THE UNFINISHED FUNERAL

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 8, 2020 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: April 8, 2020 from Luke 7:11-17

Theme: The raising of the young man of Nain shows that Jesus has power to give life to the dead.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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It would be hard to imagine anything as final as a funeral. We’ve all seen enough movies to know that a wedding can be interrupted and called off. Some brides and some grooms have been left waiting at the altar; and the ceremony was over because one of them didn’t show up. But have you ever heard of a funeral being canceled because the deceased suddenly sat up in the casket?

In Luke 7:11-17, we read of a time when the Lord Jesus actually interrupted a funeral procession, and caused the burial to be called off, because He raised the guest of honor to life. Luke tells us of what happened just after the story of how Jesus had healed the centurions’ servant in the city of Capernaum;

Now it happened, the day after, 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 (Luke 7:11-17).

Even though our Lord basically ruined the funeral service, I don’t get the impression that anyone was upset about it; do you?

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Stop and think of the times that we’re told in the Bible that Jesus—during His earthly ministry—raised someone from the dead. If you were to look just a little ways ahead in the Gospel of Luke, you’ll find the story in Chapter 8 of how He raised the young twelve year old girl to life and presented her to her parents. And then, of course, there’s the wonderful story in John 11 of how He raised His friend Lazarus from the dead—calling him to come out of the tomb after having been buried for four days. And there is this story—the story of the young man of Nain. And even after our Lord Himself died on the cross, we’re told that He still raised the dead; because in Matthew 27:52-53, at His crucifixion, several of the saints were raised to life from their graves and appeared to many.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26a). And He proved this to be true during His ministry on earth. Once when His own people were opposing Him—doubting His claim that He was the Son of God—He told them;

“Most assuredly, I say to you the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will” (John 5:20-21).

If we hear those words and think of how Jesus has the power to give spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead, we would be thinking correctly. But there’s more to it than that alone; because the proof that He is able to raise people from spiritual death was that He also had the power to raise people from physical death. He went on to say;

“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:25-29).

And that is the great lesson that we are being shown in this morning’s passage. Jesus has demonstrated that He has power to heal the sick, or to cast out demons. But even more, He has also demonstrated that He has the power and authority to do the greatest thing that we could possibly need—and that is, the power to call us forth from our condition of spiritual death and give us eternal life. He even promises those to whom He gives spiritual life that He is able to raise them from the grave and give them physical life forever.

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Now; notice first from this story about our Lord that …

1. HE HAS COMPASSION ON THOSE WHO SUFFER THE EFFECTS OF DEATH (vv. 11-13a).

Luke tells us, “Now it happened, the day after”—that is, the day after the remarkable healing He performed on the servant of the centurion—“that He went into a city called Nain …” (v. 11a). Nain is a small town the ruins of which still exists in modern Israel. It’s just a short distance away from the city of Nazareth. It truly had a delightful name; because the name ‘Nain’ literally means “delightful”.

Luke tells us that as Jesus approached the town of Nain, many of His disciples went with Him. And so also did a large crowd. After all, they had already seen Him perform many miracles of healing up to this point; and had, in fact, just seen how He had healed the sick servant of the centurion from a distance by only speaking the word. They were drawn to His power and authority. And now, as they approached the town of Nain, they saw His compassion. We’re told that as 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 (v. 12).

In those days, a widow was a woman in very desperate need. There were no pension programs. There were no such things as ‘life-insurance policies’ that would protect and provide for a surviving spouse. A woman, ordinarily, did not have a vocation by which to earn a living for herself. And so, a widow such as this one would have been a very dependent person. Just how it was that she had become a widow isn’t told to us; but she must have had at least some comfort, and some sense of a secure future, in that she had a young son who could provide for her. But tragically, the son died. And now, as she followed behind the casket of her son in the funeral procession, she must have not only felt great grief at the loss of her only precious son, but also the terrible burden of utter loneliness and hopelessness. What would become of her now? We can imagine that the people of the town were following along with her in deep grief and sorrow with her—and for her—as they went to place her son’s body into the grave.

And that’s when we read, in verse 13, “When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her …” Don’t you love that about our Lord? He not only sees the ways that people suffer, but He feels that suffering along with them. To say that He felt compassion literally meant that He felt deeply in His insides for her. He knew what a loss this must have been for her; and He understood how that felt. You and I can take that personally, by the way. Our Lord knows when we suffer. He understands our grief. He feels our losses along with us. He was “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). In Matthew 9, we’re told of how He went about healing every sickness and every disease of the people; but more than that, we’re also told,

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

So; the Lord Jesus has compassion for those who suffer the pain and loss that comes from death. Death is not a natural thing. It came upon us because of the sin of Adam. And our Savior feels the pain we feel from it.

