Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him. Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.” He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v11 Christ avoucheth openly his power over death.
Christ avoucheth openly his power over death.
Nain is the name of a town in Galilee, which was situated on the other side of Kishon, which falleth into the sea of Galilee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–16 11 And it came to pass the day after,…
11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Ver. 11. A city called Nain] A fair town not far from Tiberias, and watered by that ancient river, the river Kishon, Jdg 5:21, as saith Jerome.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11, 16 Luke alone gives us an account of this miracle…
Luke alone gives us an account of this miracle of our Saviour’s. Matthew mentions only the raising from the dead of Jairus’s daughter. Luke adds this. John adds that of Lazarus, Joh 11:57, by which our Lord did mightily show his Divine power, and gave us some firstfruits of the more general resurrection, as well as declared himself to be, as he elsewhere saith, the resurrection and the life. The place where this miracle was done was called Nain. H. Stephen Heb., Chald., Gr. et Lat. nomina, & c., tells us, it was a city or town about two miles from Mount Tabor, at the foot of the lesser Mount Hermon, near to Hendor. It was the custom of the Jews to bury their dead without their cities. Christ met this dead body carrying out. He was it seems her only child, and she was a widow, so under a great affliction, God by this providence having quenched the only coal she had left in Israel.
And when the Lord saw her, (the text saith), he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. None moved him on the behalf of the widow, neither do we read that she herself spake to him; only our Saviour’s bowels were moved at the sight of her sorrow, and consideration of her loss. It is observable that our Saviour wrought his healing miracles:
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1. Sometimes at the motion and desire of the parties to be healed.
2. Sometimes at the desires of others on their behalf.
3. Sometimes of his own free motion, neither themselves nor others soliciting him for any such act of mercy toward them;
and that in the three first miracles, (of which Matthew and Luke give us an account here and Mat 8:1-34), which he wrought after his famous sermon on the mount, he gave us an instance of all these, in his healing of the leper personally beseeching him, of the centurion’s servant at the entreaty of the elders of the Jews, and of the widow’s son here, upon his sight of the woman’s affliction, none soliciting him. Thereby showing us that we ought not to stay our hand from doing good when we have proper objects and opportunities before us, until we be importuned and solicited there unto. Christ saying to her,
Weep not, forbade not the natural expression of her passion, but signified a sudden and not expected resurrection, so as she should not weep without hope. This said, he cometh and toucheth the bier, or the coffin, and saith not, Young man, in the name of God, I say unto thee, Arise; but,
Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; thereby declaring to them (would they have understood it) that he was the Son of God, and while he was on earth had a power in and from himself by the word of his mouth to command the dead to arise. His word was effective, and to evidence it, it is said, that
he that was dead sat up, so as all might take notice of the miracle,
and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother; to let him know his duty to be subject to her, and the jurisdiction she had over him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v11 There were three persons raised from death to life…
There were three persons raised from death to life by the powerful word of Christ’s mouth; namely, Jairus’s daughter, mentioned by St. Matthew; Lazarus recorded by St. John; and here the widow’s son, only taken notice of by St. Luke.
The place where the miracle was wrought was the city of Nain; out of their cities, and not within them, the Jews were wont to bury their dead. Our Saviour at the gate of the city meets with the sad pomp of a funeral, a sorrowful widow attended with her mournful neighbors, following her only son to the grave.
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Where note, 1. The doleful and distressed condition of the widow: there were many heart-piercing circumstances in her affliction.
1. It was the death of a son. To bury a child rends the heart of a parent; for what are children but the parent multiplied? But to lay a son in the grave, which continues the name and supports the family, is a sore affliction.
2. This was a young man in the strength and flower of his age, not carried from the cradle to the coffin. Had he died an infant, he had not been so much lamented; but then when the mother’s expectations were highest, and the endearments greatest, even in the flower of his age, he is cut off.
3. He was not only a son, but an only son; one in whom all his mother’s hopes and comforts were bound up. The death of one out of many, is much more tolerable than of all in one. The loss of that one admits of no consolation.
4. Still to heighten the affliction, it is added that she was a widow; she wanted the counsel and support of a loving yoke-fellow. Had the root been left entire, she might better have spared the branch; now both are cut down, and she has none left to comfort her in her comfortless state of widowhood. In this distressed conditon, Christ, the God of comfort, meets her, pities her, relieves her.
Observe, 2. Thee compassion of Christ towards this distressed widow: He saw her, and had compassion on her. Christ saw her, she did not speak to him; no tears, no prayers, can move Christ so much as our afflictions and his own compassion. Christ’s heart pitied her, his tongue said to her, Weep not; his feet went to the bier, his hand touched the coffin, and the power of his Godhead raised the dead.
But how strange does Christ’s counsel seem! To bid a woman not to weep for such a loss was to persuade her to be miserable, and not to feel it; to feel it, and not regard it; to regard it, and yet conceal and hide it. It is not the decent expression of our sorrow then which Christ condemns, but the undue excess and extravagance of it, which our Saviour blames.
And the lesson of instruction which we learn from hence is this, that Christians ought to moderate their sorrow for their dead relation, how many afflicting circumstances and aggravations soever do meet together in their death: here was a child, that child a son, that son an only son, that only son carried to the grave in the flower of his age; yet Christ says to the pensive mother, a sorrowful widow, Weep not.
Observe, 3. The power of Christ in raising the widow’s son to life. The Lord of Life arrests the sergeant Death, and rescues the prisoner out of his hand. Christ says not, in the name of God, young man, arise; but, I say unto thee, arise.
Christ had a power in himself, and of himself, to command the dead to arise; and the same powerful voice which raised this young man, shall in the last day raise up our dead bodies; for it is as easy for Omnipotency to say, let them be repaired, as to say at first, let them be made.
The Socinians here own, that Christ raised this young man by a divine power, which God had communicated to him; yet deny him at the same time to be essentially God. But let them prove if they can, that a divine power, which is proper to God alone, ever was, or ever can be, communicated to a creature, without the communication of the divine nature.
True, we find St. Peter, Act 9:40, commanding Tabitha to arise; but we find all he did was by faith in Christ, and by prayer unto Christ, Act 9:34.
Jesus Christ healeth thee, arise: but Christ here raised the widow’s son without prayer, purely by his own power; which undeniably proves him to be God.
Observe, 4. The reality of the miracle: he sits up, he begins to speak, and is delivered to his mother.
Death has no power to hold that man down, whom the Son of God bids rise up: Immediately he that was dead sat up; and the same power which raised one man, can raise a thousand, a million, a world; no power can raise one man but an almighty power, and that which is almighty can raise all men. It was not so much for the child’s sake as the mother’s sake, that the son was raised; it was an injury to the son, though a kindness to the mother, for he must twice pass through the gates of death, to others’ once; it returned him from rest to labor, from the peaceful harbor, back again to the tempestous ocean.
Observe, lastly, what effects this miracle had upon the multitude: seeing the divine power thus manifestly exerted, they are filled with astonishment and amazement: they look upon our Saviour with awful and admiring looks; They glorify and praise God for sending a great prophet amongst them, accounting it a great act of favor that God had in this wonderful manner visited his people; yet a prophet was the highest name they could find for him, whom they saw like themselves in shape, but above themselves in power: A great prophet is risen up amongst us, and God hath visited his people.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v11 We have here the story of Christ's raising to…
We have here the story of Christ's raising to life a widow's son at Nain, that was dead and in the carrying out to be buried, which Matthew and Mark had made no mention of; only, in the general, Matthew had recorded it, in Christ's answer to the disciples of John, that the dead were raised up, Mat 11:5. Observe,
I. Where, and when, this miracle was wrought. It was the next day after he had cured the centurion's servant, Luk 7:11. Christ was doing good every day, and never had cause to complain that he had lost a day. It was done at the gate of a small city, or town, called Nain, not far from Capernaum, probably the same with a city called Nais, which Jerome speaks of.
