Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 36 – September 1988
God’s Compassion Revealed In Christ
Sermon by Rev. W.J. Bosker on Luke 7:11-17
Reading: Luke 1:67-79; 2:47-49
Singing: Psalter Hymnal 333:1,4; 94:1,2; 424:1,4; 156:1,2,4,5; BoW.H.804:1,2;
(Call to Worship: Isa. 40:1-5).
Beloved congregation, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ;
No one needs to be told that a funeral is a sad event. A person who was once living now lies cold and still in a coffin (or in Biblical times on a stretcher). The pain of death is felt by those who remain. We cannot help but express our grief. A loved one has departed. But at the same time, if it is a Christian funeral, we are confronted and comforted with the gospel: the compassion and love of Christ. And that is what we find in our text. Because we see here that God visits the people of Nain in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!
We will see that this account highlights the compassion of Christ, which became so obvious to the people that they concluded that, “God had come to help His people.” The news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. Now it has also reached us!
Let us see how God’s compassion is revealed in Christ. We do so in three points:
1. The compassion of Christ is the reason for our hope.
2. The measure or extent of Christ’s compassion.
3. The triumph of Christ’s compassion.
1. To appreciate the compassion of our Lord for this widow, bereaved of her only son, we need to know some background information and then mentally transport ourselves into that scene.
Luke draws our attention to this town called Nain. It’s more than incidental detail because Luke could have just said that Jesus went to Nain, as he spoke about Capernaum in vs.1. The fact that the town was called Nain makes us ask, “Why? Why was it called Nain?” Well “Nain” means “pleasant” or “delightful spot”. And from its location in Galilee it must have been a beautiful place. A town elevated on a hill, looking across plains to forest-covered mountains nearby, and in the distance you could see snow-capped Mt.Hermon.
Luke is telling us that it’s a place of breath-taking beauty. We could call it a “little paradise”. And here lies the stark contrast. Nain, this little paradise, has lost one of its sons. Death reminds us of that first Paradise where all its beauty was shattered by sin. The result was death, and Paradise was lost.
Now let’s picture the situation. The funeral procession heads north out of Nain to the cemetery some distance from the town. Here is a woman who has already been devastated by the loss of her husband. Dependent on her only son for her income and security in life, (no Social Security in those days!) she is overwhelmed by sorrow as her only hope lies dead on an open stretcher. Arms placed across his chest and wrapped in a burial cloth.
Put yourself in this lady’s shoes. Her hope and security gone. Every Jewish woman cherished the hope that her son might turn out to be the long-awaited Messiah. Now all hope of that was gone too. All the joy must have gone out of her life.
Consider this too, congregation: A burden of guilt lay heavy upon her. It was common then to think of great suffering as a result of great sin. So you can imagine the stigma; people whispering about her. There was also a Jewish custom in Galilee which required the woman to head the funeral procession for the reason that women had introduced death into the world.
So here she is: stooped, eyes flooded with tears. People who met the procession as it proceeded along the road would join the mourners according to the prevailing custom. The law required Israel to “weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn.” And so the text says in vs.12 that “a large crowd from the town was with her.”
But look! Who’s that coming down the narrow road from the opposite direction? Another crowd has been coming south from Capernaum. This crowd has witnessed the miraculous healing of the centurion’s servant who was sick and about to die (vs.2). At the head of this large crowd walk Jesus and His disciples. Triumphant and victorious! The centurion’s servant has been saved from certain death!
What will happen as these two crowds meet along the narrow road at the town boundary? Will Jesus honour the custom by giving way to this procession and join the mourners to the graveside…?
Brothers and sisters, the symbolism of these two crowds is inescapable! One crowd is led by Jesus the Prince of Life. The other crowd is led, as it were, by Satan, the Prince of Death, proudly displaying his power in the symbol of the corpse.
What will Jesus do? Will the Prince of Life give way to the Prince of death?
How beautifully this incident fits in with the purpose for which Luke was inspired to write the Gospel of the life and message of Jesus! We read from Zechariah’s prophetic song in Luke 1 that the Saviour would give “His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins (continue reading from Luke 1:78, 79)…” and then how Luke mentioned Jesus’ first recorded words (2:48) as having to be in His Father’s house, going about His Father’s business, doing the work His Father sent Him to do. And now in the text, we see the Prince of Life confronting the procession of the Prince of Death, head-on. Going about His Father’s work! He doesn’t step aside to let the funeral procession through! He stands in the middle of the road. Life meets Death. The procession stops!
Between them, engulfed by sorrow, stands the widow. Her tear-filled eyes do not recognize Jesus. But He recognizes her!
Even from a distance her life was an open book to Him. Seeing her sorrow-filled life, our Lord’s heart went out to her. The original uses a word meaning “the inward parts’ kidneys/liver/heart” to describe the strong, deep emotion of compassion which Jesus felt for her. You know how it is when you see a very sad and sorry sight, your stomach, your whole insides churn with emotion…? Well, that’s how strong a word is used to tell us how Jesus felt towards her.
THIS WAS THE COMPASSION OF GOD SHOWN THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. He saw the devastating consequences of sin. He saw our sin bringing death upon ourselves. He saw the devastation that Satan causes. He saw Satan proudly displaying his trophy of death. And His heart went out to her. He said to the widow: “Stop your weeping. Cease your wailing.”
