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.
Luke 7:11-17

Introduction

Can there be anything more agonizing than the death of a child? It is one thing to stand over the coffin of a man who has lived 70 years, but it is far more somber to stand over a 3-foot coffin where a little girl’s life has been snuffed out in only a few years of living. Death is terrible and terrifying, so much so that society has relegated it to the darkest corners of our lives, hidden away in fear that merely to think of death will superstitiously unleash death. So to speak of death today is unnerving, but to think about the death of children is outright blasphemous. But travel to places around the world, in particular Africa, and we see that death is tragically commonplace. In our world when someone dies, it is an anomaly. But in places like Mozambique and South Africa, death and even the death of children is far too ordinary.

The death of a child impacts us so deeply because the idea of children and death together is an oxymoron. Death and children simply don’t go together. They have not lived long enough to die. And to dwell on this dreadful thought conjures up many questions which seemingly have no answers. What is life about? Why is life so short? How can this happen when God rules our world? But answers do exist, and when we read this text in Luke 7:11-17, we can see three realities regarding the death of a child: 1) Death is dreadfully agonizing (vv. 11-12), 2) Jesus empathizes with the dying and the grieving (v. 13), and 3) Jesus is more powerful than death (vv. 14-17). So let’s explore these 3 realities.

Death Is Dreadfully Agonizing (vv. 11-12)

In verses 11-12 records: “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.” Here is the scene. Jesus is walking with his disciples through a small town. And as he’s passing through, he notices a funeral procession where a mother is walking next to the shrouded body of a son, probably a young man in his teens. The body would have been on a plank, covered in cloth, but visible. The people following her are all agonizing over this death in particular because this woman is a widow and probably her son was the only way she could survive, since widows had almost no source of income. Widows were the most helpless of people. For example, when I was in Africa, there was one woman who had lost her husband all her children. She was sitting on a mat in front of a small hut with absolutely nothing at all. She was so worn that she had even no tears left to cry. She had no resources for food at all. And this would have been the situation that faced this woman that Jesus encountered.

You need to keep in mind the circumstances of such agony. First, there is the finality and suddenness of death itself. Again in Africa, our team of a couple of years ago was driving to one site. I was driving the van probably about 50 miles an hour when a flock of birds started flying across the road. I’m sure for those birds, it was an ordinary day. But at my speed, I knew that they would have to veer out of the way pretty quickly and I also knew that if I veered out of the way, I would endanger everyone in the van. So I simply went forward and thud! Bird feathers were everywhere. That bird or birds went from the full life of a bird to sudden death. But of course, what is more unsettling than birds dying suddenly, is when people die suddenly. And isn’t finality and suddenness of death supposed to be unsettling? Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” Death is a result of what should have never been. But now, death is as it should be, especially if we understand the full darkness of sin and its consequences.

Second, there is the calamity of a child’s death. Children shouldn’t die. Old people die but not children. But Paul tells us in Romans 8:20 that creation was “subjected to futility.” In other words, following sin, things do not happen in the way God created it to happen. God does not desire and delight in the death of children (Ez 33:11). There should have never been any death to begin with and there certainly should never have been the death of children. I know I want to die before my children and I know every parent wishes that this would happen. But for the widow of Nain, this simply was not the case. And the agony over such a death was tremendous.

Joe Bayly was the columnist for Eternity Magazine for over 20 years. He wrote: “Death is a cruel thief when it strikes down the young…Children were made for fun and laughter, not for pain.” (Quoted from Kent Hughes, Luke Vol 1, 261) He is someone who understands the death of a child. One morning, while Joe and his wife were sleeping, his second son Danny son began bleeding and realized it was what he called “a hopeless hemorrhage” and eventually died. Nine months later, Joe and his wife had their third son, John. He was born with a congenital condition that required surgery. 18 days later, the boy died and the autopsy did not reveal what was the cause of his death. Their oldest son Joe, was born with mild hemophilia. Despite the loss of two of his brothers, he continued to have a passion for Christ. He qualified as a National Merit Scholarship finalist and for the autobiographical paragraph he was required to write, he stated: “My chief aim in life is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by whatever I do.” He wanted to be a missionary who would serve the Lord overseas. However, Joe had a sledding accident with prolonged bleeding. Earlier in life, Joe had a similar incident and lived. This time, he would die a violent and bloody death. In reflecting on the death of his children, Joe Bayly does not negate the intense grieving he went through with each child. There is no deeper valley than the loss of a child, as the widow of Nain understood. But his words are words that all parents must consider now, whether death awaits our children or not. He writes:

Our peace is not in understanding everything that happens to us and our children, but in knowing that he is in control of sickness and health and even death itself. We accept life’s mysteries and sufferings unexplained because they are known to God, and we know Him. Of course we seek answers from the Bible and from experience, our own and that of others. But when no answer is forthcoming, we don’t attempt to rationalize (‘It could have been worse,’ ‘Look at how many people heard the Gospel through the funeral service,’ or ‘Things are getting so bad on earth, think of what he’s been spared not growing up’). Reason, we believe, is deceptively weak crutch for faith. Reason gropes in the dark for answers, while faith waits for God. (Joe Bayly, A Voice in the Wilderness, 239)

Joseph Bayly is essentially reiterating the faith of another father and a ‘dying’ child, Abraham and his son Isaac. Hebrews notes:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” (Heb 11:17-19)

Faith means that in life and in death, there is a continual trust in God when our logic, reason, and sense of this world are limited. This is why when we dedicate children to the Lord as a church, I ask the parents if they’re willing to fully entrust that child’s life to God, even if that life is to be short-lived. The widow of Nain’s agony over her child reminds us that life in general is short-lived and without a wholehearted trust in God, the agony of life’s circumstances can sweep over us much like a huge breaking wave over what was in the beginning nothing but a leisurely swim in the ocean.

Third, there is living after the death of a child which is arduous. After a death, the first few weeks are a whirlwind. Mourners come. The funeral takes place. People come and volunteer their services. Friends bring food. But eventually, the people leave. The calls of encouragements and sympathy stop, and suddenly the death sinks in. For this woman, how much more angst she would feel. She was a widow. When the funeral procession stopped and the friends stopped coming by, there was no husband to grieve with. But she also had the incredible burden of wondering where her next meal would come from. When every woman had a husband who would provide, or children who could help with things, she had nothing. She was essentially the hopeless, the walking dead. This is very much like the widow I encountered in Africa. She was so destitute, so broken, so alone, that she could not get up, not because she was physically unable, but because she was so broken-hearted. She could probably taste the desperation. This is why God has compassion on the widow as Moses says in Deut 10:18:

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Widows are utterly defenseless and have no provision except for God Himself. But in the midst of this agony, when such a person is defenseless, someone hears the widow’s anguish, and in our text, His name is Jesus.

Jesus Empathizes With The Dying And The Grieving (v. 13)

Luke records in verse 13: “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Jesus saw her. Here was one instance where the sick and the dying did not come to Jesus. He was moved by such compassion that He decided to act. This is our God. He does not wait for us to cry out to Him, though He hears our cries. Jesus suffered for us and therefore, there is no suffering that we go through that is beyond His comprehension. And listen to this incredible promise that God gives His people in Isaiah 43:2: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” God doesn’t say ‘if you pass’ but WHEN you pass, WHEN you walk. And when such a times does come, He will never leave you. If you see that through deepest of valleys that the Lord is with you, even through the loss of a child, you will have a perspective of God that very few get to see.

What this widow of Nain saw of Jesus then is the same Jesus of today as promised by Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Jesus sees us and has compassion because He knows pain and suffering far more than any person could ever know, even more than the agonizing widow of Nain. This is why theologian Sinclair Ferguson comments:

Jesus’ sinless and sensitive spirit felt the full force of the turning of His Father’s face from sin. He plumbed the depths. He tasted the darkness of pain, opposition, rejection, loneliness. He comes to us as the Crucified One, who is qualified to understand us and sympathize with us. But he comes also as the Risen One who is able to hold us up and keep us. In him there is comfort. In him there is also security. (Sinclair Ferguson, Deserted by God?)

Jesus Is More Powerful Than Death (vv. 14-17)

Jesus is not some empathetic counselor who lends His ear. He is not merely One who shows compassion and looks helplessly upon death. The Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely more powerful than death itself. Without Jesus’ power over death, there is no way there could be true comfort and full security as Sinclair Ferguson speaks of. And we see this power over death in the rest of the narrative in verses 14-17: “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.”

Jesus’ actions in these verses are progressively startling. First he comes up to the procession. Imagine, you had just lost your only son. The somber procession is moving forward filled with grief and wailing. Suddenly, you notice a 31-year old man coming over to the wooden plank where your son is lying. What would you be thinking? You might be a bit miffed. How dare someone disrespect the mourning and the dead by interrupting what was obviously an incredible difficult time? But then Jesus does the unthinkable by touching the bier. This was probably to stop the procession which would have been even more startling. But the religious implications of this were mind-boggling as well. Touching a dead body made one unclean (Lev 11:31) and for a teacher to do this would have left Jesus open to criticism. But to top it off, he tells the young man to arise. Here, Jesus has done the ridiculous. He’s speaking to a dead person.

There are many miracles that Jesus could have done. But raising a dead person to life was beyond what could be imagined. Death was and is the common denominator of all human beings. The dead cannot listen. They can’t refuse help and they can’t accept it. They are the epitome of the helpless. As helpless as the widow is, how much more helpless is the young man? And yet, just as the world was created by a mere word uttered by God, so too this young man sat up and began to speak after such a word was spoken. There would be no doubt that this miracle had occurred. And images of a bygone era, where Elijah and Elisha had raised the widow’s son in 1 Ki 17:22 and 2 Ki 4 must have raced through the minds of every Jewish person watching this scene. No wonder they spoke of another prophet and God’s visit to them.

We know as this story tells us and as Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 15:55, death has lost its sting. Have you ever seen a bee without its sting? Suddenly that little, powerful bug, even deadly to those allergic to its sting, is rendered completely harmless. Jesus has pulled out the stinger of death. Paul adds in verses 56-57: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is what the widow and people of Nain got a glimpse of. They saw what we now see fully. Before Jesus, Hebrews 2:15 tells us that every human being was subject to the fear of death which was really a lifelong slavery. But listen to verses 14-15 in its entirety:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Everything that death touches has been eradicated by Jesus. And then verses 17-18 teaches us what Jesus does for us:

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus’ atoning work, His making propitiation for our sins, His averting God’s wrath, taking upon Himself every sin of ours, is the ground upon which He is able to help us in our suffering, even when we encounter death. Jesus’ raising of this boy to life was a sign of something far greater than even this boy coming to life. It was a sign that Jesus Christ has come to conquer death completely. Jesus’ blood completely washes away our sins and now makes us worthy and able to come before the Father eternally. Death has been conquered because it is not our end. But as pastor Erwin Lutzer comments: “Death is the chariot our heavenly Father sends to bring us to Himself.”

This is why we sang earlier Phillip Bliss’ hymn, “What a Savior.” If we really begin to understand just how gracious God would be that His Son’s death would lead to our eternal life, how else can we respond but to say, “What a Savior!” Listen to that first verse again:

Man of Sorrows! What a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

What a name! What a Savior! This is exactly why the people who saw that boy raised to life in Nain were gripped with fear. There was wonder and awe! News spread. Well if this is what happens with a temporary resurrection, what about what Jesus has done to gain our eternal resurrection? How much more we should respond with awe and wonder, shouting, “Hallelujah, what a Savior!” So how can we respond in light of such a miracle as the death of a son and the raising of a son?

1. Remember always that comfort flows not from a change of circumstances but remembering the great work of the cross.

This has served Christians since Jesus’ day. There is a false faith that believes true faith in Christ leads to well-being, that if you pray hard enough God will bring healing and prosperity. Of course, the flip side of this is that if there is suffering in one’s life, then it is because one does not have enough faith. This is surely one of Satan’s greatest deceptions. It robs God of His glory because it means that our self-effort is what grants us God’s favor. But Paul tells us just the opposite: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) God does the work completely. It’s a gift, not of anything we do at all.

