We gather.  Jesus goes.  Where does Jesus go?  Where people need to hear the Word.  He goes where the Word is needed.  Let’s follow.  He goes where people need a vision of God, God’s presence, His love, grace, and blessing.  Go, therefore.  Jesus came back to Capernaum only to go out once more.  We come here—happy, blessed gathering; we go.  Well, this weekend, we go to enjoy some leisure time; may it be blessed to you.  And, every time we depart, let us also go with Jesus to do as Jesus would do.

“Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain [Na-een] and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him” (7:11).  A large crowd.  People are going to notice.  They’re going to wonder.  Maybe they’ll even ask, what’s this all about?  Where are you going?  Who is that, up front?  Why, that’s Jesus, our teacher, our savior, our Lord, our friend.  We’re going to the Promised Land—wherever Jesus is, there is the Promised Land.  We’re learning to listen; we’re learning to follow.  Come with us!

They will or they won’t.  Sow the seed; do as Jesus would do.

“As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.  And a large crowd from the town was with her” (7:12).  Two crowds converging: the crowd of joy and life and the crowd of sorrow and death.  Now, how else will a dead person move than by being carried by others?  But think—a dead person is one who can do nothing for her or himself.  Total inability.  Take that spiritually.  We can’t save ourselves.  Even if we wanted to—sometimes, some even do—nothing we can do ourselves can get us to salvation.  We can exercise, improve our diet, replace unhealthy habits with habits for health.  We can take a path of healing for mind and body, but a healed life, a healed soul, the wholeness of holiness: only God can give this to us; Scripture calls it salvation.  Forgiveness of sins is one part, one aspect of salvation.  The only one who can get us to salvation is the one who carries us there: Jesus.  Safe in the arms of Jesus.  Precious Lord, take my hand.

The funeral procession is an especially sad one: a parent is going to bury her child.  It grieves me to know that a few of you know about such experiences.  These crushing evidences of the brokenness of this life.  My grandmother outlived three of her five children.  We’re told this mother is a widow and the deceased her only son.  No support, now; no help.  Yes, there were neighbors, friends.  These could only do so much.  But we also know who is our rock and our refuge.  Was the mother, the widow, angry, bitter, like Naomi in the Book of Ruth?  I think, in that moment, she was just sad, and numb.  No light, no happiness, no song.  She needed to be carried along, too.  Whom did she have, now?  Her life was unraveled, her love at loose ends, amputated, raw.

“When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry’” (7:13).  If Jesus could do nothing, then his words “Don’t cry” would have been pointless, even bizarre.  He only can say “Don’t cry” because he only can do something to help in the darkness of sorrow.  When there’s a death, we all want to do something to help; we feel so helpless.  Jesus says to the shattered mother, “Don’t cry.”  What would you have us do, Jesus?  I mean, look around at this world, these lives.  If we are not to cry in the midst of all this sorrow, what are we to do?  What did he tell Martha?  If we are to believe, this also means we must wait, we must endure, neither in bitterness nor dull, hopeless resignation but with the constructive resolve of faith.  The Lord will show the power of His hand.  We will behold the salvation of the Lord.  Scripture is under no illusion that sad, terrible things happen in this life.  Scripture reminds us forcefully, constantly, that hope and faith are no illusions.

Jesus “went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still.  He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’” (7:14).  Now, pause things there just a brief moment.  If you were in that funeral procession, or even if you were in among the crowd coming with Jesus down from Capernaum, what would you be thinking at that point: Yes Lord, Yes Lord, yes, yes Lord?  You’d be thinking, this is crazy!  What is going on?  This is terrible!  What does he think he’s doing?  He’s making this poor woman’s sorrow even harder!  Why?  Why is he doing this?  You and I, we’d never even think to intervene in someone’s deep sorrow.  We’d never think to interpose a word in that long sad procession to the grave.  Be respectful!  Have a heart!  Who would dare say to the dead, Time to rise, time to live?  The insensitivity would be appalling.

“The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.  They were all filled with awe and praised God.  ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said.  ‘God has come to help his people’” (7:15-16).  The man who had been dead but was now alive not only sits up—he’s getting ready to go—he also speaks.  Well, yes, these would both be very convincing signs that he was alive again, really alive.  He began to talk.  I wonder what he was saying.  Some who were dead and return to life talk about what they have seen.  Some awake and very reasonably wonder what had happened, where they were, what was going on.  I hear the man praising God.  His voice was no longer lost in death; now, all his ability was being poured into rejoicing in God who is God indeed: powerful, compassionate, a God of life not of death, of salvation not condemnation.  With Jesus is the power of life, power for life, power for living.

But what about the Judgment?  Beloved, I’m of the opinion that Jesus tells us about the essence of the Judgment: people condemn themselves to death by allowing themselves to remain dead.  Jesus came, saw what was happening, paused for the man, touched the man, spoke to him.  We can’t imagine that the man would not hear and rise, yet experience tells us there are many who do not—who will not—heed the voice of Jesus, calling to them.  There remain many who turn from the healing, ministering touch of Christ.  Today, this one responds, receives, rejoices—praise God!

The people there recognize one brilliant truth, one undeniable reality: God really is there to help.  It’s not as if a dead son being raised through the prayers of a man of God was unknown in the history of Israel.  Long before, the great prophets, Elijah and also Elisha, each of them had prayed, and God had restored a dead son (1 Kings 17:17-24, 2 Kings 4:28-37).  God had shown His people that they had a future and a hope: the son who was dead would be restored, would live again.  That day, there with Jesus, they saw it all over again.  Some would even see it, once more, there outside Jerusalem.