Compassion and Control
Preached by Jason Abbott
May 14, 2017
It was during the lunch hour on a Thursday in Norton Shores, Michigan when a 22-year-old delivery driver for Jimmy John’s learned something important about the traffic laws which govern funeral processions.In the driver’s zeal to live up to Jimmy John’s slogan: “Freaky fast delivery” he twice cut into the midst of a funeral procession. When funeral goers complained to police, the authorities investigated and issued the driver a ticket for not yielding to the procession. When Jimmy John’s found out, they promptly fired the driver. You see:
Under state law, funeral processions properly marked with flags have priority over all other vehicles except emergency vehicles, and driving through them is a civil infraction.1
Yet, what’s likely most disturbing to us, when we hear stories like this one, is not the breaking of the civil code but the breaking of the social code that stands behind it. We wonder: How can someone show so little empathy for the grieving? How can someone show such disrespect for the dead?Today, we’ll see Jesus’ complete disregard for the social codes of his day but with completely different results. Let’s look at this beautiful scene together.
Luke 7:11-17
11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Today we’re going to hang our thoughts on two hooks: (1st) the compassion of Jesus and (2nd) the control of Jesus. We’re going to see that Jesus, the God-man, cares deeply—he loves perfectly. And, we’re going to see that Jesus, the God-man, possesses control—he holds ultimate power.
1. The compassion of Jesus (vv. 11-14)
We shouldn’t look at this funeral procession with modern eyes. Let’s, rather, look at it with the eyes of the ancients. Let’s understand the pain of this mother. First, her pain is fresh. When someone dies today, the funeral is a few days away. When, however, someone in biblical times died, the need for a funeral was urgent. “To prevent deterioration the body was anointed and buried quickly.”2 In fact, often the funeral took place on the day of the death. This mother’s pain is fresh. She has just lost her son.Second, her loss is complete. In our funeral processions, there are vehicles for the family. These special cars with the family follow directly after the hearse. Oftentimes there are quite a few vehicles needed to transport the grieving family from the funeral to the gravesite. But that wouldn’t be necessary in this procession. Just one car! You see, this grieving mother is utterly alone. So Luke tells us:
. . . behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow . . . (v. 12).
I remember after my Granddad died that I would often go and have lunch with my Grandma. Unlike this widow she had family to visit her, and I loved to go because (seriously!) she made the best food from scratch. She was a great cook. Yet, I recall her confessing once—a few years after Granddad had passed away—how she was getting rusty at making certain signature dishes because she simply didn’t make them anymore when cooking only for one—when just feeding herself. And I could feel the loneliness in that comment.Yet, this widow in Luke’s account doesn’t even have a gluttonous grandson for whom to prepare a meal, every now and again. She has lost her entire family—her husband and her son. Her loss is complete. She is alone with her grief.Many of you have certainly been to a funeral visitation to comfort friends who are grieving. If so, you’ve doubtlessly during those moments felt the inability to say something truly comforting. If you’re like me, what you fear above all else during those times is saying something awkward or offensive to those grieving. We’d never do what Jesus does! And, we’d be horrified if we witnessed someone trying to do what Jesus does here! Just look at what Luke records:
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise . . .” (vv. 13-14).
Just imagine that you’re in a receiving line that leads up to a single mother who has just lost her only child. Suppose I’m directly in front of you in that line. As we finally reach her, I step up to her and look her directly in the eye and say: “Don’t cry. Don’t mourn.” Then, I walk over to the casket and put my hand on it and say: “Child, I tell you, get up!”At that moment, that child better rise to life, or I’ve been completely brutal with this grieving mother. In fact, I’ve not shown compassion but contempt for her unless that dead child gets up. If I don’t have the power to raise the dead to life, then I’d be a cruel, compassionless monster for doing such a thing.But, of course, I’m not Jesus. About this one and only Jesus, Luke tells us with beautiful simplicity: “. . . he had compassion on her” (v. 13). His is true love—true care for this woman in her brokenness and grief. When Jesus touches the bier, when he approaches her dead son, there is no possibility of failure. He is in control. Jesus isn’t raising a spectacle to draw attention to himself—he’s raising the dead. Death will bow to him. (But I’m getting ahead of myself now.)Before we move on to point two, I just want to point out what Jesus does, when he touches this funeral bier, because something subtle is communicated by it. Something gospel is highlighted by his touch.In Hebrew culture, coming into contact with death would make you unclean. You see, death is a product of sin—its curse highlights our separation from God. So for the Hebrews, there were ritual acts of purity to make atonement for sins. These signaled your need for cleansing in order to be in relationship with God—who is perfectly holy and pure.So when Jesus touches this bier, when he touches death, he is putting on sin. Jesus is mingling himself with this man’s sin which is the root cause of his death. But this man doesn’t stay dead, does he! And what does that signal about Jesus? What does that say about sin and death’s power when confronted by Christ Jesus? It says: Sin is defeated! Death has met its match!Friends, this scene foreshadows the coming good news work of Jesus Christ. When he takes on our sin and death, it is no match for him. Christ puts it to death on the cross. And, when we trust or believe that Jesus has conquered all our sins—like this once dead man—we are raised to spiritual life now and physical life later at Jesus’ glorious return.If you haven’t experienced this, if you’ve not trusted Christ to bring you life, then don’t hesitate to do so. In John 10, Jesus tells us that he’s come to bring us life and to bring it to the full. Trust him in this.Well, let’s move on to our second hook or point.