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II. Who were the witnesses of it. It is as well attested as can be, for it was done in the sight of two crowds that met in or near the gate of the city. There was a crowd of disciples and other people attending Christ (Luk 7:11), and a crowd of relations and neighbours attending the funeral of the young man, Luk 7:12. Thus there was a sufficient number to attest the truth of this miracle, which furnished greater proof of Christ's divine authority than his healing diseases; for by no power of nature, or any means, can the dead be raised.
III. How it was wrought by our Lord Jesus.
1. The person raised to life was a young man, cut off by death in the beginning of his days - a common case; man comes forth like a flower and is cut down. That he was really dead was universally agreed. There could be no collusion in the case; for Christ was entering into the town, and had not seen him till now that he met him upon the bier. He was carried out of the city; for the Jews' burying-places were without their cities, and at some distance from them. This young man was the only son of his mother, and she a widow. She depended upon him to be the staff of her old age, but he proves a broken reed; every man at his best estate is so. How numerous, how various, how very calamitous, are the afflictions of the afflicted in this world! What a vale of tears is it! What a Bochim, a place of weepers! We may well think how deep the sorrow of this poor mother was for her only son (such sorrowing is referred to as expressive of the greatest grief, - Zac 12:10), and it was the deeper in that she was a widow, broken with breach upon breach, and a full end made of her comforts. Much people of the city was with her, condoling with her loss, to comfort her.
2. Christ showed both his pity and his power in raising him to life, that he might give a specimen of both, which shine so brightly in man's redemption.
(1.) See how tender his compassions are towards the afflicted (Luk 7:13): When the Lord saw the poor widow following her son to the grave, he had compassion on her. Here was not application made to him for her, not so much as that he would speak some words of comfort to her, but, ex mero motu - purely from the goodness of his nature, he was troubled for her. The case was piteous, and he looked upon it with pity. His eye affected his heart; and he said unto her, Weep not. Note, Christ has a concern for the mourners, for the miserable, and often prevents them with the blessing of his goodness. He undertook the work of our redemption and salvation, in his love and in his pity, Isa 63:9. What a pleasing idea does this give us of the compassions of the Lord Jesus, and the multitude of his tender mercies, which may be very comfortable to us when at any time we are in sorrow! Let poor widows comfort themselves in their sorrows with this, that Christ pities them and knows their souls in adversity; and, if others despise their grief, he does not. Christ said, Weep not; and he could give her a reason for it which no one else could: "Weep not for a dead son, for he shall presently become a living one." This was a reason peculiar to her case; yet there is a reason common to all that sleep in Jesus, which is of equal force against inordinate and excessive grief for their death - that they shall rise again, shall rise in glory; and therefore we must not sorrow as those that have no hope, Th1 4:13. Let Rachel, that weeps for her children, refrain her eyes from tears, for there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border, Jer 31:17. And let our passion at such a time be checked and claimed by the consideration of Christ's compassion.
(2.) See how triumphant his commands are over even death itself (Luk 7:14): He came, and touched the bier, or coffin, in or upon which the dead body lay; for to him it would be no pollution. Hereby he intimated to the bearers that they should not proceed; he had something to say to the dead young man. Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom, Job 33:24. Hereupon they that bore him stood still, and probably let down the bier from their shoulders to the ground, and opened the coffin, it if was closed up; and then with solemnity, as one that had authority, and to whom belonged the issues from death, he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. The young man was dead, and could not arise by any power of his own (no more can those that are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins); yet it was no absurdity at all for Christ to bid him arise, when a power went along with that word to put life into him. The gospel call to all people, to young people particularly, is, "Arise, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light and life." Christ's dominion over death was evidenced by the immediate effect of his word (Luk 7:15): He that was dead sat up. Have we grace from Christ? Let us show it. Another evidence of life was that he began to speak; for whenever Christ gives us spiritual life he opens the lips in prayer and praise. And, lastly, he would not oblige this young man, to whom he had given a new life, to go along with him as his disciple, to minister to him (though he owed him even his own self), much less as a trophy or show to get honour by him, but delivered him to his mother, to attend her as became a dutiful son; for Christ's miracles were miracles of mercy, and a great act of mercy this was to this widow; now she was comforted, according to the time in which she had been afflicted and much more, for she could now look upon this son as a particular favourite of Heaven, with more pleasure than if he had not died.
IV. What influence it had upon the people (Luk 7:16): There came a fear on all; it frightened them all, to see a dead man start up alive out of his coffin in the open street, at the command of a man; they were all struck with wonder at his miracle, and glorified God. The Lord and his goodness, as well as the Lord and his greatness, are to be feared. The inference they drew from it was, "A great prophet is risen up among us, the great prophet that we have been long looking for; doubtless, he is one divinely inspired who can thus breathe life into the dead, and in him God hath visited his people, to redeem them, as was expected," Luk 1:68. This would be life from the dead indeed to all them that waited for the consolation of Israel. When dead souls are thus raised to spiritual life, by a divine power going along with the gospel, we must glorify God, and look upon it as a gracious visit to his people. The report of this miracle was carried, 1. In general, all the country over (Luk 7:17): This rumour of him, that he was the great prophet, went forth upon the wings of fame through all Judea, which lay a great way off, and throughout all Galilee, which was the region round about. Most had this notice of him, yet few believed in him, and gave up themselves to him. Many have the rumour of Christ's gospel in their ears that have not the savour and relish of it in their souls. 2. In particular, it was carefully brought to John Baptist, who was now in prison (Luk 7:18): His disciples came, and gave him an account of all things, that he might know that though he was bound yet the word of the Lord was not bound; God's work was going on, though he was laid aside.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–16 And it came to pass the day after,.... The…
And it came to pass the day after,.... The Vulgate Latin reads "afterward", not expressing any day, as in Luk 8:1, but the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, read to the same sense as we, the day after, the next day, on the morrow, after he had cured the centurion's servant in Capernaum, where he staid all night:
that he went into a city called Naim; which Jerom (p) places near Mount Tabor, and the river Kison. The (q) Jews speak of a Naim in, the tribe of Issachar, so called from its pleasantness, and which seems to be the same place with this. The Persic version reads it, "Nabetis", or "Neapolis", the same With Sychem in Samaria, but without reason:
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and many of his disciples went with him; not only the twelve, but many others:
and much people; from Capernaum, and other parts, that followed him to see his miracles, or for one end or another, though, they did not believe in him; at least these were only hearers, and had, not entered themselves among the disciples,
(p) Tom. 1. ad Marcellum, fol. 44. B. & Epitaph. Paulae. fol. 60. A. (q) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 98. fol. 86. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 16 Verse 11. Nain] A small city of Galilee, in…
Verse 11. Nain] A small city of Galilee, in the tribe of Issachar. According to Eusebius, it was two miles from Mount Tabor, southward; and near to Endor.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 13, 16 Luk 7:11-12. He went into a city called Nain…
Luk 7:11-12. He went into a city called Nain — A town situated about a mile or two south of Tabor, and near Endor. And many of his disciples went with him — Among these, doubtless, were the twelve appointed to be apostles: for, “it is not to be imagined that he would suffer the chosen witnesses of his miracles to be absent, when so great a miracle was to be performed as the raising a person from the dead, and to be performed so publicly, in the presence of all those who were attending the funeral.”
