The Third Sunday after Pentecost
\nJune 5, 2016
\nLuke 7:11-17<\/p>\n
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.\u00a0 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out\u2014the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.\u00a0 And a large crowd from the town was with her.\u00a0 When the LORD saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still.\u00a0 He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.\u00a0 They were all filled with awe and praised God.\u00a0 “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said.\u00a0 “God has come to help his people.”\u00a0 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.\u00a0 (NIV1984)<\/p>\n Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n For the next few months you and I will watch as two political powerhouses will be competing for the most powerful position the face of the earth\u2014 the office of the President of the United States.\u00a0 Even though it is not yet official (at least not until after California\u2019s primary election on Tuesday) Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will be going head-to-head in what could easily become a very messy campaign.\u00a0 Which one will win that confrontation?<\/p>\n Two tremendously talented basketball teams are now battling each other in the NBA Finals.\u00a0 In Game 1 the Warriors were able to outscore the Cavaliers by a score of 104 to 89.\u00a0 These two teams will confront each other at least three more times before a victor is crowned.\u00a0 Which one will ultimately win that confrontation?<\/p>\n Confrontations are actually rather common, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 Some confrontations are somewhat minor.\u00a0 Some confrontations border on being epic.\u00a0 Here in our sermon text for today God the Holy Spirit gives us the opportunity to sit on the sidelines and witness what is truly an epic confrontation.\u00a0 On one side of this confrontation we find death\u2014 an enemy that is so powerful that no ordinary human being has ever been able to defeat it.\u00a0 On the other side of this confrontation we find Jesus\u2014 the One who came into this world as our true Brother so that He could go toe-to-toe with death on our <\/strong>behalf!\u00a0 As we sit on the sidelines of this epic battle let\u2019s see how it could be titled:\u00a0 The Lord of Life Confronts the Demon of Death!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In order for us to appreciate the full impact of what took place there at the city gate of Nain we need to try and visualize this scene in our minds.\u00a0 So permit me to help you do just that.\u00a0 Jesus of Nazareth was now in the middle of what is commonly called His \u201cYear of Popularity.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus had recently chosen His twelve apostles.\u00a0 He had recently preached His Sermon on the Mount.\u00a0 He had just been in the city of Capernaum where as we heard last Sunday He had miraculously healed the centurion\u2019s servant without even going to the centurion\u2019s house.\u00a0 As Jesus now made His way from Capernaum to Nain Luke tells us that a \u201clarge crowd\u201d<\/em> was following Him.\u00a0 It certainly is not hard for us to picture the joy and the happiness that permeated the air as these people walked and talked with this amazing Rabbi from Nazareth.<\/p>\n Now picture another crowed.\u00a0 It\u2019s gathering in the city of Nain.\u00a0 There is no joy.\u00a0 There is no happiness.\u00a0 One of their own\u2014 a poor widow\u2014 was preparing to bury her only means of support, her only hope for the future, her only son.\u00a0 Her friends help her bathe his lifeless body, wrap it in cloths and spices and place it on a funeral bier\u2014 kind of like a wicker basket carried on a stretcher.\u00a0 As the procession left the widow\u2019s home a group of men carrying the funeral bier were at the head of the procession.\u00a0 Then came the widow.\u00a0 Then came a \u201clarge crowd from the town.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n So now we have two crowds and two processions that could not be more diametrically different from each other suddenly confront each other at the gate in the wall around the city of Nain.\u00a0 Custom would have Jesus and the crowd following Him stand off to the side and let the funeral procession pass by\u2014 much like when our funeral processions today are given the right-of-way at busy intersections.\u00a0 But, instead of standing helplessly on the side, instead of deferring to the dead what does Jesus do?\u00a0 Luke tells us, \u201cWhen the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, \u2018Don\u2019t cry.\u2019\u00a0 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still.\u00a0 He said, \u2018Young man, I say to you, get up!\u2019\u00a0 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Note very carefully how Luke here refers to Jesus as \u201cthe Lord.