Jesus: Lord of Life
Luke 7:11-17
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 7:13-15 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus encounters a funeral as He enters the city of Nain. I think it safe to say that none of us likes funerals. It is uncomfortable to be at the visitation or the service, not always knowing exactly what to do or what to say to those who have lost a friend or a family member. We want to be caring, we want to be helpful and supportive, but we don’t want to say something stupid or simply spout empty clichés.
Truth be told, we would rather not have to deal with those situations at all, because they remind us of things we would rather not think of and the death that is at work within us. That is why people revert so easily to fairy tales – heavens filled with the deceased’s favorite hobbies, and myths of how the person is still with us or has become an angel watching over us. That’s why we’re OK with the undertaker’s embalming or cremating. All these things help to keep the realities of death at a distance and fuel our need to deny the brutal reality of death.
Of course, when someone has lived a long and full life, there can be a sense of completion and fulfillment at a funeral. People are brought together, and we enjoy sharing good memories of the one who has died and honor the life of that person. And yet we dare not get lulled into believing, even in those circumstances, that death is somehow normal or even a good thing, and that the only truly tragic deaths are the ones that are premature, like a child or a young or ever middle-aged person. Every death is tragic. For God did not create us to die, but to live with Him, body and soul forever. Death has only entered the picture because it is the curse of sin which we have brought upon ourselves. Whether someone dies at 9 days, nine months, or 99 years, it still not how God created things to be; that length of time is still just a fleeting moment, as the Psalmist says, “Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.” (Ps. 39:5)
That reality hits us hardest, though, when someone dies before we expect them to die. And that is what Jesus was dealing with in today’s Gospel reading. He comes upon this funeral just at the time when they were carrying the body out to be buried. The Lord of Life and this procession of death come face to face. The body in the casket was that of a young man, his mother’s only son. Perhaps there was an accident; perhaps some illness overcame him. But she had to hold his dead body in her arms. And she had just been through this before, for she was a widow who had to bury her husband as well. Because of the deaths of the only two men in her life she was all alone, had no one to care for her, and had no one to provide for her future. The name of this city, Nain, means “beauty” or “pleasantness.” But here all we see is the ugliness of death’s curse at its worst – bringing sadness and fear, separating people from from loved ones, crushing people’s hopes and dreams.
However, it is written, “Yahweh lifts up those who are bowed down . . . He relieves the fatherless and the widow.” (Ps. 146:9) When Jesus sees this widow, He has compassion on her; He is deeply moved with empathy for her plight. And He says, “Do not weep.” Don’t cry. Jesus wasn’t just telling her to suck it up and be tough and to suppress her emotions. Most certainly Jesus Himself grieved and wept openly at the death of His friend Lazarus. Rather, Scripture reminds us that we are ones who do not grieve as those who have no hope (I Thess 4:13). We do not need to wallow in grief and self-pity and blame, because we have a sure and certain hope in Christ. And so, Jesus speaks with comforting mercy, “Don’t cry, for I have come to conquer everything that saddens you and makes you feel alone and cut off and hurt and helpless. I am here to wipe away every tear from your eyes. Behold, I make all things new.”
Jesus had said earlier, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5) You do not face death and loneliness alone; you face it with Jesus, the One who is your Help and your Shield, the One who is merciful to all who call upon Him, the One who is Himself the Resurrection and the Life. He faces death head-on in order to renew your bodies and revive your spirits.
Jesus comes and touches the open coffin, and those carrying the dead man stand still. Jesus stops the procession of death dead in its tracks. With this touch of the coffin, Jesus is putting Himself in the place of the widow. He is sharing in her heartache and the heartache of all those who have lost loved ones, as it is written, “He is . . . a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Is 53) And by touching the casket, Jesus also is putting Himself in the place of the only son. For in so doing, according to the Old Testament Law, Jesus is making Himself ceremonially unclean with this young man’s death. He allows that mortality to come upon Him so that the young man might have His own life in exchange, to make the young man clean and whole. For remember, the only Son of the Father, Jesus, also became a dead man. He, too, would be held in the arms of His grieving mother Mary. Jesus did that to save this young man, and to save all of us as well.
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On the cross Jesus touched your casket; He absorbed your death into His own body to save you from it. Outside the gate of the city at Nain, and later outside the gate of the city at Jerusalem, Jesus allowed death to pass from you to Him so that you would be restored to life, cleansed and made whole. The beauty of the city of Nain was made ugly by death, but now our Lord has turned the ugliness of the cross into a thing of beauty for us. For there we see the fullness of His love; there we see our redemption from death and the sure hope of our bodily resurrection to life.
“Young man, I say to you, arise!” Those are the words of the Creator who brings life out of death. The one who was dead sat up and began to speak. Jesus presented the young man to His mother. Just as this son was a gift of God in birth, so now Jesus gives this son again to his mother with the gift of new life.
It is the same with Holy Baptism. Jesus presents children to Christian parents not just once at birth, but a second time at the font, born again to new life by water and the Word. Remember, all who are baptized die with Christ. We are crucified with Him in order that we might also rise with Him to live a new and holy life.
Even as Elijah stretched himself out three times over the Zarephath woman’s son, God stretched Himself out over you three times with His trinitarian name at the baptismal font. He breathed His Spirit into you, granting you a sure and certain hope which transcends all grief and sorrow. Yes, we must live now by faith, still under the shadow of our physical death. But the life of Christ will surely be ours by sight in the age to come. For St. Paul writes in Romans 6:5, “If we have been united with Him in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.”
On the day of our death, our souls will be received into the blessedness of heaven. And on the Last Day our bodies themselves will be raised from the dead, rejoined with the soul to live in Christ’s glory. Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” (Jn 11:25) No longer are we dead in our trespasses and sins. God has made us alive in Christ by the forgiveness of our sins
In response to this miracle, holy fear came upon the people, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us,” and “God has visited His people.” And that is true; God has visited His people in Christ, the greatest of all prophets, the very Son of God raised up from the dead to bring life and immortality to all who take refuge in Him. Even today He visits you in His holy Supper. He is literally here for you with His real and true body and blood to forgive you, to raise you up, and to strengthen the faith you need to rely on Him through all your earthly struggles.
That’s why St. Paul said in today’s Epistle that we bow our knees before God when we come to the altar. It’s not some ridiculous form of protest like taking a knee. Rather, it is a sign of reverence and respect and honor for the Lord Jesus who is truly present here to fill us with His life. Real unity is to be found not in sports or even in the flag, but at the altar. Here we are brought into communion with God and with one another.
Since Jesus does all of this for us, we know now that all is well. Even funerals have joy at their center for those who are in Christ; for He is alive and has taken away death’s sting.
So do not weep; our Lord has said, “I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) “Because I live, you will live also.” (Jn 14:19) Jesus will surely visit you yet again at His return to do for you what He did for this young man, and even more, much more. And so we go on confessing with confidence the Divine truth in the Creed, that we “look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” That resurrection will be ours through Christ, and we will be with Him forever in heaven, for He truly is the Lord of Life.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
