Judges 16-18 Luke 7:1-30

“When the Lord saw her, he felt very sorry for her and said, ‘Don’t cry.’ He went up and touched the coffin, and the people who were carrying it stopped. Jesus said, ‘Young man, I tell you, get up!’ And the son sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Luke 7:13-15 NCV)

Jesus told those who listened to Him that He came to proclaim the Kingdom of God. As He proclaimed the Kingdom, though, people with needs kept finding Him. The centurion sought Jesus out to heal his servant. Heading to a town called “Nain” He came across a funeral of a young man. His mother, a widow, was grieving the death of her only son. Jesus took compassion on this mother and raised her son back to life again. Jesus had compassion on people. He often inconvenienced Himself to care for people or meet their needs. The result of this healing was that word about Jesus spread throughout the area. The problem for Jesus was that people focused on the miracles instead of the teaching.

I heard a pastor say that when he had to officiate his first funeral he decided to see how Jesus officiated at funerals. He was shocked to discover that Jesus didn’t officiate at any funerals, in fact, if anything He upset the normal funeral process by bringing people back to life. Jesus turned people’s mourning into joy when they saw their loved one brought back to life. It made it difficult to continue teaching in some areas, as people flocked to the miracle working Jesus, and, most likely interrupted His teaching to ask questions about raising people from the dead. Paul understood the deeper meaning of these resurrections. He noted that we all were once dead in our trespasses and sins, but that we were brought to life again by Jesus. (cf. Ephesians 2) Jesus brought a few back to life physically when He walked on this earth. As the one who came back from the dead forever, He rescues us from the wages that sin pays and gives us life in Him. We can rejoice that we are alive today. We can rejoice even more that we are alive in Him so that we can share His love with others who need to know Him.

Lord, I once was dead in my sins. I walked through life with no hope and cared only for myself. Thank You for new life in Jesus. Thank You for giving me hope. Thank You for letting me care for others.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.