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 This is the thirty-ninth time that Luke uses this name in his Gospel account.\u00a0 By using this name for Jesus Luke is here emphasizing beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is not just an ordinary man.\u00a0 This is not just an amazing Rabbi.\u00a0 This is \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> who created the heavens and the earth by simply speaking the word.\u00a0 This is \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> who said to Moses from the burning bush, \u201cI Am that I Am\u201d<\/em> (Exodus 3:14).\u00a0 This is \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> who promised King David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne of his father David and rule over God\u2019s Kingdom for ever and ever.\u00a0 This is \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> whose whole inner being was filled with so much compassion for this poor woman that He immediately took charge of the situation in a way which no one could have ever anticipated.\u00a0 After lovingly telling the widow to dry her tears Jesus immediately went up to the pallbearers, brought them to a halt by placing His hand upon the funeral bier and said, \u201cYoung man, I say to you, get up!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 And he did!\u00a0 The dead man woke up from the sleep of death and was given back to his mother safe and sound.\u00a0 Now I have attended many funerals and I have even been a pallbearer at more than one of them.\u00a0 But I have absolutely no idea what it would have been like to have been one of the people at the city gate of Nain when Jesus of Nazareth simply spoke and this young man rose from the dead!\u00a0 I have a feeling, however, that Luke only scratches the surface when he describes the reaction of the people with the words, \u201cThey were all filled with awe and praised God.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n As glorious as this miracle most certainly is, my friends, I personally think that it is recorded for us here on the pages of holy Scripture to teach us far more than just Jesus\u2019 power to raise the dead.\u00a0 As I look back over the course of just my own life and my own ministry I am now able to see a little bit better why <\/em>certain things happened to me and why <\/em>I experienced certain situations\u2014 some good and some not so good.\u00a0 As I grow and mature in my own faith I am now able to better understand why the Holy Spirit had the apostle Paul give us that familiar promise recorded in Romans 8:28, \u201cWe know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Some people sincerely believe that the meeting of these two processions at the city gate of Nain\u2014 one led by the Lord of life, the other a testimony to the power of the demon of death\u2014 was purely \u201caccidental.\u201d\u00a0 I disagree.\u00a0 I believe that just as Jesus knew exactly how the illness and the death of Lazarus would end in such a way that \u201cGod\u2019s Son may be glorified through it\u201d<\/em> (John 11:4), so also I believe that even before He left Capernaum Jesus knew that His joyful procession would confront this funeral procession there at the city gate of Nain.<\/p>\n The question then becomes, Why?\u00a0 Why would the Lord of life choose to confront the demon of death at that time, at that place and in that way?\u00a0 I see so many answers to those questions that it\u2019s difficult to chose where to begin!\u00a0 So what I would like to do today is simply focus on that poor widow and see how what Jesus did for her applies to us today.<\/p>\n Satan is someone who loves confrontation\u2014 especially when he\u2019s confronting us mortal weak sinners.\u00a0 Like a bully on the playground Satan will tease us and push us and hit us and trip us and do whatever he can to coax us into a one-on-one confrontation.\u00a0 Satan knows that if he can get us alone we are no match for him\u2014 a fallen yet still extremely powerful angel.\u00a0 Note how alone this poor woman was.\u00a0 Her husband was dead.\u00a0 Her only son was dead.\u00a0 No mention is made of any other family.\u00a0 She lived in an age when there was no social security, no food stamps, no government subsidized housing for the elderly, no Medicare, no Medicaid.\u00a0 Satan probably thought to himself, \u201cEasy prey!\u201d\u00a0 That is why I think the Lord of life confronted the demon of death here at Nain.\u00a0 Like a big brother who steps up to protect his little sister or like the loving father who seems to suddenly appear out of nowhere and sends the bully running with his tail between his legs, here at Nain Jesus steps up to protect this woman from the myriad of temptations and the vast array of difficulties that Satan could have easily used against a widow whose only son was now dead.<\/p>\n There are times in our lives\u2014 or there will be times in our lives\u2014 when we also might feel like we are all alone and easy prey for that roaring lion who is looking to devour us<\/strong>.\u00a0 Perhaps it is the death of a loved one or our own impending death.\u00a0 Perhaps it is the devastation of losing our job or losing our home.\u00a0 Perhaps it is a disability brought on by illness or injury or age.\u00a0 Whatever it might be, the worst thing we can do (and yet we do it way too often!) is to try and handle things such as this all by ourselves.\u00a0 We don\u2019t turn to the Lord.\u00a0 We may not even trust that the Lord will help us.\u00a0 If we\u2019re on the outside watching a family member or a friend go through something devastating in their life what do we say?\u00a0 What do we do?\u00a0 If all we do is cry with them for a moment and then half-heartedly say, \u201cIf you need anything, let me know,\u201d we have wasted a golden opportunity.<\/p>\n Just as Jesus\u2019 \u201cheart went out\u201d<\/em> to this widow who was now all alone, so also Jesus\u2019 \u201cheart goes out\u201d<\/em> to those who are enduring devastation in their lives today\u2014 especially to us, His brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Our God is the God of boundless compassion.\u00a0 If you or anyone else ever doubts that\u2014 look at the cross of Calvary\u2019s hill.\u00a0 God\u2019s compassion for you is so strong and so deep that He was willing to endure the greatest suffering imaginable (Pointing to the cross) so that you would not have to.\u00a0 Since your God has already revealed this depth of compassion for you, is there anything that He can\u2019t or won\u2019t help you through in your life?\u00a0 Absolutely not!\u00a0 So, my friends, don\u2019t let that roaring lion lure you away from this cross so that you are \u201ceasy prey\u201d for him to devour.\u00a0 Stay close to your Lord, your compassionate Lord, by staying close to His holy Word and Sacrament!<\/p>\n At the same time, do not lose sight of the fact that \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> who stepped up to this funeral bier, stopped this procession being led by the demon of death and defeated the devil by simply saying, \u201cYoung man, I say to you, get up!\u201d<\/em> has the power to do the very same thing today!\u00a0 I have been in a situation where the doctors have told the family that there is nothing more they can do and Sally won\u2019t make it through the night.\u00a0 I have reminded the family that \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> is the One who makes that decision, not the doctors.\u00a0 In His compassion I have seen how the Lord used His power to make sure that Sally not only recovered, but went back to work, retired from work and is still doing well to this very day.\u00a0 I have also been in situations where the doctors have said that it looks like Joe is \u201cout of the woods\u201d and should be just fine.\u00a0 But in His eternal wisdom and in His boundless compassion \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> granted Joe perfect healing by calling him home to heaven.<\/p>\n My point is very simply this, my friends.\u00a0 When we know who \u201cthe Lord\u201d<\/em> is, when we realize the power that our Lord possesses then we have the comfort of knowing that we never have to handle anything alone.\u00a0 As I heard someone say, \u201cThere is nothing too big for the Lord to handle and there is nothing too small for the Lord to be concerned about.\u201d\u00a0 Good words to remember\u2014 especially when something has happened that makes us feel both devastated and all alone!<\/p>\n Confrontations.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s in politics or in sports or in everyday life, confrontations are all but unavoidable.\u00a0 While some of these confrontations are minor and some of these confrontations are epic\u2014 none <\/strong>of them, none <\/strong>of them even begins to compare to what took place at the city gate of a town called Nain when the Lord of life confronted the demon of death.\u00a0 None <\/strong>of them, none <\/strong>of them even begins to compare to the confrontation that took place on the cross of Calvary\u2019s hill.\u00a0 The fact <\/strong>that our Lord was victorious in both of those confrontations\u2014 as well as in every other confrontation He had with the devil\u2014 gives us the comfort and the confidence of knowing that our Lord possesses both the compassion and the power to help us\u2014 no matter who or what confronts us on our journey Home!<\/p>\n To God be the glory!<\/p>\n Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Third Sunday after Pentecost June 5, 2016 Luke 7:11-17 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.\u00a0 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out\u2014the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.\u00a0 And a large crowd from the town 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