DON'T CRY (Luke 7: 11-17) 6/9/13

            In his early ministry, Jesus has drawn big crowds as he performs miracle after miracle. Early on, he heals the slave of a Gentile Centurion without even going to the site. The point of the miracle is to demonstrate the great faith of a believer and that such faith could come from the ranks of those qualified only by that faith.  After this miracle, Jesus leaves Capernaum and goes about a day’s journey to a town called Nain, which lay a few miles southeast of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Near the town gate, Jesus encounters a funeral procession. A man had died. He was the only son of a widow who survived him. The man must have been a decent sort, as much of the town was with the woman as they carried out the body. The funeral cortege has already gone through the town. This is where Jesus saw her and the procession. The customary burial place would have been outside the town gates. To this day, about ten minutes walk from Nain on the road to Endor, there is a cemetery of rock tombs in which the dead are laid. Luke says he had compassion on her and said to her “Do not weep.”

          Like most stories in Scripture, we only get a capsule summary of an event and this is no exception. In first century Israel, the loss of an only son by a widow was a devastating blow. Women were not allowed to inherit property. Whatever she had from her marriage had gone to her son and now he was dead. He was probably not only her support; he was also by far the most sympathetic property owner she would know, for he was her son. With no husband and no sons, the property would revert to some male heir and she would quite probably become destitute. Did Jesus figure out all this from his momentary observation of the funeral procession? Perhaps he did, for such was the customary lot of widows in first century Israel. Perhaps that knowledge played a part in his feelings. We cannot know from the passage. What we can know is that Jesus felt compassion. He wanted to help. He was not asked. He just stepped up and intervened. He told the widow: “Don’t cry.”

          Don’t cry. How many times have you said that to a child or grandchild or spouse? Don’t cry. What does it mean when we say it? We are reaching out, trying to bring calm and reassurance to some situation. A child is injured and cries from pain. A young husband or wife goes off to deployment and the spouse is left behind. Someone dies and someone else survives. Don’t cry, we say. It will be all right, we say. How do we know it will be all right? What does it mean when we say…Don’t cry? How can we really help?

          That’s what Jesus said and he knew exactly what he meant. He meant that death was about to be conquered by the Son of God. He meant that he did not need to turn back time. He could just reverse what had happened, even if that event was death itself. Three times in Scripture, Jesus restores the dead to life. There is Jairus’ daughter and there is the famous story of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. But this is the first time. Jesus has up to this time performed great miracles, but this time…this time he is performing the ultimate miracle. Only God can raise the dead back to life. Only the Messiah is capable of such a miracle.

          We say “don’t cry” and part of what we are saying is that this too will pass. We say it because it hurts us to watch others hurt and we want it to stop. We say it because sometimes we know that it is a small thing and it will be okay in a while. We say it because we care. Lots of the time, we say it because we believe it. That is, we believe that whatever is wrong will be handled by the God we try to trust. It is our back door way of saying “Trust in God. He is there for you.” When Jesus said “Don’t cry,” he didn’t mean any of these things. He meant he was going to fix it, even if death was the problem.

          Luke tells us that Jesus came up and touched the bier. A bier was not a coffin. It was something used to transport the body to the grave, very often a long wicker-work basket. In ancient Israel, the dead were entombed rather than buried in the ground. More importantly than the mode of burial was Jesus’ action, He touched the bier. This made him ceremonially unclean. This would have stopped the procession. While Jesus was not concerned with ritualism, he did want to get everyone’s attention. He was about to perform a miracle that left no doubt of his identity; this was the Promised One. So Jesus, as he was wont to do, broke the rules of ceremony in order to reveal the keys to the kingdom. Sure enough, Luke tells us that the bearers…the pall-bearers to us, stood still.

          In all those times when you have tried to console your child or friend, in all those times when you reached out to hug…when the words were either insufficient or gone…think about how wonderful it would have been if you really had the power to fix what was bad. Imagine if when you said “Don’t cry,” you knew you could right the wrong or effect the cure. As it is, we reach out in love to show our support, hoping that we may be of some help. We reach out in the hope that we may comfort, and that is a good thing. But Jesus had something much deep in mind.

          Jesus says to the corpse: “Arise, young man.” The man sat up and began to speak. To put that in contemporary English, that’s “proof of life.” Luke says Jesus delivered him to his mother. In 1^st Kings 17, a story is told of the healing by Elijah of a widow’s son. When the miracle is accomplished, the Scripture says the Elijah delivered him to his mother, the exact words used in this passage about Jesus.

The reaction of the people is typical. Everyone is scared, and everyone is also glorifying God. The people call Jesus a great prophet and word spreads like wildfire all over the country. Some have argued that Jesus triggered an awakening from a cataleptic seizure rather than an awakening from death. Does it really matter? The history books are riddled with stories of people being buried alive. Jesus saved this man’s life. Is the miracle any less? Luke says the man was raised from the dead in front of a town full of witnesses. That will do nicely for me.

          This is the first of three different times in the gospels that our Savior raised someone from the dead. Three times, Jesus said to those who could hear, showed those who could see, that he was not just a great teacher, nor was he a great prophet of the magnitude of Elijah, to which this story has many parallels. Jesus was more. He was much more. Here was evidence of who he really is! He was even more than Messiah. He was and is the Son of God and he carries the power of God within his compassionate hands.

          Can you relate to the woman here? How many times has he come to your rescue without you even getting the chance to invoke your prayer for him? You have found him already there, already interacting with you, reaching out in compassion, for you are one of his children. Jesus knows who you are, where you live, what you think and, most importantly, what and whom you need. He wants you to communicate with him, but he is already intimately engaged in your life.

On that day long ago in Nain, Jesus felt compassion for a child of the kingdom, actually two of them. He restored a man to life. He also restored a widow’s hope for her future and the love of her life in her son. For the people there and for us as we ponder these things, he gives a sign. When Jesus says to us, whether through Scripture or through prayer or through the words of one of his children: “Don’t cry,” it’s not just an utterance of words of comfort. It’s an invocation.    We are invited to partake in the hope that comes from God’s power, from God’s compassion.

Jesus is able to fix it, no matter the size of the problem. We just have to believe it. His miracles are evident all around us. Don’t cry! Arise! If you just stop, look and listen, you’ll find him already there… waiting for you.