¹¹ Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. ¹² A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. ¹⁴ Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” ¹⁵ Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” ¹⁷ And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.”

Luke 7:11-17

Dear God, is it terrible that my first thought this morning when I read this familiar story was, “Was that really the best idea, Jesus?” Answer: Of course it was the best idea! It was Jesus! But this certainly raised the bar on who the people thought Jesus was.

It’s interesting to put all of Luke’s book into one character development arc and story that he’s unfolding for us because these things all fit together, but we forget that since we are used to just reading stories in segments and not part of the whole. So in the last two chapters we had Simon’s mother-in-law healed, Jesus calling the 12, and then a mini Sermon on the Mount. Now, we’ve seen the faith of the Centurion from yesterday and today Jesus actually goes next level by raising someone from the dead. And this isn’t like Jairus’s daughter where he did a little misdirection and told everyone she was only asleep. This was like Lazarus, but maybe even more so. And then tomorrow we will get John the Baptist, from prison, asking if Jesus is the Messiah or if there is another one to come. But I’ll get to that tomorrow. There’s probably a lot to say about that.

But back to this miracle resurrection. I wonder how many times he did this that we aren’t aware of. Off of the top of my head, I’m counting three including this instance, Jairus’s daughter, and Lazarus. Now, he didn’t necessarily need to be the Messiah to do this. There was a history of both Elijah and Elisha doing it. But it did mean that he had power from you at a very high level. He was to be respected and adored. In the minds of the people there, maybe not worshipped, but revered as being from you.

Father, as I look for applications for my life today, I first just want to thank you. Thank you for the reality of this story. I do not doubt its veracity. I guess I do wonder what this young man’s life was like after this. What did he do? How long did he live? How did he eventually die? How did his life touch others and ripple through time, even until this day? Maybe that’s the reminder for me. That all of our lives will ripple through time whether we realize it or not. And we can do the best we can and still knock over negative dominoes as well as positive ones. So I’ll just pray that you guide me today. Make my life as positive of an impact on our community as you can. Love through me. Love me through others. And help me to always give you the glory, for you are the giver of all good gifts.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen