Trinity 16 Luke 7:11-17 (2021)

Life From Death

St. Luke 7:11-17

            In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.

            St. Luke 7:14-15  Then [Jesus] came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still.  And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”  And he who was dead sat up and began to speak.

            Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord…  Not many people can fully appreciate the situation in which this woman in Luke 7 finds herself.  Her husband is dead.  That means her status in the community is already at risk, because to be a widow in those days meant that you were at the mercy of your family and your community.  If you had sons who would take care of you, then you were OK.  But without a son to take care of you and provide for you, you were as good as dead without a husband.

            So when this woman’s son died, it was almost as if she died with him.  Her whole life had now flashed before her.  All of her hopes and dreams – her very life – hung in the balance.  And the crowds recognized this; that is why their cries and wailing over this young man’s death were intense and great, because it is almost as if they are not burying one person, but two.

            As happens so many times in Scripture, we again see ourselves in this story; this situation shows us what sin does in our lives.  St. Paul writes (Rom 6:23), “The wages of sin is death.”  By our sinfulness – by our selfish thoughts, words, and deeds, indeed by the fact that we are sinners by nature – we earned our own death.  The wages – what we have coming, what we deserve because of our sinful condition – is death.  And we have earned it well.

Just like this young man who laid dead in the coffin, so we too are receiving the wage for our work of sin.  And we don’t have to look too far to see the truth of this matter.  Our bodies do not work as well as they used to work.  Our broken lives, stressed marriages, and challenging family situations all cry out loud and long that we are not perfect.  We are, in fact, the farthest thing from it.

And then there is the sin that lurks within us.  It eats away at us: the gossip, the slander, the despising of our parents and other authorities, the way we covet and long for what others have, the time-wasting and energy-sucking worry, the nonchalant approach to the Divine Service, the mindset that says God doesn’t know what I am up to, and I can do whatever I want.  You know your sin.  It is there.  Don’t deny it.  The wages are before you.  It is as Scripture declares (Eph 2:1), “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.”

And into this mess, into this dumpster fire of sin, evil, and rebellion walks our Lord Jesus Christ.  We did not invite Him.  We did not ask Him to fix our problems.  In fact, we are so sick with sin that we don’t even know enough to ask for help.  We are like the dead son who truly cannot ask for help – because he is dead.

But Jesus comes nonetheless!  Jesus meets the funeral procession as it is wending its way out of the city.  Jesus walks up to the procession, uninvited, and unasked.  The Lord of Life meets death head-on.  What can He do?  What will He do?  Who will win this dreadful confrontation?

St. Luke records these words: “When the Lord saw [the woman], He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”  That word “compassion” sounds so civilized, it sounds so polite.  We understand it to mean that a person is moved to help another person because a need is recognized.  And that is certainly true…but it doesn’t really catch the full force of the word.

The word in the original Greek literally means that Jesus’ guts are churning to help this woman.  His insides are literally grinding away and aching because of what He sees before Him.  Jesus longs and aches to help this woman.  His very gut and being demands that He help her.  It is as if He cannot help Himself as He walks up to her.  He has compassion on her, and says to her, “Do not weep.”

You and I sometimes say that at funerals.  Maybe you’ve been there.  “Don’t cry, honey.  Don’t cry.”  Sometimes we say those words because we certainly want someone to feel better.  Sometimes we say those words because we do not want to deal with the pain and loss and heartache that always accompanies death.

But Jesus says it a little differently.  “Do not weep.”  For when Jesus says it, He says it because He can do something about it.  He does not simply offer sympathy as though patting the woman on the shoulder will solve her problems.  When Jesus says to her, “Do not weep,” He does so because He is the only one who can dry our tears by bringing life out of death.  He is the only one who can turn tears of sorrow into tears of joy.

Jesus went to the funeral procession and touched the coffin.  The people in the procession were shocked, and they stood still.  For heaven’s sake, no one touches a coffin!  In those days if you did that it would render you unclean!  The stench and filth of death would be upon you.  “Why would He do this,” they wonder.  You can almost sense their astonishment in the words that Luke records.