There was a dead man carried out — “When Jesus and the multitude that attended him came to the gates of Nain, they met the corpse of a youth, whom much people of the city were carrying out to burial, accompanied by his afflicted mother bathed in tears. This woman, being a widow, had no prospect of any more children, wherefore, as he was her only son, the loss she sustained in him was very great. Hence the sympathy which she received from her relations and friends was singular. In testimony of their concern for her, a crowd of people, much greater than was usual on such occasions, attended her while she performed the last duty to her beloved son. This circumstance the evangelist takes notice of to show, that though there had been no persons present at the miracle but those who attended the funeral, it was illustrious on account of the number of the witnesses.” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 16 A city called Nain - This city was in…
A city called Nain - This city was in Galilee, in the boundaries of the tribe of Issachar. It was about two miles south of Mount Tabor, and not far from Capernaum; It is now a small village inhabited by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. ii. p. 158) locates it on the northwest corner of a mount now called Jebel ed Duhy, one hour’s ride from the foot of Mount Tabor. Of this place he says: “This mount is now called Jebel ed Duhy and that small hamlet on the northwest corner of it is Nain, famous for the restoration of the widow’s son to life. It was once a place of considerable extent, but is now little more than a cluster of ruins, among which dwell a few families of fanatical Moslems. It is in keeping with the one historic incident that renders it dear to the Christian, that its only antiquities are tombs. These are situated mainly on the east of the village, and it was in that direction, I presume, that the widow’s son was being carried on that memorable occasion. It took me just an hour to ride from the foot of Tabor to Nain.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 14, 16 Naim is a city of Galilee, about two miles…
Naim is a city of Galilee, about two miles from Mount Thabor. It was by divine dispensation, that so very great a multitude was present on this occasion, in order to witness this stupendous miracle. (Ven. Bede) --- The burying-places of the Jews were out of the precincts of the city, as well for the preservation of health as decency. Thus Joseph of Arimathea, had his sepulchre in the rock of Mount Calvary, which was out of the city. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v11 4. A second Excursion from Capernaum. The Son of…
4. A second Excursion from Capernaum. The Son of Man manifested as Compassionate High-Priest at Nain’s Gate and Simon’s Table; but at the same time as the Holy Messiah as opposed to the Offence taken by John, the People, and the Pharisees.
Luk_7:11-50
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a. The Young Man At Nain (Luk_7:11-17)
(Gospel on the 16th Sunday after Trinity.)
11And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many [a good many]of his disciples went with him, and much people. 12Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother,13and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. Andwhen the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 14And he came and touched the bier [the coffin]: and they that bare him stood still. And he said,Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15And he that was dead [the dead man] sat up, and began to speak.And he delivered him to his mother. 16And there came a fear [an astonishment] on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and,That God hath visited his people. 17And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_7:11. The day after.—By this noting of the time, Luke gives us full liberty to make the raising of the young man at Nain to follow immediately after the healing of the servant of the centurion at Capernaum. It took place τῇ ἑξῆς sc. ἡμέρᾳ. If with some we were obliged to read τῷ, then surely καθεξῆς (χρόνῳ) would have followed. See De Wette ad loc.
Nain.—Ναΐν, perhaps נָאיִן, now only a little hamlet, Nein, only inhabited by a few families, then a small town in the tribe of Issachar, hard by the source of the brook Kishon, not far from Endor, two and a half leagues from Nazareth. The name signifies “The lovely,” perhaps on account of the pleasant situation in the plain of Esdraelon. Except in this passage it does not occur in the sacred history. The fathers Eusebius and Jerome knew it as a village two Roman miles southward from Tabor. See Winer in voce.
Of His disciples.—We may understand here μαθηταί in a more extended sense of the word, without thereby excluding the twelve apostles, who had been the day before called and consecrated, and to whose further training and strengthening in faith such a miracle as that now to be accomplished at the very beginning of their apostolic life was as desirable as beneficent. The multitude doubtless consisted partly at least of hearers of the Sermon on the Mount, who now were to see anew how the Saviour fulfilled His own precept, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.”
Luk_7:12. Carried out.—Comp. Act_5:6. Graves were commonly outside the towns. Τεθνηκώς was apparently omitted by A. 54. because it was of course understood, for which reason there is no ground to put it in brackets, (Lachmann.) Respecting the variations of the reading αὕτη χήρα (sc. ἦν), which moreover only slightly change the sense, see Meyer ad loc.
Luk_7:13. The Lord.—An appellation peculiarly frequent in Luke; comp. Luk_10:1; Luk_11:39; Luk_12:42; Luk_13:15; Luk_22:61, especially adapted to indicate the majesty revealing itself in His discourse and action. Bengel has a fine remark: “Sublimis hœc appellatio jam Luca et Johanne scribente usitatior et notior erat, quam Matthœo scribente. Marcus medium tenet. Initio doceri et confirmari debuit hoc fidei caput, deinde prœsupponi potuit.”
Weep not.—As with Jairus, his fear, so with this widow her grief is first allayed, before the Lord displayed His miraculous might, ἐσπλαγχνίσθη. Comp. Mat_9:36. It is the manifestation of the compassionate High-priest, which is so conspicuously dwelt on by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews also, kindred as he is in spirit with Paul and Luke (Heb_2:16; Heb_2:18; Heb_4:14).
Luk_7:14. The coffin (σορός). It was open above. Since the bearers and the funeral train had of themselves stopped at the approach and the address of Jesus, who certainly was not wholly unknown to them, it is not necessary with Meyer to remark in their instantly standing still a trace of the extraordinary. “Miracula prœter necessitatem non sunt multiplicanda.” If the bearers also felt compassion for the mother, it is more probable that they themselves expected help.
Young man.—The mighty word of the Prince of Life; comp. Luk_8:56; Joh_11:44. The instant rising and speaking of the dead, shows that not only life but also strength and health have returned, and the Lord, by giving him back to his mother, completes the miracle of His power by the highest act of His love. It is remarkable how the Saviour immediately after their restoration, manifests a visible care as to the dead raised by Him. To the daughter of Jairus He causes food at once to be given; Lazarus He causes to be relieved of his grave-clothes.
Luk_7:16. An astonishment.—Not with all, it is true, equally deep, and perhaps not wholly free from superstition, but yet so far of genuine stamp as it led to a thankful glorifying of God and the Lord Jesus. That they extol Him as a prophet will not surprise us if we consider that the prophets not only foretold future things, but also performed miracles, and among them the raising of the dead.
