Good morning, brothers and sisters.
If you have your Bible, would you turn to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 7? I know that we are studying the book of Luke on Friday night, so just consider me as a fellow learner, handing in my homework.
Now it happened, the day after that, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd.
And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
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.”
So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.”
And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
Lord, we thank You that You give each one of us something through which to experience Your love and mercy. At times, we think we know the lessons of the Gospels, only to discover more lessons to learn from a different angle.
Lord, we thank You that You still consider us teachable and have something to tell us this morning. Lord, help us to be humble and to trust You more, so we can all learn and grow together in praising Your name. In Jesus’ name, amen.
After Jesus had healed the centurion’s servant, He left Capernaum the next day, heading south. Jesus had more than His twelve disciples with Him. Because of His miracles and teachings, many other people were following Him as well. They wanted to see what else Jesus would do.
So there was an air of excitement and expectation with this group.
While they were on their way, Jesus indicated His desire to pass by the city of Nain. You may ask, “What is there in Nain?” And most of us would answer, “Not much.”
Nain was not known for anything. It was probably a small town, a village. It was a pit stop for travelers between Galilee and Jerusalem. But Jesus knew better. He had an appointment to make in this small town.
As He was about to enter the city, verse 12 says:
A dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the town was with her for the funeral procession. In other words, we have two large crowds arriving at the gate at the same time.
Let us take another look at verse 12:
A dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow.
This verse is filled with sadness. This woman had already gone through the traumatic experience of losing her husband. Now she had lost her only son.
This meant she was destitute. There was no one to provide for her. Women in that culture could not readily work. They depended on their husbands. If their husbands died, then they depended on their sons; and if their sons died, they would be forced to beg.
That was the condition of this woman. She had no one to turn to, no one to take care of her.
So how do we respond to a funeral procession in our society today? Drivers, in the old days, would usually slow down or pull over out of respect. Some would put their hands together, signifying prayers on behalf of the grieving.
Since Nain was a small town, most people knew this woman and the unfortunate story of her life. My guess is probably the whole town showed up for the funeral procession.
So here we are: two large groups of people gathering at the gate. It must have been awkward at the beginning. For the joyful party, they now realized that their excitement was out of place, so they quickly quieted down and assumed a grieving demeanor.
It is uncomfortable for everyone. We do not know how to act or what to say. Most likely, we will end up mumbling something polite about feeling sorry for her loss.
Although all these actions come with good intentions and are tactful, none of them is the solution to ease the pain of the widow.
Then Jesus appeared on the scene. The first thing Jesus said to the woman was, “Do not weep.”
There must be an unwritten rule somewhere that forbids one from telling a grieving person not to cry at a funeral service. That is a no-no. But that is what Jesus did.
We can almost hear the murmur of the crowd at Jesus’ statement: “What are You talking about? Do not cry? Do not weep? The woman just lost her only son. How insensitive You are!”
Instead of telling her not to cry, we all should be crying with her. In the same way, if we made a big sign saying, “Please do not cry,” and placed it in the parlor of a funeral home, you would be labeled as heartless, unkind, or something worse.
Yes, you can cry. In fact, Jesus Himself cried outside the tomb of Lazarus. If Jesus can cry, so can we.
Please note in verse 13 that it is clearly stated that Jesus had compassion on her. In fact, Jesus brings something that is more than compassion, because He is bringing a real solution.
We know Jesus is not heartless. He is not insensitive or cruel. If anything, Jesus feels, knows, and understands the pain of the widow better than anyone else.
In verse 13, Jesus did not forbid the woman to cry: “Thou shalt not cry.” He was telling the woman there was no need to cry because He was there to help her.
Jesus knew what the widow was going through. In telling her not to weep, Jesus was asking her to trust Him. Jesus knew what was going on. Everything was under His control.
He came to comfort a woman by revealing to her that He is the Lord of resurrection and life. Unfortunately, we do not always understand Jesus’ way of doing things.
In appearance, Jesus’ approach seemed to run against tradition. His manner—or rather, His lack of manner—offended many people.
So what did Jesus do next? In verse 14, Jesus proceeded to touch the open coffin.
If Jesus’ earlier request for the woman to stop crying had not rubbed the crowd the wrong way, touching the open coffin would certainly turn them off. He defiled Himself. Can you hear the gasp in the crowd?
Then Jesus said to that person, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
By now, the crowd knew for sure that Jesus was a lunatic. First, He tells the grieving, bereaved woman not to cry. Then He defiles Himself by touching the open coffin. Now He is talking to a dead person—not just talking, but commanding the dead person to get up.
We would agree that we have a madman here. But wait a minute. Something happens that causes their eyes to pop and their jaws to drop open.
In verse 15, the boy sits up in the open coffin and begins to talk. We do not know what the boy said, because the Bible did not tell us.
So Jesus returned the boy to his mother. If she was crying before, she really began crying now—not tears of sorrow, but tears of joy. She got her son back. It was too good to be true.