Congregation: That’s how Jesus finds us! Before we knew Jesus, we were a sorry sight. We might not have seen it ourselves. But He did! He had compassion on us And the fact that He stops to talk to us, to comfort us, and deliver us, is the only reason for our hope. The Prince of Life rescues us from darkness! We see that in the way Jesus addresses the widow.
Jesus tells her to stop crying. These are no empty words. Jesus can tell her to stop her weeping because He knows that He can take away the CAUSE OF HER WEEPING! Jesus’ words to this woman become the promise to her that today He will come to her aid. Today He comes to deliver both a mother and her son! We may know and remember that the Lord Jesus has come to help us. The Son of God has come to give us life! Yes, the compassion of Christ is the reason for our firm hope.
2. That leads us to see in the second place the MEASURE OR EXTENT OF HIS COMPASSION.
What did Jesus do to show the extent of His compassion? Well, on a first reading we might say that He raised the young man back to life. But that is not what the text says, in the first place. As a matter of fact, Jesus giving the man back his life shows the greatness of His power, not the extent of His compassion.
The text says in vs.14 that after comforting the widow, Jesus went up and touched the open coffin, the stretcher on which the dead body lay. The procession had already come to a halt since the road was now blocked by the crowd that came with Jesus. Those carrying the stretcher stood still in bewilderment. What was Jesus doing? He stepped up and touched the coffin! That action of Jesus showed the extent of His compassion. Do you know why?
It was known to every Jew that any person who touched a dead body or anything that has had contact with a corpse, was ceremonially unclean and polluted. Numbers 19 spells out clearly that a ceremonially unclean person who didn’t cleanse himself according to the stipulated purification washings, was to be CUT OFF FROM THE COMMUNITY. He lost his place in the community of God and His people. He was isolated from God’s presence and carried the curse of death.
When Jesus touched that open coffin He clearly showed the extent of His compassion. He knowingly, willingly and deliberately made Himself unclean. He declared Himself willing to bear the curse of death. The curse that drove us out of Paradise. Jesus committed Himself to the cross by touching that coffin!! He offered to give His life for that widow’s son! The extent of Christ’s compassion is shown in His willingness to bear the curse of sin and death. To suffer a painful death on the cross, and endure separation from God on our behalf.
The words “Do not weep”, and that action of touching the coffin were very expensive for our Lord. They cost Jesus His life. Such was the extent of His compassion; a compassion we see most clearly at the foot of the cross.
There we can see the significance of God in Christ having come visit His people. God has truly come to help us in Christ. He saved us by washing us clean from the guilt and penalty of our sin. His precious blood has cleansed us. He took upon Himself our misery and wretchedness. He gave us eternal life!
All this is concretely expressed in raising this young man back to life. New life and a new hope is restored to both the widow and her son. In touching the coffin, Jesus signified that He would give us His life for us. And now in raising this young man to new life, Jesus gives us a picture of what His death will do. This is meant to be a firm and unshakable picture of the assurance of new life – eternal life we already experience in Christ today. God has truly visited His people with deliverance! The Prince of Life has met the Prince of death head on and won.
3. We have seen the extent of His compassion in His willingness to bear our curse. And as our Lord gives back a son to his mother, we see in the third place THE TRIUMPH OF HIS COMPASSION.
In giving back her son, Jesus effectively stops the funeral procession dead in its tracks. The two crowds become one joyous procession. You can imagine this throng as they turn around and head back towards Nain. The town has restored to it the life of one of its sons. The people have seen a glimpse of paradise restored.
Not only do the widow and her son live to tell the story, but there were hundreds of witnesses present. Our text says “they were all filled with awe and praised God.” They must have had visions of Jesus being another Elijah or Elisha, the great prophets of old who had also raised people back to life. They didn’t realize how close to the truth they were in saying that, “God has come to help His people.”
The people’s response was to follow Jesus. They couldn’t keep this good news to themselves. So Jesus’ name and fame spread throughout the whole of Israel and overflowed into the surrounding country. Through the written and preached Word of God it has now reached us.
How are we going to respond to the grace of God as it is revealed to us in the compassion of Christ? Christ is the reason for our hope. He bore our sins and raised us to a new life. What Jesus did for the widow and her son, He has already done for us; in His compassion we see the love and mercy and grace of God. He has given us a new life. Paradise is being restored!
Jesus’ work didn’t stop at the cross. The grave is empty! He ascended into heaven. He is the Risen King! While we wait for our bodies to be to be raised up incorruptible when Christ returns to judge the world, we live in the assurance that we are already joined to Him in faith. Nothing can separate us from Him!
We belong to that crowd of believers who follow Him:
- Let us then be aware in whose company we travel.
- Let us know in which direction we are walking.
- Let us be filled with reverential fear, praising God for His goodness and tell others about His deliverance.
- Let us have the name of Jesus on our lips so that His name may spread throughout Our suburbs, Our cities, and Our country.
As the Holy Spirit applies God’s Word to our hearts let us remember how God has visited His people with the compassion of Christ.
- His compassion is the reason for our hope.
- His compassion is the ground of our salvation and our joyful service.
Amen