Hath visited.—Comp. Luk_1:68. In respect to the æsthetical explanation of the miracle, there is a beautiful homily of Herder’s, which deserves to be compared.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The raising of the dead belongs in the fullest sense of the word to that class of σημεῖα, which serve as symbols of the life-giving activity of our Lord, Joh_11:25-26. They do not become fully conceivable unless we hold fast to the union of the Divine and human in the person of Jesus, and to the certainty of His own resurrection. To consider the three dead persons whose resurrection is related to us as only apparently dead, is rationalistic caprice. But even though we acknowledge on good grounds the reality of their physical dying, it is by no means implied in this, that all receptivity for the influence of the miraculous word of the Saviour had departed from them. From the very fact that they heard this miraculous voice (allowing their raising to be once established by a purely historical criticism) we may, it seems to us, infer the opposite. For this voice makes its way, not to the body, but to the spirit, of the departed. And who now will decide when the separation of the spirit from the body is irrevocable, and their re-union utterly impossible? This only takes place when the bodily organism is wholly destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, and this is in these instances by no means the case. It is not mutilated, wholly decayed bodies which the Lord revives, but bodies that have just died, whose corporeal organism needs not to be re-created and restored, but only to be reanimated. “There was still a thoroughly trodden way between the corpse and the spirit which had left it, and so much is clear, that the corpse of the departed in its earliest stage is very different from a mummy or from a corrupt mass.” (Lange.) This remark is perhaps of no interest for those who conceive the connection between soul and body as external, such as there is between bird and cage; but the more deeply modern science considers, along with the undeniable distinction, the intimate connection also of spirit and matter, the less venturous appears the conjecture that the spirit immediately after death stands as yet in a closer connection with its scarcely-abandoned dwelling-place than many are disposed to believe. This appears especially to have been the case with the dead persons whom Jesus raised. Departed in a time in which life and immortality had not yet been brought to light, they could at most surrender themselves to death with composure, without longing after death; they were moreover still bound to the earth by holy bonds of blood or sympathy. If ever tears, prayers, and entreaties might still fetter a spirit to the earth or call forth a longing after life, it was here the case, and scarcely do they hear the voice of Omnipotence when they can and will obey.
2. If, therefore, the possibility of the raising of the dead, as related in the Gospel, cannot be denied per se, its reality is sufficiently established. The Saviour Himself enumerates νεκροὶ ἐγείρονται (Luk_7:22) among the signs of His redeeming activity, and what had already been performed by the prophets, beseemed Him, the highest Ambassador of the Father, yet more. Of the witnesses of these facts there were many, and those not exposed to suspicion, and even in a later period, testimonies as to this point are not wanting. See particularly the fragment of Quadratus, an Evangelist of the apostolic age, in Eusebius (H. E. iii. 3), who moreover declares that this apostolical writer was yet extant in his time, and was known to him as well as to the most of his brethren. Jerome also (Catal. Script, Luke 19) gives an account of it. When this account was written the youthful persons raised by the Saviour might have been still living.—The strongest proof of their truth lies however in the internal character of these narratives of miracles. Whoever, with freedom from prejudice, reads the account of the raising at Nain or at Bethany will always repeat the exclamation: ce n’est pas ainsi qu’on invente. As respects the silence of Matthew and Mark with reference to this miracle, it is difficult to give any other answer than conjecture. Perhaps it arises from the fact that the name of the youth or his mother was not more particularly known. The silence of Matthew could also be explained if we were at liberty to assume that in this expedition from Capernaum he had perhaps remained behind a single day in order to finish the settlement of his affairs. That of Mark is sufficiently explained by the fact, that his Gospel is laid out on a much more limited scale. In view of the great abundance of matter, moreover, no one of the narrators undertook to be complete, and the distinction into more ordinary and more difficult miracles, which latter especially they were not to pass over if these should not be controverted, was to them in their simplicity apparently wholly unknown.
3. In comparing the raisings of the dead on the part of the Saviour with those of the prophets on the one hand and those of the apostles on the other, there comes into view as well a remarkable distinction as a beautiful agreement. The Saviour’s raisings of the dead are attended with an exalted composure and majesty and acting from His own completeness of might, before which that tension and strain of all the powers of the soul which we more or less observe in the prophets and apostles, wholly vanishes. What to us appears supernatural, for Him appears the highest nature.
4. The event at the gate of Nain might be called one of the most striking proofs of the consoling doctrine of a providentia specialissima. The time of the death and the burial of the young man—the road taken by the funeral train—the meeting with the Lord directly at the decisive moment—nothing of all this is casual here. Time, place, and circumstances, all are ordered to reach a glorious goal; comfort to the afflicted; glory for the Lord; revelation of the quickening power of God.
5. The Saviour’s raising the dead was on the one hand a symbol of the life which He causes to arise in the spiritually dead world through His word and His spirit; on the other hand, a prophecy of that which in the ἐσχάτη ἡμέρα shall take place in far greater measure. Both points of view He Himself conjoins in the strictest manner. Joh_5:24-29.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Nain’s gate, the sanctuary of the glory of God. We see, here has He revealed His glory as: 1. The great Prophet who confirms His preaching with the most astonishing signs; 2. the compassionate High-Priest who dries the tears of the sorrowing; 3. the Prince of life who snatches from the grave its booty.—The journey of the Saviour in the midst of His disciples a perpetual confirmation of His promise, Joh_1:51.—The personal meeting together of the Prince of Life with the spoil of Death.—How Death strives with Life and Life with Death: 1. Death: a. strikes down the most vigorous age; b. rends the holiest bonds; c. occasions the bitterest tears; 2. Life is here: a. revealed; b. restored; c. dedicated to the glory of God.—The meeting of the Saviour with the funeral train a proof of the most special Providence of God.—Nain’s gate, a school for Christian suffering and consolation.—“Weep not:” 1. How easy to use this word; 2. how difficult to obey the injunction; 3. how blessed to dry the tears.—Christ the Life of man: 1. In the creation; 2. in the renovation; 3. in the resurrection.—The resurrection’s word of might: 1. The exalted tone; 2. the mighty working; 3. the God-glorifying echo of this word.—How the Lord: 1. Comforts the sorrowing; 2. awakens the dead; 3. unites the severed.—The dawn of eternity breaking over the gate of Nain.—Glory rendered to God, the best fruit of the miracles of Jesus.—How the word of the Saviour’s might transforms everything: 1. A funeral train into an array of witnesses of His miracles; 2. a bier of the dead into a field of resurrection; 3. a mourning widow into a thankful mother; 4. a public road into a sanctuary of the glory of God.—He who marvels at great faith has also compassion on the deepest misery.—The love of the Lord: 1. A prevenient; 2. a comforting; 3. an all-accomplishing love.—Eph_3:2-6.—The youth raised from the coffin; Jairus’ daughter from the death-bed; Lazarus from the grave.—The journeyings of Christ a gracious visitation of God to His people.—Nain, in a few moments changed from a vale of misery into a vale of beauty (Nain the lovely).—The work of the Lord: 1. On the soul of the mother; 2. on the body of the son.—Spiritually awakened children a gift of the Lord to parents.—Fear and joy here most intimately united.—The renown of the Saviour at this period of history of His life as yet continually on the increase.
Starke:—Genuine Christians follow Christ whether the way goes towards Cana or towards Nain—towards Tabor or towards Golgotha.—Brentius:—The Lord passes over no city with His grace. The day-spring from on high visits even the meanest villages and hamlets at the right time; oh, excellent consolation!—Cramer:—The world is a lovely Nain, but death destroys all pleasure therein.—Weep with them that weep, rejoice with them that rejoice.—Bibl. Wirt.:—Young people should not put the thoughts of death so far from them, but pray with Moses, Psa_90:12.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—How often does the Lord call to one spiritually dead, “Arise”; and he nevertheless continues to he there.—Majus:—Those who are awakened to spiritual life speak with new tongues and walk in a new life.—Osiander:—Upon noble deeds follows a good report, a renowned name.
Lisco:—Christ the Vanquisher of Death: 1. In His gracious affection for man; 2. in His divine might and majesty.—The funeral.—Heubner:—Life presses in; death flies; admirable change: life is victorious over death.—Jesus’ look is even yet directed upon the suffering ones in His church.—“Whoever is afraid of death is afraid of the Lord Jesus.” Scriver.—The joy of reunion.—Arndt:—This history a mirror of sorrow and consolation: 1. A mirror of sorrow: a. Vanity of the world; b. return to the dust; c. the uncertain goal and hour; d. the vanishing of worldly comfort; e. the funeral train, the way of all flesh, processus mortis, 2. A mirror of consolation: a. Christ’s countenance, the friendly countenance of God; b. the compassionate heart of Jesus; c. His gracious voice: “Weep not;” d. His stretching forth the hand; e. His vivifying word.—Fuchs:—The preaching of the young man at Nain to the Christians of our time: 1. Who lives shall die; 2. who dies inherits life.—A glance upon: 1. The dead young man; 2. the weeping widow; 3. the almighty Lord; 4. the astonished people.—Rieger:—Two mighty dominions: 1. A dreary one of death; 2. a joyful one of life.—Petri:—The wholesome knowledge: 1. Of our true need; 2. of the Almighty help of the Lord.—Westermeier:—The funeral train in the gates of Nain: 1. The dead man who is carried out; 2. the mourners who follow after; 3. the Comforter who suddenly appears.
N. B. We may remark that the homiletical treatment of this narrative should be guarded against a too sentimental representation of the death of the young man, the sorrow of the widow, the joy of reunion, and the like. Nothing is easier than in this way to elicit from the hearers a stream of tears, but the sublime simplicity of Luke remains in this also an unsurpassed model, and the development of the specifically Christian element in this Pericope promises more fruit than the fanciful treatment of its merely human or dramatic elements.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 16 WIDOW OF NAIN'S SON RAISED TO LIFE. (In Luke…
WIDOW OF NAIN'S SON RAISED TO LIFE. (In Luke only). (Luk 7:11-17)
Nain--a small village not elsewhere mentioned in Scripture, and only this once probably visited by our Lord; it lay a little to the south of Mount Tabor, about twelve miles from Capernaum.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11, 13, 14, 15, 16 § 38.—THE RAISING FROM THE DEAD, THE SON OF…
§ 38.—THE RAISING FROM THE DEAD, THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN, Luk_7:11-17.
(Given by Luke alone.)
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The next day after the healing of the centurion’s servant, Jesus, with a number of his disciples, took an excursion to the village of Nain, situated in the great plain of Esdraelon, about five miles northward from the Lesser Hermon. As this was a distance of about twenty-five miles from Capernaum, the company of Jesus must either have, according to eastern custom, set out very early, or have arrived as eve was approaching.
Our Lord enters on the eastern side of the town, attended by his retinue of followers, attracted by his ministry and his miracles. As he approaches, his company is met by a procession with bearers sustaining a bier, carrying a corpse through the gate of the city of the living to the city of the dead. There was no close coffin; but the body of a young man lay stretched upon the bier, with his face, feet, and hands probably bare, wrapped in the habiliments of burial. The much people of the city indicated the respect entertained for the dead. There seems to be but a single mourner, and she had but a single son to mourn for.
“On the northern slope of the rugged and barren ridge of Little Hermon,” says Stanley, “immediately west of Endor, which lies in a farther recess of the same range, is the ruined village of Nain. No convent, no tradition marks the spot. But under these circumstances the name is sufficient to guarantee its authenticity. One entrance alone could it have had—that which opens on the rough hillside in its downward slope to the plain. It must have been in this descent, as, according to Eastern custom, they ‘carried out the dead man,’ that ‘nigh to the gate’ of the village the bier was stopped, and the long procession of mourners stayed, and the young man delivered back to his mother. It is a spot which has no peculiarity of feature to fix it on the memory; its situation is like that of all villages on this plain; but, in the authenticity of its claims, and the narrow compass within which we have to look for the touching incident, it may rank among the most interesting points of the scenery of the Gospel narrative.”—Palestine, p. 349.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 13, 14, 16 11-17. The raising of the Son of the Widow…
11-17. The raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain.
11. the day after] If the reading τῇ be right we must understand ἡμέρᾳ, ‘day.’ Some MSS. (ABL, &c.) read τῷ, which would give a wider limit of time. In Luk_8:1 we have ἐν τῷ καθεξῆς, and it must be admitted that if ἐν τῇ ἑξῆς be the right reading it is unique. For in Luk_9:37, ἡμέρᾳ is supplied; and in Act_21:1; Act_25:17; Act_27:18, ἐν is omitted. There is no chronological difficulty about the event taking place the ‘next day,’ as I have shewn in my Life of Christ, I. 285. St Luke alone, with his characteristic tenderness, preserves for us this narrative.
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into a city called Nain] In the tribe of Issachar. The name means ‘lovely,’and it deserves the name from its site on the north-west slope of Jebel el Duhy, or Little Hermon, not far from Endor, and full in view of Tabor and the hills of Zebulon. It is twenty-five miles from Capernaum, and our Lord, starting in the cool of the very early morning, as Orientals always do, would reach it before noon. It is now a squalid and wretched village still bearing the name of Nein.
many of his disciples went with, him, and much people] More literally, ‘there were accompanying Him His disciples, in considerable numbers, and a large multitude.’ In this first year of His ministry, before the deadly opposition to Him had gathered head, while as yet the Pharisees and leaders had not come to an open rupture with Him, and He had not sifted His followers by ‘hard sayings,’ our Lord was usually accompanied by adoring crowds.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–16 (11) He went into a city called Nain.—The narrative…
(11) He went into a city called Nain.—The narrative that follows is peculiar to St. Luke. The name of the city has survived, with hardly any alteration, in the modern Nein. It lies on the north-western edge of the “Little Hermon” (the Jebel-ed-Dâhy) as the ground falls into the plain of Esdraelon. It is approached by a steep ascent, and on either side of the road the rock is full of sepulchral caves. It was on the way to one of these that the funeral procession was met by our Lord. We may reasonably infer that the miracle that followed was one which, from its circumstances, had specially fixed itself in the memories of the “devout women” of Luk_8:1, and that it was from them that St. Luke obtained his knowledge of it. (See Introduction.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11, 13, 14, 16 Vers. 11-17. The Master raises from the dead the…
Vers. 11-17. The Master raises from the dead the only son of the widow of Nain.
And it came to pass the day after. The Greek expression here, in the majority of the more ancient authorities, is vague as a note of time. The Revised Version renders it "soon afterwards." The incident that follows the raising from the dead of the widow"s son is only mentioned by St. Luke. It is generally assumed that our Lord only raised three persons from the dead this young man of Nain. the little daughter of Jairus the ruler, and Lazarus of Bethany. But such an assumption is purely arbitrary. We have before called attention to the vast number of miracles worked by Jesus during the two years and a half of the public ministry not reported by the evangelists at all, or only glanced at in passing. There were, most probably, among these unreported miracles several instances of men, women, and children raised from the dead. St. Augustine, in one of his sermons (98.), specially calls attention to this in his words, "of the numerous persons raised to life by Christ, three only are mentioned as specimens in the Gospels." Each evangelist specially chooses one of the various examples, no doubt known to him that peculiar instance or instances best suited to the especial teaching of his Gospel. St. John alone recounts the raising of Lazarus. St. Luke is the solitary reporter of the miracle performed on the dead son of the widow of Nain. We may reasonably infer, says Dean Plumptre, that this miracle, from its circumstances, had specially fixed itself in the memories of the "devout women" of Luk_8:1, and that it was from them that St. Luke obtained his accurate and detailed knowledge of this, as well as of many other of the incidents which he alone relates in his Gospel. He went into a city called Nain. From the Hebrew naim fair, probably so called from its striking situation on a steep hill. It is on the slope of Little Hermon, near Endor, some twenty or more miles from Capernaum. The name Nein is still given to a small poor village on the same site. It is approached by a narrow, steep ascent, and on either side of the road are sepulchral caves. It was in one of these that the dead man was about to have been laid when the Master met the little mourning procession winding down the steep road as he and his crowd of followers were toiling up the ascent nearing the gate of the city.