But more than that, we also see that …

2. HE SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE THE CONQUERER OF DEATH (vv. 13b-15).

It must be that as the funeral procession went by—and as He felt the sorrow deep within of the poor woman whose son died—He came up and brought the procession to a halt. What a strange thing it must have been to the townspeople who went along with her—and what a marvel it must have been to His disciples and to those who followed along with Him. If I may say so, it would have almost seemed like an act of great imposition and disrespect to stop a funeral. But this is no ordinary passer-by.

We’re told that, having compassion on this poor widowed, grieving mother, He said to her, “Do not weep.” (v. 13b). But He wasn’t being insensitive to her grief in saying this. Rather, He told her not to weep, because He was about to take the cause of her weeping away. Do you remember the story of how He raised the young twelve-year-old girl from the dead? At that time, He told the mourners, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping”; and they all ridiculed Him for it. Or do you remember when He told His friend Martha to have the tomb of her brother Lazarus opened? She strongly objected. Perhaps the people who heard Jesus tell this woman not to weep responded in the same sorts of ways—thinking that His words were out-of-place. Death, after all, seems so final. Who could ever change it? How inappropriate it must have seemed for someone to suddenly stop such a sacred and sorrowful event and say, “Do not weep.”

But then, we’re told that He came up and touched the open coffin. This definitely brought the funeral procession to a halt; because we’re told that “those who carried him stood still” (v. 14a). And you can just imagine how silent everyone must have been—how quiet the mourners would have become—as He then spoke to the dead man! He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” That’s all that He did to the young twelve-year-old girl also. And that’s also what He did for His friend Lazarus. He simply spoke the word.

Now; we should always remember that the man who is reporting this story to us is a doctor. Luke knew that a dead person stays dead. And yet, he then goes on to tell us; “So he who was dead sat up and began to speak.” (v. 15a). No one had to say, “Look, I think I can see this man’s finger twitching!” or “Hey, I think I can detect a pulse!” He immediately sat up and began to speak. And I can well imagine he would speak; wouldn’t you? If you sat up and saw that you were in a funeral procession lying in a coffin, wouldn’t you have something to say about it? I wish I knew what he said; don’t you?—especially when he could see that the funeral procession was about himself! But I think that the man’s speaking is really meant, most of all, to make clear to us that he truly was alive and consciously right away. And then, don’t you love how we’re told this about Jesus? “And He presented him to his mother.” (v. 15b). What compassion! Who could imagine her joy? I’ll bet that Jesus smiled as He did it. And I like to think that this man’s mother took him home and gladly made him the best dinner that night that he ever had!

I’m sure that this is meant to be a demonstration of the Lord’s compassion for the woman in action. Without her son, she would be completely destitute. But now, she has her son back—and with him, she has hope. That truly underscores the loving and caring heart of Jesus to us. But more; I suspect that this is meant to give us a picture of the joy that will be ours when—after death has been completely conquered—we who love Jesus will all be reunited together in eternal life. As we’re told in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18;

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Death is a grief to us. But praise God that—because of our Lord—it is never the last word. He has conquered it.

And that leads us, finally, to consider how …

3. HE DEMONSTRATES HIS IDENTITY BY HIS POWER OVER DEATH (vv. 16-17).

Luke goes on to tell us, “Then fear came upon all …” But we should understand that this is not a negative kind of fear. It’s the fear of reverent awe. They were realizing that something astonishing had just happened—and that it centered on who He was. The people demonstrated this by the fact that “they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen up among us’; and, ‘God has visited His people’” (v. 16).

This is the language of the Messianic hope of the people of Israel. They would have remembered that Moses promised that, one day, God would raise up a great Prophet like himself to the people (Deuteronomy 18:15). When they said that ‘God has visited His people’, they were expressing the belief that the long-expected Messiah had come to them; and that God was now looking upon them in favor. And so, Luke tells us in verse 17, “And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.” The story of how Jesus raised the young man of Nain spread everywhere—and perhaps, as the name of the town would suggest, brought delight to all who heard it.

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Let’s learn a few things about our Lord Jesus from this story. First, let’s remember that when we suffer in this world—even when we suffer the painful consequences of death—Jesus understands our pain. He is not distant and detached from us; but is compassionate toward us—feeling the hurt we feel. But more, let’s remember that He is ‘the resurrection and the life’. He not only feels our pain, but is wonderfully able to do something about it. It is in His power to raise people from spiritual death—and He has proven this by the fact that He is able even to raise people from physical death.

We don’t expect Him today to now go around stopping funerals. He only needed to do that once in order to show His power and authority. But we do know that, because He Himself was crucified and was raised from the dead three days later, He has completely conquered death for us. We can trust in the promise He made to us in John 14:19; “Because I live, you will live also.”

He has proven that He is fully able to make good on His promise.

Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this Bible Study.

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