No, what gives us joy and comfort is basking in the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And this basking is not dependent on the circumstances we face in life. Just ask Joni Eareckson Tada who has been in a wheelchair for much of her life due to a diving accident. She has used her story to encourage millions that circumstances should never dictate one’s joy. And what is the source of her joy? Here is what she said:

God doesn’t give those who hurt mere words. He gives the Word—Jesus, the bruised and bloody Man of Sorrows who endured hell on earth so that you and I, by trusting in Him, can escape it. (Quoted from Elyse Fitzpatrick, A Steadfast Heart, 63)

So many of us or looking for circumstances to change so that we can worship our Lord “better.” There are far too many “once” people in the church. Here is this person’s logic. ONCE I graduate college, then I’ll have time to worship God. Right now I have too much studying. And then, ONCE my work life slows down, then I’ll have time for the Lord. Right now, I just got into my career and I need to put in the hours. And then, ONCE I get married and have kids, then I’ll worship the Lord. I need to find a spouse so I can be grounded. And then, ONCE my kids get older, then I’ll worship the Lord. Right now, I have to work harder to provide nice things for my kids to enjoy. So I’ll worship the Lord faithfully after things are settled in my career. And then when sickness comes into the family, ONCE there is healing, then I will worship Him. But of course, when the sickness or trials pass, God falls by the wayside again. And then when we’re approaching our own death, ONCE I’m on my deathbed, then I’ll have time to worship Him. What makes one think that a life lived with a ONCE mentality will ever trust in the Lord even on one’s own deathbed. Circumstances will never determine how we worship God. You will never have “enough time” to worship God because by simply pushing God in your life and by scheduling Him out of your life, you’ve shown that God will never be a priority for you at your current understanding of priorities. You will never be ready enough, good enough, moral enough, kind enough to be acceptable. But Jesus has died on the cross to not only make you acceptable, but to make you worthy of God’s love, and to bring you into His family as sons and daughters. But you need to see the Lord everyday as the God who has conquered death. And you need to want to respond by shouting, “What a Savior!”

2. Live life fully with your children. For those of you who have children, please remember, they are not a nuisance, a hindrance to your joy.

Psalm 127:3-5 reminds us of the blessings of children:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

Children are not to be worshipped. They are not our gods. We do not serve them. But they are blessings whom we desire to raise in the Lord.

If there is one thing we can see from this text in Luke, it’s that we have no idea how long we will have our children with us. With this in mind, we must never take them for granted. We must see them as a blessing from the Lord, and we are stewards over their spiritual care. Most of you will have no problem with their physical care. But if parents could only see that even if children were to die and be raised from the dead physically, what good is such a resurrection if they gain the whole world but lose their souls? Dear parents, do not waste your children. Do not let an opportunity go by where you assume they will be with you forever. Do not be a ONCE parent: ONCE I have some time, then I’ll disciple my children. James calls our lives, and the lives of your children, a vanishing mist. May you never have one regret regarding your children, no matter how long or short their lives are. God forbid, if there is an accident and you never get another opportunity to say another word to your children, may you have no regrets of missed opportunities because you lived your life with your children to the fullest. Please share the Gospel with them and do not assume they cannot understand. Instruct them every day about the good news of Christ. Your words will be a kindness to them.

Conclusion

What we know from this story in Luke 7 is that death is inescapable because the consequences of sin are inescapable. And nothing makes this more horrific than the death of a child. But this is not the end of the story. Jesus came to raise the dead, by Himself rising from the dead. What we see in Luke 7 is only a small glimpse of the glorious joy that is to come in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Let me close with this story and a quote.

Sinclair Ferguson had the terrible responsibility of letting his mother know that this brother had just died tragically. As he lay in bed sleepless trying to figure out how to do this, and the weight of sorrow and grief he felt and his mother would feel, he commented that it was as if God had spoken to him from heaven with these words from Scripture:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?… For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:31-32; 38-39)

He realized after remembering this text:

I cannot now imagine living the Christian life on any other basis than this. If the Father loves me so much that he did not spare his own Son but delivered him up to be crucified for me, no further guarantee is needed of his wholehearted and permanent commitment to me and my blessing. Whatever happens to me must be seen in that light. (Sinclair Ferguson, Deserted by God, 42)

May you never forget to see all things, even death, in this light.