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Vers. 11-16. The widow"s son.
We are indebted to St. Luke for the touching incidents recorded in these verses. Observe
I THE SPRING OF THE ACTION. "When the Lord saw her, he had compassion." Some of Christ"s most notable words and works were associated with, grew out of, circumstances which presented themselves in the course of his journeyings. There was no attempt at miracle. There was neither show nor effort. What was done was so spontaneous that it seemed as if he could not help doing it. Here a sad procession meets his eye. There are specialities in it which touch the fountains alike of Divine power and of brotherly sympathy. He is "moved with compassion." A beautiful phrase, which bids us not merely into but behind the humanity into the light of such a sentence as "God so loved the world." What is redemption but the activity of Divine emotion? At Nain the compassion of Christ fulfilled itself by sparing an only son. The great love wherewith God has loved us has fulfilled itself by not sparing the only begotten Son. The compassion of Christ, as he approached the gate of the city, gave one son back to a mother. God"s great love has, through the sacrifice of the cross, brought back many sons to the outstretched arms of a waiting Father. It is our faith in this infinite compassion that is the source of all our hopes for men. It cannot be a matter of indifference to the Father that one of even his little ones perish. There are problems, as bearing on this, which the facts we observe and some intimations of the meekest and lowliest himself suggest problems so painful and awful that, in respect of them, we must hold our peace. But, against them, trust in a living God makes it almost a necessity to cling to this that, in all possible states, God"s compassion has a way towards the souls he has made. As regards this particular instance, the appeal to the compassion is threefold: a mother weeps behind the bier of an only son; a widow bewails the loss of her only comforter, the support and solace of her desolate heart; it is a son, a young man, with all the possibilities of use in this world cut off, who is being carried out. In response to this appeal, he is moved; and has he not, in thus yielding to a pure human impulse, left us an example? It is right to hold all impulses in obedience to reason. We must hold compassion with a firm rein; yet it is not to be restrained by irksome bit and bridle. The best teacher in all benevolences is the heart, like that of Jesus, "... at leisure from itself To soothe and sympathize.
II THE MANNER OF THE ACTION. Interesting, with regard, first, to the event related. Note:
1. The whisper straight from the heart of the God-Man to the heart of the sufferer: "Weep not!
2. The touch of the open coffin, causing ceremonial defilement, but expressive of the attitude of him who is the "Resurrection and the Life:" "He came and touched the bier.
3. Then, as the pall-bearers stand still, the word with power; "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!" What a change is wrought in that moment, and by that word! "Death is swallowed up in victory." Suggestive and eloquent when accepted as a symbol of Saviour love and work.
Behold in the action a picture and a prophecy.
1. Hearken to the voice of God, "Weep not!" "Cure sin," it has been said, "and you cure sorrow." He who was made sin for us, of whom the forerunner had testified, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" could alone effectually wipe away the tear. The comfort of others plays on the surface; his comfort reaches into the hidden place, the hidden cause of all trouble it is the cure of sin. Are there now only faint echoes echoes becoming fainter and fainter as the ages roll on of the sentence uttered at Nain? Nay; this sentence, now that he has ascended and is the Prince and Saviour, giving repentance and forgiveness of sins, is fuller in its volume and mightier in its force. All that can give strength, that can inspire with hope, is confirmed and sealed for evermore. "Weep not!" O bruised, broken heart, there is in the strong Son of God, immortal love," an oil of joy for all your mourning, a garment of praise for every spirit of heaviness.
2. But the dead is there, with Christ; and the word for the dead is, "Arise!" Let us not think only of the physical death. The spiritual and the physical are always associated in the thought of Christ; and the work at Nain is a symbol of both. As special Christ-words conjoin "Weep not!" and "Arise!" "He saith," writes St. Paul, quoting no particular saying of God, but the substance of all God"s sayings, "awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light!
III A SPECIAL APPLICATION OF THE SCENE AND ACTION. "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!" This is the key-note of sermons and addresses to young men. Brother, too often asleep to the higher meanings of thine own existence asleep and unconscious of the presence of him who loves thee, self-indulgent, dead in the death of the self-seeking worldly mind, the Lord is touching thy bier; the Lord is calling," Arise!" start from thy sad indifference. Give those who love thee the joy of the morning without clouds, the new, better life in God. Hear the voice of the Son of God, and thou too shalt live.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v11 And it came to pass the day after that…
Luk_7:11-17
And it came to pass the day after that He went into a city called Nain
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The funeral of a youth
The miracle requires a few REMARKS and a few REFLECTIONS.
I. The first thing we behold is a FUNERAL PROCESSION. But let us draw near, and contemplate this funeral solemnity. It was the funeral of a young man. We are not informed whether he died by disease or accident, slowly or suddenly; but he was carried off in the prime of life. He was the only son of his mother. There is an ocean of love in the hearts of parents towards their children. But what closes the melancholy tale of this woman is--that she was a widow! A widow is always an affecting character, and she is liable to injustice and oppression from those fiends who take advantage of weakness and distress; as she is deprived of the companion of her journey, and compelled to travel alone; as her anxieties are doubled: and there is none to share them with her.
II. OBSERVE OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR. First, He knew all the particulars of the case. Those who were with Him could only see, as they were passing by, a funeral--but He knew the corpse stretched upon the bier; He knew that it was a young man; that it was the only son of his mother; and that she was a widow! Secondly, He did not wait to be implored. I am found of them that sought Me not. Sometimes, before we call He answers: such a very present help is He in trouble. Thirdly, When He saw her, He had compassion on her. By nothing was our Saviour more distinguished than by pity and tenderness. Fourthly, He said unto her, Weep not. How unavailing, not to say impertinent, would this have been from any other lips! Fifthly, Jesus, without any ostentatious ceremony, went and touched the bier--and they that bare it stood still; all amazement and expectation! Every eye is fixed upon Him. Finally, observe the application, the delicacy--what shall I call it?--of the miracle; and He delivered him to his mother!
III. Let us conclude by three GENERAL REFLECTIONS.
I. WHAT A VALE OF TEARS IS THIS WORLD! HOW various and numerous are the evils to which human life is exposed! Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble!
II. LET THE AFFLICTED REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE NOT LEFT
WITHOUT RESOURCE. Let them learn where to flee in the day of trouble. It is to the Friend of sinners.
