled.”
According to the Torah (that is the first five books of the Bible), farmers in Israel were instructed that should leave the corners of their fields unharvested.
In addition they were instructed in the Torah not pick up any of the grain that had been dropped or missed when harvesting.
That was so the poor people – like widows -could glean and so would not starve
Gleaning was hard work- and often the men who were harvesting who shoo any woman away who was gleaning – so that she would not get in their way
Note that the woman had only one son, and with his death she had no one left to provide for her.
3. Social stigma
On top of that there was also the social stigma she would have to bear as well.
Because you see according to the Jewish folklore losing an only son was especially painful since it was often regarded as divine punishment for sin.
Jesus comes to dispel that myth.
In our Gospel reading this morning, we see the collision of two processions.
1. One procession was a procession of death (the funeral), where everyone was sad.
2. The other was a procession of Life where the people were happy following Jesus – still buzzing from the miracle of the healing of the Centurion’s servant that we can read about in the previous verses of Luke 7 (Lk 7:1-10).
And as I first prepared this talk, I recalled the words of Jesus, when he said in Jn 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”
In our day if we see a funeral procession, we pull to the side of the road and allow the procession to pass on by – and WE then go on our way.
In Jesus time, if you ran into a funeral procession, you joined it.
Jesus and his followers joined the funeral procession – and Jesus’ presence CHANGED the whole situation.
I doubt the widow knew anything about Jesus, before He raised her son to life.
Probably her world that day was limited to a dark despair of grief.
There is no record of the woman approaching Jesus to ask him to raise her son – indeed there is no record of her having any faith at all
In Luke 7 we see two contrasting scenes.
One is the of the healing of the centurion’s servant in Luke 7:1-10.
The other is the raising from the dead of the Widow of Nain’s only son – which we read of in today’s Gospel
Chuck Swindoll has described the contrast in the two scenes like this
“In one scene, there is a confident, clear thinking soldier; in the other, a vulnerable widow, drowning in her own turbulent emotions.
In one, there is unquestioning faith – “Just say the word and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7 v. 7;) in the other, grief as if there is not tomorrow.
In one, there is eloquence and protocol; in the other, unbridled pain and enough tears to dissolve the strongest prayers.
These differences illustrate that Jesus our Saviour doesn’t demand that we fit into a set pattern to receive his help.
He doesn’t restrain His compassion because we fail to meet “our good deed quota.”
Or because we don’t say the right words.
Or because we forget to follow the correct ritual.”
[Charles Swindoll. The Continuation of Something Great. Luke 7:1-10:37. Bible Study Guide. (Anaheim, Calif.: Insights for Living, 1995) p. 4]
I think John Hamby summed it up well when he said:
The centurion’s faith of the first eleven verses of Luke 7 inspires us, but in truth we may identify more with the widow.
You may even envy the centurion’s faith, but don’t feel that your life exhibits that kind of faith.
You might secretly wonder if Jesus really hears our prayers and notices our tears.
Perhaps you are like the widow who had run out of hope?
You don’t just need a change of attitude.
You simply need to connect or reconnect to the source of hope.”
I like the way he put it because Jesus is not some remote Guru unaware to what real life is about.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, …”.
He knows what we feel like.
Jesus was and continues to be moved by the hurts and sorrows of his people.
Even when we cannot see him or even feel his presence, He is at work on our behalf.
The message of our Gospel reading today is this
Don’t give up - for with Christ there is always hope.
The words of Isaiah 40:31 sums this up well
But those who hope in the Lord,
Will renew their strength
They shall soar on wings like eagles
They will run and not grow weary
They will walk and not be faint Amen
