The Fourth Sunday of Easter (CL)

Luke 7:11-17

¹¹ 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.

Someone once told me when Jesus encounters a funeral, he flips everything up-side down. Jesus does not leave this son dead, but raises him to life. He presents the dead man to his mother. I find this interesting because we should not take the lesson from Jesus to say, "Do not weep."

Many people cry at funerals. There is nothing wrong with crying at a funeral. There is also nothing wrong with crying during a sappy movie, or romantic movie. We often cry because we have seen the effect of sin in this world. We cry because people die, or are injured. We cry because people are lost or separated.

Some of you have already skipped ahead to say, we cry when we are happy. We cry when the two people finally realize they are meant for each other. But in all truth, we do cry when we are happy. We cry when we see the effects of sin, and when we see the removal of sin. We cry when we see Christ die on the cross, for the forgiveness of our sins. We cry when we see Christ present a living child to his mother.

Fear seizes them because they see that "God has visited his people!" God has come to save his people. God has come to save you.