08.24.08
Recognition of Christ’s Authority in Nain (Luke 7:11-17)
Recognition of Christ’s Authority in Nain (Luke 7:11-17)
We next meet Christ about 25 miles southwest of Capernaum (where he healed the centurion’s servant). This journey was (of course) not a mistake, but presented another opportunity for Christ to authenticate the authority of His person. Upon arriving at the town gate, the crowd comes upon a funeral procession. This widow must have been well known and highly respected in the town because a large crowd was with her.
Wow – here we see The One who was the Man of sorrow, well acquainted with grief, touched by the bereavement of the widowed mother. What do you say in a situation like this? I know how you feel? That’s questionable at best. I certainly don’t have the magic words for this situation (and that’s not unusual for me). How do you console such a person? Jesus didn’t just speak, He demonstrated that He was the resurrection and the life.
Shepard says: “Do not go on weeping,” He said tenderly. Then going forward a little He touched the open wicker-coffin. The pall-bearers stopped immediately. It was ceremonial pollution of the worst type to touch the dead, and by Rabbinism fraught with the most terrible consequences. Jesus dreaded not the imagined defilement and brushed away all such useless traditions. A superstitious awe fell upon the great crowd of people.
Here – we need to break. This son, who was dead and had no capacity to hear – he heard. This son, who was lifeless sat up, got out of the coffin, and walked. Jesus had spoken a command for this dead man to get up, and he did. He came to life! Back to Shepard…
A reverent fear seized upon all present, and they began and went on glorifying God by repeated expressions. The conclusion, which they reached unanimously and the cause they assigned for their glorying, was that a great prophet had risen in their midst. The remembered the incidents in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha nine hundred years before, and jumped to the conclusion that ‘God had visited his people’ once again with a prophet. This kind of report went out into all of Judea and all the surrounding country concerning Him.
More testimony for the Person of Christ. Which leads me to my questions. These folks remembered. I mean, they just witnessed a miracle of enormous proportions – a person who was dead was raised back to life! And they drew some conclusions. This was supernatural. This was the work of God or of His agent – one of the prophets. They knew what was foretold, and they leapt to conclusions.
What about you and I? We have heard the stories of Jesus, the prophets, and have been taught the Word since…longer than many of us care to recall. But would we remember? If we saw something just fantastic, mind blowing, absolutely out there – would we remember? What would it take for us to recall? Would we need to remember that it took God to die for me when I commit some sin? Would we need to recall that we caused the God of the universe pain because of our choices? Or is that just something that we forget too often…