2. The control of Jesus (vv. 14-17)
As I mentioned already, when Jesus interrupts this man’s funeral procession, he’d better have the power to turn this thing around. And Luke shows us he does. Look at the details with me:
Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country (vv. 14-17).
We have phrases in our culture like—“If your grandmother could hear you, she’d rollover in her grave.” Or like—“He’s dead to me.” These phrases operate from the assumption that at death all communication ceases. The dead don’t speak, and the dead don’t hear. Now, in movies, sometimes someone will lose a person whom they love and begin yelling at them while beating violently upon their chest in some raging, emotional CPR. Then, suddenly, the person will come back to life like he or she responded to the cries. But these are just fiction. They’re not real life. (I have trouble even getting my kids to hear and obey me, let alone the dead!)Jesus, however, has control. Jesus possesses real and absolute authority here. When he speaks the dead listen and the dead obey. Notice again what Jesus says when he touches this dead man’s casket: “Young man, I say to you, arise” (v. 14). He commands this dead man directly, and he hears Jesus’ voice.If we were placed before a casket and told to resurrect the dead person in it, we’d feel our limitations acutely. Just consider what you’d say in such a situation. Likely you’d fumble for words. Perhaps you’d offer up a few apologetic excuses—“I’m not a miracle worker or even a doctor, you know.” Then, if you’re like me, you’d begin to pray hard to God for a resurrection. It’s unlikely you would speak to the corpse directly with any confidence of being heard or obeyed.Moreover, it would be wrong for us to presume we have resurrection power within ourselves. Praying to God for resurrection, relying on God for this miracle, is the appropriate response—because we aren’t the authors of life. Only God is. Only God can give and take away life (Job 1:21).But, friends, Jesus does presume. He does presume to possess total authority. He does presume to have resurrection power within himself. Christ’s voice breaks through the silence of death and brings life. And what does this say about Jesus? What does this tell us about his identity? Well the crowd has an answer:
. . . they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” (v. 16).
Yes, no doubt, this is a good start, but is it enough? I don’t think it’s enough. I think they’re just beginning to scratch the surface of his true identity.Friends, I looked at every resurrection in Scripture done by someone other than Jesus. And those resurrection accounts are very different than those performed by Jesus. Christ’s resurrection power is unique in comparison.As far as I can tell, there are only four others who perform resurrections—Elijah and Elisha in the Old Testament, and Peter and Paul in the New Testament. When you look at those accounts there is always a prayer to God for resurrection (i.e. request for his power to raise the dead) or a ritual before God for resurrection (i.e. physical act of dependence on God for his power to raise the dead). That’s it. What you don’t see is the innate resurrection power Jesus engenders here.Jesus doesn’t pray. Jesus doesn’t perform some ritual. Jesus merely speaks. He commands, and it happens. The young man gets up and hugs his mother again and laughs again and loves again and lives again. It’s beautiful!But what does this say about Jesus? What does this tell us about his identity? I think the people who witnessed this event spoke more truly than even they knew when they said: “God has visited his people!” (v. 16). Very likely what they meant, when saying this, was that God had sent a great prophet in this Jesus of Nazareth. Yet, what they didn’t understand was that—in this prophet, in Jesus of Nazareth—God had truly visited them! For, only God has the power to grant life (Job 1:21). And, Jesus clearly has this power. He’s not merely a conduit of this power of God. Jesus possesses this power of God.Friends, here we have a clear picture of our God—compassion and control, personable and powerful. When like this mother we’re broken by tragedies in life, God cares for us deeply and with great love. Yet, he doesn’t simply meet us there to give comfort. God meets us there to offer us his unending strength and power. He is in control. He is a Savior God. So don’t hesitate to run to him in your trials for sympathy and salvation.
Well, as we close, I want to point out something we’re often likely to forget. I want to point out that this resurrection is just a fleeting fix to a greater problem—a temporary defeat of a greater enemy. For, this man surely died again. This man and all who witnessed his resurrection are still in death’s grip. Maybe they’ll live for a few more years or even decades, but death will eventually find each of them. So we must ask: What good is this miracle really?!The answer is: It’s no good at all if Jesus just came to bring a temporary fix. The hungry would get hungry again. The diseased would become diseased again. The dead, who were raised, would just die again.Yet, friends, these little miracles weren’t the real reason Jesus Christ came but, rather, little signs pointing to the real reason he came—to satisfy real hunger (this is my body, take and eat), to cure the disease of sin (I’ve come to call the sick, not the righteous but sinners), and finally to put death to death (I’m resurrection and life; the one who believes in me will live).Friends, there are many who will argue that Jesus came so we can be healthy and happy right now. So you can have your best life now—riches and relationships and pleasure and power. But people who say these kinds of things are blind guides. All the things they say Jesus came to bring you in this lifetime pale in comparison with what he really came to bring you—namely, a family relationship both now and forevermore with your compassionate Creator.God is the treasure! God is our great reward!
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction [all the tragedies this fallen world has to offer!] is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Amen. Might this wisdom—that God is the greatest treasure—be constantly before us! Please join me in prayer.
1 You can read a fuller account of the 2011 incident here.
2 Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, 651.