III. WHAT THINK YOU OF CHRIST? Does not His character combine every excellency and attraction? (W. Jay.)
Young man, arise
I. I notice first THAT THIS YOUNG MAN IS FOLLOWED BY A BROKENHEARTED MOTHER, A POOR SORROWFUL CREATURE. He was her only son, and she was a widow. Do you know I cannot help thinking that one often sees the same sort of thing now. How many a young man there is who is being borne along towards that fearful interment to which I have already referred, who is followed, as it were, by the tears and expostulations--I may say the anguish, the heart-breaking anguish--of one who loves him as her own soul, and who would readily offer a thousand times over her own life, if only his soul might be saved. Young man, there are a good many fellows who think it a manly thing to slight a mothers love, to go far to break a mothers heart. Believe me, there is scarcely a more unmanly sin possible for anybody to commit. Amongst the saddest incidents in my experience as a mission preacher are cases of this character, where I am addressed by mournful-looking women, who come to me with a terrible burden on their hearts. I ask what it is. It is not about themselves. No! no! so far as they themselves are concerned, they have a good hope through grace. Well, what is the matter? Oh, it is my boy, says the poor stricken creature, my boy. How many are ready to say, as David said about Absalom, Would God I had died for thee. Some little time ago, I had a conversation after one of my services with a minister of the gospel, in the North of England, who said to me, I want to tell you about my son, who is just going to offer himself for the Christian ministry. He had a remarkable conversion, and I should like to tell you about it. Two years ago my dear wife died, and as she was dying, she called her children around her. As they approached her bed one by one, she stretched out her hand and took theirs in hers, and very solemnly, for she was on the brink of eternity, she said to them, I charge ye before God, meet me at Gods right hand. When it came to the turn of my eldest son, I saw that she was greatly moved, for up to that time he had shown no disposition to give his heart to God. She grasped his hand in hers and said, with tears in her eyes, My boy, ere I die, I want you to make me a promise; I want you solemnly to promise me that you will seek for the salvation of your soul. He hesitated, and stood silent for a few moments, hanging down his head. When he lifted up his eyes he met his mothers gaze. That deep, tender, earnest gaze seemed to plead with his inmost heart. I charge you, she said, meet me at Gods right hand. Mother, he said, I will; I will. Her face brightened up; a heavenly smile stole over her features; she lifted up her hands and said, Thank God, I am ready to go now. Well, she died. My son remembered his promise. He began to read his Bible and to pray, and the Lord was pleased to send him a very deep conviction of sin. He became intensely wretched. Weeks passed away. Still he could get no comfort. Weeks became months. He could not shake the subject from his mind. The weight of his sin was continually resting upon his soul, and seemed almost to drive him wild, till on one occasion he found himself in such a state of frenzied agony, that he felt I really can stand this no longer, and suddenly grasping his hat, he dashed out with a determination to drown his sorrows in drink at the nearest gin-house. Down the street he went, and up to the door of the public-house. Just as he stood at the door and was stretching out his hand to open it, it seemed to him as though his mother stood before him. There was the same look upon her countenance that it wore when she took leave of him on her dying bed, and he seemed to see those tears glistening in her eyes. It was no vision, but the thing was so powerfully brought before his imagination, that it was like a vision, and he seemed to hear her saying, My son, your promise! I turned, he said, and fled from the public-house as though I were pursued: I dashed into my own room. Great God! I cried, Thou hast saved me by my mothers prayer; Thou hast saved me from the depths of hell! There and then I cast myself in utter weariness and helplessness and self-despair at Jesus feet, and there and then the pardoning love of Christ reached my heart.
II. Well, there was something more that the eye of Christ rested upon besides this poor broken-hearted woman to whom He said, Weep not. THERE WERE THE BEARERS. NOW this also, as it seems to me, is wonderfully true to life. Wherever I go I find that young men are mostly under the influence of bearers. I know what your strong points are, young men, yes, and I know your weak points too. You are wonderfully gregarious animals. One man goes in one particular direction, and the rest must follow if he happens to be a leader. There is a strange fatuous influence which man exercises over his fellow-man. Ah, my brother, how many a man is as it were held spell-bound by the influence of false friendship. Get him away from his friends and you can do something with him; but so long as he is in their society he is a helpless slave to adverse influences. Yes, I may be speaking to some to-night who, although only young, are already saying, I have gone too far; the chains are bound too tightly round me. I tell you no, in Gods name, No! One touch of almighty power from the finger of Christ, and those chains shall break; one glance from those eyes so full of beneficence, and the shadows of death shall flee away. I remember, some time ago, hearing a remarkable circumstance related by a public speaker to whom I was listening. It happened that a ship was being towed across the Niagara River, in America, some little distance above the well-known falls. Just as she got into the middle of the stream the hawser parted, and the unfortunate ship began to drift down the river stern foremost. Efforts were made to save her from impending ruin, but every effort failed, and the unfortunate ship kept drifting farther and farther down the stream towards the terrible abyss below. The news of the disaster spread along the banks of the river, and in a very short time there were hundreds of people, and they soon swelled to thousands, looking on in breathless anxiety to see what was to become of this unfortunate ship and crew. There is a point that stretches into the river which bears the name of Past Redemption Point, and it is believed in the neighbourhood that nothing that passes that point can escape destruction. The current there becomes so strong, the influence so fatal, that whatever goes by Past Redemption Point is inevitably lost. The excited multitude upon the banks of the river watched the helpless ship drifting down farther and farther till she was within a few hundred yards of the fatal point. One effort after another was made, one effort after another failed; still she drifted. Only a few moments, and she passed the point. There was a kind of sigh of horror from the vast multitude as they saw her swing round, for they knew she was lost. But just as she rounded the point the captain felt a strong breeze smite upon his cheek. Quick as thought he shouted at the top of his voice, All sails set! and in almost less time than it takes me to tell it every stitch of canvas on board the ship was stretched to catch the favouring gale. A cheer broke from the multitude on the shore as they witnessed this last effort for salvation. But would it succeed? The ship was still drifting, though the wind was blowing against it, and she was still moving downwards, stern fore most, though the wind was bellying out all her sails. It was a battle between the wind and the current. With breathless anxiety they watched the result. She slacks! Another moment--they scarcely dare whisper it--she stands! Yes, that terrible downward course was actually stopped. There she was, still as a log upon the water. Another moment, and inch by inch she began to forge her way up the stream until the motion was perceptible to those on shore, and one great shout of victory burst forth from a thousand voices: Thank God, she is saved! Thank God, she is saved! In a few moments more, with considerable headway upon her, she swept right up the stream, by Past Redemption Point, right into the still water, saved from what appeared to he inevitable destruction, just because, in the very moment of moments, she caught the favouring breeze. Young man, in that ship behold a picture of yourself. There is many a young man who, like that ship, has been drifting. You know it; ah! and your friends know it; your mother, praying for you tonight, knows it; your Christian friend that brought you here knows it. You are drifting, drifting, and you know what the end must be. It may lie far on in your lifes voyage, or it may be very near at hand, but before you lies the terrible fall, and the abyss and depth of doom. If you say, How shall I arise? I reply, there is only one way of arising. Fix your gaze to-night upon Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. When I was a young man of eighteen, I was preaching in the open air in the streets of Inverness, when there happened to pass by a young medical student--I think, from Glasgow University. He was like many of you, and had been living an aimless, self-pleasing sort of life. As he passed by in the crowd he heard a young mans voice, and caught the words of Christ, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. The message went home like an arrow to the mans heart; he got away into his own chamber, and there he cast himself by his bedside and exclaimed, O God, that is what I want. Up to this moment my life has been a wasted life; I have nothing to show for it; I have lived for myself; I have lived in vain. I see it all now. There is one power, and only one, that can raise me up and make me really what I ought to be. There and then he gave himself to Christ, and he went forth from that room a new man. He had just received a commission as a surgeon in the army, and soon afterwards he went to India, where, for five or six years, he was a burning and a shining light. Many a poor heathen native heard the truth of the gospel first from his lips; many a godless English soldier was led to the Cross of Christ by that young mans influence; many a brother officer first heard from him the glad tidings of great joy, or, at any rate, first had them pressed home upon his mind. After five or six years service, the Lord called him home. I never met him, never shook his hand. I hope to meet him up yonder, some day. (W. Hay Aitken.)
