THE LORD OF LIFE, Luke 7:11-17

We met Jesus in our text this morning entering the town of Nain.  As usual his disciples are with him and they are surrounded by a great crowd.  People wanted to be near Jesus.  As the get close to the town gate they are met by a funeral procession.   The poll bearers are carrying the body of a man who had recently died.  The man was the only son of a widow.  He was obviously well liked because there was a considerable crowd headed to the burial site.

Funerals have always interested me.  They are the time when we confront the most difficult phase of life.  A phase that awaits us all and that is death.  It’s at funerals where all the issues of life come to a head.  When confronted with death, we ether have the hope of eternal life that springs up with in us or we are faced with our mortality and are left with nothing but hopelessness. 

In the early years as a pastor I had the privilege of presiding over many funerals.  I have witnessed the joy of the Christian hope of eternal life with Jesus temper the sorrow felt by family and friends at the loss of a loved one.  I have seen the agony of the hopelessness felt by those who were not equipped to deal with death.

One funeral will always stick out in my mind.  A young Ethiopian man who my church sponsored as a refugee to this country was murder on Christmas Eve for the presents he had purchased for his family.  The funeral turned into a scene of chaos that sprang from the hopelessness and frustration of the people.  On the day of the wake there was a crowd outside the funeral home.  When the doors opened the mourners rushed the casket trying to touch the body.  We had to force them back out the door and close down the viewing.  The next day the funeral was no less difficult.  Mourners stood outside of the church beating themselves and wailing uncontrollably.  There was standing room only inside the church and people lined the street outside.  The body was walked across the street to the cemetery and when it was placed in the hole the crowd had to be held back to keep people from jumping into the grave.  Uncontrollable sorrow, as people mourned without hope.

Jesus confronts the funeral procession leaving Nain.  He is drawn immediately to the widow who was in deep sorrow.  He tells her, “Do not weep.”

Who is it that is the focus of the funeral?  We certainly gather to honor the dead person who is no longer with us, but it is the living that we comfort.  At a Christian funeral we rejoice that the brother or sister in now with the Lord and we remind the family and friends of the promise of the resurrection and we declare the gospel or grace to the unsaved that they too might have the hope of the resurrection.

Jesus has nothing to say about the dead man and he doesn’t address the crowd at the funeral, he turns right away to the grieving mother.  She is the one he is concerned about.

There are many reasons this widow is sorrowful.  She has just lost her only son.  Parents should never have to bury their children.  The children should always out live their parents.  The loss of a child must be one of the most difficult things a parent can ever face.  With the death of her son the widow has lost her only means of support.  There was now welfare system in place back in Nain.  No social net to catch those who have no visible means of support.  She could not go out and get a job to take care of her needs.  The care of widows was the reason the deaconate was formed in the early church.  James tells us pure religion takes care of the widows and the orphans.  This woman was put in a position of dependence with no one to depend upon.  And she lost her future.  The family would no longer continue on because her son had died.  No son, no means of support, and no future, the death of this man brought great sorrow to his mother and Jesus understood all of that.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  He identified himself as the way, the truth, and the life.  Easter Sunday was about life conquering death.  Belief in Jesus leads to eternal life.  Those that believe in Jesus will never die.  Jesus whole mission on earth was centered on bringing life to the dead who were that way because of sin.

Jesus concern is for the widow.  The dead man seems almost to be a side figure in the drama.  He touches the brier and tells the young man to arise.  He does and he gives him to his mother.  This is a story about life.

In giving the women back her son Jesus is restoring her life, both emotionally and physically.  The woman received her son back from the dead.  No matter what else she faced the life of her son was most important to her.  He gave her back her means of support.  The woman would be cared for.  She received her life back again in a very real sense.  Someone would take care of her at a time when widows were dependent on the support of others to survive.  She had the hope of a future back.  We take joy in our children and grandchildren because they carry our families into the future.  We remember our families past and tell the stories to our children so that we live on in them.