Now the question is: why do we fail to cooperate with Jesus? Why do we feel offended by Jesus’ way of doing things?
I do not have all the answers, but partly because we do not always remember Jesus is God. Yes, we know Jesus as a miracle worker. But whenever we encounter trials in life, we somehow manage to forget the deity of our Lord Jesus.
Like Jesus’ disciples, there were times when they were literally standing next to Jesus, who had the answer to all their problems. Yet the disciples failed to come to Him.
We often tell people, “Our problems are different from others,” meaning our problems are too difficult for the Lord to handle. We try to place limitations on Jesus’ ability.
An example can be found in Luke 5. Peter and company went fishing. They labored all night and caught nothing. So they gave up and were washing their nets in the morning hours.
Then Jesus came and asked them to cast down the nets in the deep water. Peter was thinking, “Teacher, what do You know about fishing? You may be a master carpenter, but when it comes to fishing, You are an outsider. We are the real experts.”
“But since You are our teacher, we will honor Your wish. Nevertheless, one net should be enough to prove You wrong. There is no need to dirty all the nets.”
Meanwhile, he was waiting for his moment to utter the statement, “I told You so, Jesus. There are no fish here.”
There must be a reason why Simon’s name, not Peter’s, was exclusively recorded in this portion of Scripture.
But surprise, surprise: when they caught so many fish, they almost sank the two boats. Peter suddenly realized he had made a terrible mistake.
This Jesus is not merely a master carpenter or teacher. He is the One who made the sea and the fish.
So he fell and told Jesus:
Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
At the same time, he held on to Jesus and would not let go.
If we confess Jesus is God, then we will pay close attention to what He says, to show our respect. At the same time, we should put ourselves in the position of a servant.
Also, the Bible reminds us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are far above ours, as the heavens are above the earth.
There are times when we may feel like the widow of Nain: nameless, helpless, and hopeless. Does Jesus care for a nobody?
The poor widow did not ask for help, but that does not mean Jesus had forgotten her. Jesus always has us on His mind. He cares about us.
When I was young, I heard my mother often sing the simple hymn entitled, “Thou Thinkest, Lord, of Me,” number 441 in our hymnbook.
Years later, I left home for America. The hymn became my lifesaver also. I still sing it from time to time to refresh my soul. It can bring comfort to know the Lord thinks of us.
For this hymn, I prefer to sing the Chinese version. Probably because of the difference in language, the translator was able to squeeze in a few Chinese characters in the same space to make a Chinese expression out of it.
Let us take the first line, for instance. The English version goes something like this:
Amid the thorns that pierce my feet,
And the Chinese version goes like this: when I meet trials and disasters, through thorns, through the territory of wild beasts. But one thing remains supremely sweet: Thou thinkest, Lord, of me.
Thou thinkest, Lord, of me;
Thou thinkest, Lord, of me;
What need I fear, since Thou art near,
And thinkest, Lord, of me.
No matter what situation we are in, nothing can prevent the Lord from thinking of us.
I can imagine the widow of Nain must have been confused when she looked up at Jesus. “Sir, I do not remember sending a notice for Your service.”
“Did you cry?”
“Yes, indeed, I cried.”
“Well, I heard your cry.”
The woman did not ask for help. She did not seek it. The Lord did it for her, out of love and compassion. The Lord will do this for you and for me too.
He often does it without us even asking. We ought to be grateful to the Lord. He is working continually in our lives behind the scenes to provide for us and to meet our needs.
And if we run into sorrow and despair, He will come along and tell us not to cry and not to weep: “Let Me help you to turn your sorrow into joy.”
I still remember my college days. When we sang the hymn, “Does Jesus Care?” we sang the chorus lines loudly and with confidence:
Oh, yes, He cares;
I know He cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
Still, some people are reluctant to call on the Lord for help because of our past sins and failures. The devil would like to convince us that God’s well of mercy must have a bottom to it.
It is like writing too many mercy checks. Sooner or later, the well is going to bounce. We assume that God can only forgive us so many times.
But think this way: why remain unprotected and exposed in the territory of wild beasts? Confess our sins. Besides, there is no other way. Our sins can be forgiven to set us free.
Take the story of the prodigal son. We seldom take into consideration the father’s agony of anxiously waiting every day because of our unnecessary delay.
What have you got to lose? Why not go home today? The Father is thinking of us and eager to have us back.
The Bible tells us God is merciful to all people. He also wants us to learn from His example by being merciful to our fellow man.
Another reason why we fail to cooperate with the Lord is the fact that we do not know the Lord well. How much do we know the Lord?
I guess we should use another approach. Do we know President Biden? Sure, we have all heard about President Biden from the news media.
But if President Biden were our neighbor, whom we might run into occasionally, then we would get to know him a little bit. However, if President Biden were a close friend, then we would know a lot more. We might even help each other in times of need.
How much do we know the Lord? Is it a set of secondhand knowledge about Him? Or is He our neighbor, whom we occasionally may run into? Or is He our close friend?
It is important to know what God likes and dislikes. Sometimes it takes a good friend to find out.
Let us read Hosea 6:6.
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
In the days of Hosea, the people of Israel still offered burnt offerings to God, but their hearts were far away from Him. They were just going through the motions of worship.
This verse in Hosea is a reminder that God delights to show mercy to all people, and He values the heart of the worshiper more than religious rituals.
And the knowledge of God here is not merely knowledge of who God is. It is experiential knowledge that comes from walking with the Lord and obeying His Word.
In other words, the Lord cares to establish a meaningful relationship with men.
Once I was in Kyrgyzstan, which is a small country in Central Asia. To give you a rough idea of its location, it is situated west of China and north of Afghanistan. It is more than a thousand miles from the nearest seacoast.
Kyrgyzstan is a poor country. Their marketplace is where you can get food and household products. Their food vendors offer only a few items on display.
I got the feeling that America had more options, more choices, in pet food than Kyrgyzstan had in human food. I visited the marketplace a few times and never found seafood on display.
One day, my host family gave me a surprise dinner party. They explained to me that they were lucky enough to get hold of a fish from the marketplace that morning, so they prepared a fish dish.
Well, I can only tell you it was beautifully displayed. The problem was, they never asked me beforehand. You see, I have many idiosyncrasies. One of them is that I do not like to eat fish, especially cooked the Chinese way.
It was supposed to be a surprise party, a special treat. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment for both parties, even though they had gone through a lot of trouble to prepare this dish for me.
Now my host family has found out about my idiosyncrasy. They no longer serve me fish.
But in our daily life, do we not treat Jesus the same way? We do not even bother to find out what He likes and dislikes. Like the people of Hosea’s time, we just keep going through the same religious routine and neglect to establish a close relationship with the Lord.
Again, God delights to show mercy to all people. This is the basis of our prayers.
Jesus quoted this verse from Hosea twice in the Gospel of Matthew. There is one other verse in the Bible that carries the same message, in 1 Samuel 15, where Samuel told King Saul, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”
Being God’s good friend comes with many benefits. The more we walk with the Lord, the more He will reveal Himself to us.
God will show more love to us, show more grace upon us, and answer more prayers. And in the process, we learn that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
We mentioned earlier that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways. How different are they? Maybe we can get some idea from the story of the prodigal son.
Let us start with the son for comparison. After the prodigal son came to his senses, he thought, “In my father’s house, all the servants have at least three meals a day and bread to spare. Why am I still here starving to death?”
So he was contemplating the thought of going home. But then he hesitated: “Wait a minute. What if Father is still mad at me because of what I have done? I really do not deserve to be my father’s son.”
“But my father is rich. He normally hires many helpers around the house. Maybe he will consider hiring me as a servant. That sounds like the best I can hope for: to be a hired servant at my father’s house.”
So what about the father? Now the son is on his way home. When the father spotted him over the horizon, he had compassion for his son, who now looked like a beggar. He went up to him and hugged him and kissed him.
At this point, the son was ready to recite his repentance speech, but the father cut him off. Instead, the father kissed him repeatedly.
That is the father’s way of saying, “Son, I have heard enough. All your sins are forgiven.”
Then the father turned to the servants: “Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And prepare a banquet. Let us celebrate.”
To put the best robe on your prodigal son—do you not know your son is completely broke? He may just sell it to the nearest pawn shop.
And the ring is equivalent to the father’s credit card in our society today. Are you not worried that he will overcharge? Let him spend it. That was the reason I gave him the credit card in the first place: so that he can spend.
Why was the father so excited about his returned son? For the same reason the widow really began to cry. Her son was given a second chance to live. She got her son back. It was too good to be true.
In this case, the father thought his son was dead and lost. Now his son was given a second chance to live. He got his son back. It was too good to be true.
The story of the prodigal son is not about the poverty of the wayward son. It is to show the riches of the Father and His generosity.
Our Heavenly Father’s grace account has unlimited funds. Our Heavenly Father is rich in love and mercy.
Robes, rings, and shoes are for individual use. A banquet is not. A banquet is for group activity.
In other words, the father called for a banquet because he wanted to restore the prodigal son’s sonship publicly.
Not only did the former beggar now look decent, but he was also given the power and authority to be his father’s son. And the father was happy. It is obvious.
God’s thoughts and God’s ways are far better than ours.
In summary, God used a nameless widow from a small town to illustrate a point. God considers no person or place to be unimportant.
God knows what we are going through in life. He considers no suffering insignificant.
The Lord cares for us, and He always remembers us, even though we do not always understand His way of doing things. The Lord can be trusted.
The Lord is working continually in our lives behind the scenes to provide for us and to meet our needs. Just in case we forget, the story of the prodigal son is a reminder that God’s thoughts and ways are far better than ours.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank You for the words of encouragement. They give us so much comfort to know You are always thinking of us.
Lord, help us to count Your works in our lives and give glory to Your name. In Jesus’ name, amen.