And then Jesus spoke the words which bring life: “Young man, I say to you, arise.”  And then, at the Word of Jesus, the one who was dead “sat up and began to speak.”

Can you imagine the shock?  At the sound of the words from Jesus’ lips, the funeral procession was stopped dead in its tracks, and the dead man was raised and came back to life!  Life was spoken, words of life – in fact, THE Word of Life – spoke, and death had to obey because Jesus has power over even death.  That, dear friends, is the kind of Lord and Savior you have.

And that is why we as Christians gather together at the burial of our Christian loved ones.  We do so in order, yes, to grieve, for that is natural.  But we gather not as those who have no hope.  The service and its furnishings and words point us to the One in whom we have hope.  The funeral pall literally wraps the body in the whiteness of Christ’s righteousness and His royal cross – the cross on which our Savior died to pay for our sins.  The Paschal Candle stands strong at the head of the casket pointing the bereaved upward to Christ who is our Light and our salvation. 

The preaching declares that Christ is the victor over death.  The Creed and the prayers and the strong Christian hymns point us further to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  And at the graveside, the burial liturgy commits the body to the ground “in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The Word of life is spoken, and death must obey.  The Word of life is spoken, and death has to give way to the ultimate joy and peace and strength of eternal life.  Jesus broke death; it doesn’t work right anymore, because death cannot keep Christians from the resurrection!

You will remember at the Creation of the world that the creating force was what?” – the Word of almighty God.  “Let there be light… and there was light.  Let dry ground appear, there be lights in the sky, birds in the air, trees on the ground… and there was.”  As I have said many times, God’s Word always does what it says.  God’s Word calls things into being from nothing.  God’s Word replaces death with life.  It does exactly what it says.

And on the cross, the words of our Lord, “It is finished!” accomplished and declared what was so – the full and complete payment for all your sins by the substitutionary life, suffering, and death of Jesus Christ for you and for all.  Literally, sin and death were put to death by Jesus, the One who lived perfectly and died for our sins, the One who died and was raised again, the One who defeated death for His people forever.

In your Holy Baptism your Old Adam was drowned and died, as Luther says in the Small Catechism, “with all sins and evil desires, and a new man daily emerge[d] and ar[o]se to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”  Yes, in Baptism a death occurs – the death of sin; the drowning of a heathen.  And then a resurrection occurs; life comes out of death to live.  God, through water and His Word, gives forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation.  That is why we don’t “dedicate” our children to God, we baptize them, and we don’t wait or put it off until it is convenient.

In Holy Absolution the sinner admits and confesses his sins, not so much to make him feel better because, in fact, confessing one’s sins out loud is often very difficult and challenging.  But we have learned in the Catechism, which is clearly based on Scripture, that when we confess our sins, we do so in the sure confidence that our heavenly Father is using the pastor’s ears to hear our confession, and the pastor’s mouth to speak His absolution. 

And when he speaks the Absolution to you, those are words of life.   We receive “forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting but firmly believing that by it” – the absolution – “our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.”  The Word of God in Holy Absolution does what it says; it forgives and makes new and delivers the goods.  It brings life out of death.

And here this morning in our Lord’s Supper we are invited to receive our Lord’s real, true, and physical body and blood – the same body and blood which was broken and shed on His cross on Calvary.  And since it is that same body and blood of the Word made flesh, it also does what it says.  “Take, eat; this is My body.  Take, drink; this is My blood…for you for the forgiveness of your sins.”  This is not simply some half-baked “memorial meal” as so many Christians erroneously teach and believe.  It is the real deal; it is the real Jesus, really and truly coming to you with His real and true body and blood under the bread and wine, and really and truly delivering forgiveness to you.

As you bring your dead-in-trespasses-and-sins body to this altar rail, you will receive life and forgiveness, “for where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”  Life out of death.

Jesus gave life back to this young man from Nain, and in so doing, He gave the widow back her life too.  That is the power of forgiveness.  Jesus delivers forgiveness of sins to you in Holy Absolution, in Holy Baptism, and in His Holy Supper.  Where there is only sin and death, His Word gives life and peace.  Always.  Only.  Perfectly.  Completely.  For all.  For you.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.