Jesus did not come to save our souls; he came to save his people from their sins.  Christians are not about eternal life we are about life that continues on into eternity.  We are kept here on this planet to live out the kingdom of God in a world dead in sin.  We acknowledge that sin and we feel the pain of those who suffer because of it.  We recognize the agony of the widows all around us.  Or response to the sin and death around us is one of life.  We are asked to grapple with a number of issues as Christians and our response must be for life.  There are not always easy answers but our discussion must be around how to bring healing and life to this world.

Think back over the issues of this year.  We had an extended discussion as a nation about healthcare.  I don’t know where you come down on the issue but the need of thousands of uninsured people must be part of your thinking.  It is not a socialist/capitalist debate no matter how the politicians and pundits would have us to think about it.  It is always about those in need and how can they be best served.  There were the earthquakes in Haiti and Chili this year that left many lives ruined.  How did you respond?  The church was on the scene and we gave money to the effort because the savior that we serve is about life.  Then there is the oil spill in the Gulf that has affected the livelihood of so many families, especially in Louisiana where they are still not recovered from Katrina.  How are we to respond?  These are matters of pray that should lead to action because the church of Jesus Christ is about life.

We have been placed in this location in this city by the grace of Almighty God.  We have been called to bring life to this place and that is all part of our mission to this neighborhood.  New York is a city of networks and contacts, but not a place of friends and community.  This can be a lonely place to live and work.  The church is all about reconciliation and life.  Sin separates us from God and from one another.  The vision, my vision for this place is that we become the community center, the focal point, the hub of this neighborhood.  Our opening up of the doors of the church was so that people in need of rest and refreshing can come out of the hustle and bustle of the streets into a place of peace.  We open our doors to musicians so that they can reflect the image of God as creators in a place that respects them for who they are and what they do.  The Stoop is about giving Christian artist a forum to play and also to bring beauty and life to this block.

God is not just a practical God.  He is a creator of beauty.  He could have had the bees pollinate drab gray flowers but instead in made flowers that are beautify to look at and lovely to smell.  Beauty and friendship in a cold city is about bringing life to a dead world.

How did Jesus bring life to this widow?  He raised her son from the dead.  It was a temporary thing, he would die again eventually, but it was a taste of things to come.  You were dead in the trespasses and sins.  You were without hope and without God.  Placed under the waters of baptism you were given life.  As faith and the Holy Spirit came together you were made alive in Christ.  You were lifted from the briar and you became God’s instrument of life in this world.

Your life in not about you it is about others.  Jesus raised the young man and gave him to his mother.  Jesus raised you and gave you to this city.  You have been given life to give life.  We forget that. Too often we act as if life is about us.  We were dead in sin and raised to newness of life and we think it is about us.  God cleans us up, gives us good jobs and set us on our way.  We spend what we have on ourselves and contribute little to the needs of those around us.

I would ask you to take a look at yourself.  How is it you are living out your eternal life?  Is it all about you?  Do you work to enjoy the next party or are you about the needs of other?  The joy of the Lord comes to those who spend themselves on the kingdom.  As a baptized member of the kingdom of Heaven are you about life?  He who keeps his life will lose it but he who loses his life for Jesus sake will find it. 

Jesus was moved with compassion by the death in our story; the death of the young man and the death of the widow whose life in many was came to an end with the death of her son.

Life is brought to this world through the announcement of the gospel.  In all that we do our primary task is to speak life to the dead.  The world is changed when people who are dead in sin are made alive in Christ.  Zaccheus is a prime example.  Evil tax collector encounters Jesus and his life is changed.  He repents of his wrong doing and pays back with interest those he had wronged.  He restores life because his life was restored.

We have been called to breathe life into this city.  We do that in many ways but the primary way is to tell people about Jesus to witness to them in word and deed.  With each new person who comes to faith a breath of life is breathed into this city.  The church of Jesus Christ is the hope for this place.  Have you received life from Jesus?  We you spend your life so that others might live?