Sermon for Pentecost 2, June 6

Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 6, 2010
Luke 7:11-17
Raised up for ________?

In the name of Jesus, amen. At the start of the long Pentecost season, our Gospel lesson this morning will be our sermon text. And that Gospel lesson is all about Easter, for it is all about resurrection.

Thank God it is all about resurrection. Without the certain hope of the resurrection, then everything that is done is simply a waste of time, has no purpose, and is of no use to us or anybody else. So thank God for the story of the widow of Nain.

I’ve preached on this text before, three years ago as a matter of fact, and I’ll say once again what a horrible situation it was for the mother of the dead boy. She was a grieving widow. She did not have a husband to comfort her, to lean on, to mourn with. And the dead boy was her only child.

Being alone is not in itself a horrible thing. But being hopelessly alone, in a time when women had a very hard time supporting themselves is a bad thing. Honestly, mourning and grieving, at any stage of life, is not a condition that people seek out.

There was a large crowd that was accompanying the now-childless widow out of the town to the cemetery. Jesus and the disciples were heading into town and the two parties met head-on. Jesus recognizes what is taking place and you know that Jesus is going to do something. The Lord of mercy, the compassionate Son of God, the One who embodies love, pours that compassionate love and mercy all over the woman.
Jesus pays no attention to the grieving crowd around the woman and the casket. He goes to the woman and tells her not to weep. Jesus knows that weeping has no place with what is about to happen. Tears of a different kind will be needed but the tears of sorrow and sadness should be wiped away.

Jesus pays no attention to usual customs and mores as he goes up to the bier, a fancy word for casket and touches it. Jesus is getting very close to touching a dead body, and that is a no-no, because doing such would make a person unclean and then all sorts of sacrifices and offerings would have to be given. Fearlessly, Jesus touched the bier.

What did Jesus have to be afraid of? Jesus knew that this young man was only sleeping, and sometimes you can wake the sleeper with a touch. Sometimes you need to be a little louder. “Young man, arise!” The young man got up, and began speaking, and the young man and his mother were reunited.

Jesus saw that death had shaken the widow and the crowd. The young man’s death had rocked the foundation of his mother’s world. The hopeless haunting feeling may have been echoed by the haunting moans and groans of the mourners. The despair may have choked the people who saw only gloom on the horizon.

We have sat in the funeral home. We have stood at the graveside. We have peered down into the grave after the casket was lowered down. We may have even picked up a shovel and put some dirt on the casket. We have held hands and offered shoulders and have kept Kleenex profitable. We looked to the horizon and thought, “Now what? Now what am I supposed to do? The kitchen table will seem so empty. Sure, work will hire someone to replace her, but she was such a kind, smart, and helpful coworker. How could someone so young die in that fashion?”

Looking the horizon is not much good, unless on the horizon comes Jesus. As Jesus met the funeral procession, Jesus comes to us in our grief and despair. Jesus comes to us in our losses, our tragedies, and our wondering confusion.

Jesus comes to us, touches us, and speaks to us. Jesus comes, because He is here. Jesus is present in His Word. Jesus is present in the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is here because He has promised to be. Look for Jesus where Jesus has promised to be found. Word. Sacrament. Jesus is with us at the graveside. Jesus is with us in the hospital. Jesus is with us in the nursing home. Jesus is with us in the long dark night of worry and confusion. Jesus is with us in the long, dark night when your baby will not be comforted and fall asleep. Jesus is with us when the doctor gives the bad news of your medical report. Jesus is with us when the news comes that the adoption is not going to take place.

In our story this morning, God was glorified. A great prophet has arisen. That is absolutely true, but more than that, “God has visited his people!”

On our horizon, on the immediate horizon, God in Christ has visited us. God in Christ has made his home with us. On our immediate horizon is the blessed gift of Holy Communion. There, as we are united with our savior and our redeemer, we are raised up. We are raised up as forgiven sinners. We are raised up to glorify the Lord with our lips and our lives. We are raised up so that we might receive the riches of God’s grace. We are raised up to serve and to be served. We are raised up to love and to be loved. We are raised up to forgive and extend that forgiveness to others. We are raised up to spread the news of Jesus through the whole of the world we live in. We spread the news of Jesus, the only Son of the only true God.
We spread the news that in Christ there is always more forgiveness than we can imagine.

There is always more love, more tenderness, more strength, more of what we need when everything seems so hopeless. In Christ there is always more and through our redeemer Jesus, we are raised up to experience the fullness of God’s love in Jesus our Lord. SDG