In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, of a smile, of a kind word or a simple compliment or even the smallest act of kindness, all of which have the ability to turn a life around.”
I came across this quote long ago and I feel that it compliments today’s Bible passage so wonderfully. We meet a woman in the Bible today whose name we never learn but we know she was a widow from a village called Nain. This widow’s only son had just died. Death took away the only source of hope she knew. It took away her protector, her future and her home. In her heart was despair. She knew one thing. “When the one you share your life with dies, they die in a million different places and in a million different ways. They aren’t just missing from the life you had. They are missing from all the life that is yet to come.” Her son had died and there was nothing she could do about it but weep bitterly, but then something unexpected happened. A stranger came up to her and told her not to weep and the rest is history.
There are problems in life that make us feel just like this poor widow because just like death, some problems are beyond our control. However, this miracle shows us that nothing, not even death, is beyond the control of God. It gives us every reason to take our overwhelming problems to Him.
When Jesus entered a village called Nain [Luke 7:11-12], He came upon a funeral procession. First century life in the Middle East was very difficult. Men often died very young and public funerals were very common, but on this day Jesus stepped into that funeral procession the moment He learned that the deceased was the only son of a widow. Why He did that was very clear. He had compassion for the grieving widow. He knew what life was like for a lonely widow because He grew up in the home of a widow, and so He brought love and compassion and hope back to her life.
Right now, you or someone you know, may also be feeling lonely and helpless just like this widow. This miracle shows us the Heart of Christ—a heart that is full of compassion and will do anything to help us. Compassion is a characteristic of Jesus Christ. So this passage invites us to bring our problems to him. As we heard this passage read a few moments ago, it comes across as a bit bizarre at first to tell a widow who has lost her only family not to weep but that is exactly what Jesus told her because He wasn’t trying to comfort her. He was giving her assurance that everything will be okay again.
In this passage we hear assurance of God very clearly. He tells us not to be afraid because He is with us, not to feel anxious because He cares for us and not to weep because joy comes in the morning. These are just a few of the ways He reassures us.
Let me end by sharing what the 46th Psalm says about God. “God is our refuge and our strength, the ever-present help in trouble.” On the day the widow walked behind her dead son’s coffin, she was lost. Her world crashed to an end. She wept from the deepest part of her heart and then God entered her life. He felt her sorrow and reunited a mother and her son. When the people of that village saw what He did, they shouted, “God has come to help His people.”
The Jesus, who raised this widow’s son 2,000 years ago, is who we pray to during the celebration of the Badarak. So, as we sit and listen to the hymns and prayers of our Sunday morning services, bring to mind those challenges, those heartaches, those disappointments that have entered your life and ask God to touch them.
“God is our refuge and our strength, the ever-present help in times of trouble.” This is a beautiful story to keep in mind.
Amen.