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
I. WHAT ARE WE HERE CERTIFIED CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST?
1. This miracle attests that He was an authorized messenger of God. This was the direct and immediate conviction that it wrought upon those who witnessed it. There came great fear upon all; and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us, and, That God hath visited His people. Nor were they mistaken in their conclusion from the premises. No one can recall the dead but by the great power of God. Only He who originally gave life can restore it after it is gone.
2. The same forcibly attests the compassionate sympathy of Jesus for human sorrow.
3. And He is as mighty as He is good--as able to help as He is ready to pity. It is no easy thing to console and heal a broken heart. But Jesus not only relieved it, but entirely removed it. In a mere moment of time He dislodged it, and set a light in that darkened mothers soul, brighter than had ever shone there before. This miracle accordingly shows Him possessed of redeeming power, as well as sympathy.
II. WHAT IS PICTURED TO US IN THIS MIRACLE OF THE WORKINGS OF GRACE?
1. Jesus found this young man dead, and being borne to burial. And herein is shown the sad and hopeless condition of everyone apart from Christs gracious interposition for our rescue. The help of man in such a case is utterly powerless. If it were a case of mere physical disorder, the great storehouses of nature might perhaps furnish a remedy. If it were a case of mere functional lethargy or error, some stimulant or alternative might chance to be found out by the physician to correct the ailment. Or if it were a case of mere mental aberration, science and a better philosophy might serve to set the matter right. But the case is one of death; and no power of man has ever been able to bring the dead to life again.
2. He came. There was no going or bearing of the dead man to Christ; but a coming of Jesus to him. The first approaches of grace and salvation are all from the side of a Divine movement toward us. From first to last, He is ever the coming One, who comes to us, approaches us, and brings to us whatever of salvation is ever experienced. Lo! I come!
3. And touched the bier. Not without veritable contact with the polluted things of earth could spiritual quickening be imparted to its fallen inhabitants.
4. Yet it was by the Word that the resuscitation was imparted. He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. All the potency of creatorship and resurrection resides in it, and goes forth through it. People often have a very poor appreciation of the Word. They care not to hear it. Many only despise it. Christs words are spirit, and they are life.
5. When Christs word of command reached the consciousness of this dead man, it then devolved upon him to obey it. Human agency and volition must, after all, cooperate with Divine grace.
III. WHAT, NOW, AS TO THE PROPHECIES AND FOREPLEDGES CONTAINED IN THIS MIRACLE?
1. It was a raising of a dead man to life, and so an exhibition of resurrection power. To raise one requires the power of God; to raise all requires no more. He has raised the dead, and He can raise all.
2. It was the making glad of a very sorrowing heart and a very desolate home. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Jesus and the widow of Nain
I. SORROW.
II. SYMPATHY.
III. SUCCOUR. (R. V. Pryce, M. A. , LL. B.)
Weep not
What, then, is the comfort which even now the gospel of our Saviour mingles with the mourning of His people? What advantage has the Christian under bereavement, and wherein does he sorrow not as others?
I. In the first place, THE GOSPEL HAS ENTIRELY CHANGED THE CHARACTER OF DEATH TO THE DEPARTED THEMSELVES. Thank God, the Christians is a stingless death. Since the guilt of those we mourn was cleansed in the blood of Christ, and their pardon sealed by the Holy Ghost, death did not come to them as an officer of justice, but as an angel of peace. He came to loose the prison-bands of clay and set them free to go home to their Fathers house. O selfish heart, bear silently thy burden and rejoice in secret at the lost ones joy. Why should I not? Love is more gladdened by anothers gladness than grieved for its own trouble. God did two kindnesses at one stroke when He bereft you of your beloved: one kindness to him; another kindness to you. To him, the perfecting of character and bestowal of bliss; to you, ripening of character and preparation for bliss.
II. As Christ teaches us to expect a better resurrection for our dead, so also for ourselves to look for better reunion. Not by their coming back to be for a little while longer with us, is the craving heart to be appeased, but by our going to be for ever with them. This is best. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
The miracle at the gate of Nain
I. I learn two or three things from this subject; and first, that Christ was A MAN. You see how that sorrow played upon all the chords of His heart.
II. But I must also draw from this subject that HE was GOD. If Christ had been a mere mortal, would He have had a Tight to come in upon such a procession? Would He have succeeded in His interruption?
III. Again, I learn from this subject that Christ was A SYMPATHISER.
IV. I learn again from all this that Christ is THE MASTER OF THE GRAVE. Just outside the gate of the city Death and Christ measured lances, and when the young man rose, Death dropped. (Dr. Talmage.)
Young man, is this for you?
I. I shall ask you first, dear friends, to reflect that THE SPIRITUALLY DEAD CAUSE GREAT GRIEF TO THEIR GRACIOUS FRIENDS. If an ungodly man is favoured to have Christian relatives, he causes them much anxiety. Many young persons who are in some respects amiable and hopeful, nevertheless, being spiritually dead, are causing great sorrow to these who love them best.
1. The cause of grief lies here: we mourn that they should be in such a case. In the story before us the mother wept because her son was dead; and we sorrow because our young friends are spiritually dead.
2. We also mourn because we lose the help and comfort which they ought to bring us. She must have regarded him as the staff of her age, and the comfort of her loneliness. With regard to you that are dead in sin, we feel that we miss the aid and comfort which we ought to receive from you in our service of the living God.
3. A further grief is that we can have no fellowship with them. The mother at Nain could have no communion with her dear son now that he was dead, for the dead know not anything. Alas! in many a household the mother cannot have communion with her own son or daughter on that point which is most vital and enduring, because they are spiritually dead, while she has been quickened into newness of life by the Holy Spirit.
4. Moreover, spiritual death soon produces manifest causes for sorrow.
5. We also mourn because of the future of men dead in sin.
II. Now let me cheer you while I introduce the second head of my discourse, which is this: FOR SUCH GRIEF THERE IS ONLY ONE HELPER: BUT THERE IS A HELPER. This young man is taken out to be buried; but our Lord Jesus Christ met the funeral procession. Carefully note the coincidences, as sceptics call them, but as we call them providences of Scripture. He meets the dead man before the place of sepulture is reached. A little later and he would have been buried; a little earlier and he would have been at home lying in the darkened room, and no one might have called the Lords attention to him, The Lord knows how to arrange all things; his forecasts are true to the tick of the clock.
III. That hush was not long, for speedily the Great Quickener entered upon his gracious work. This is our third point: JESUS IS ABLE TO WORK THE MIRACLE OF LIFE-GIVING. JESUS Christ has life in Himself, and He quickeneth whom lie will (Joh_5:21). He could derive no aid from that lifeless form. The spectators were sure that he was dead, for they were carrying him out to bury him. Even so, you, O sinner, cannot save yourself, neither can any of us, or all of us, save you. Your help must come from above.
2. While the bier stood still, Jesus spoke to the dead young man, spoke to him personally: Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. Lord Jesus, art Thou not here? What is wanted is Thy personal call. Speak, Lord, we beseech Thee!
3. Young man, said He, arise; and He spake as if the man had been alive. This is the gospel way. Our faith enables us in Gods name to command dead men to live, and they do live.
4. But the Saviour, you observe, spoke with His own authority--Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. Neither Elijah nor Elisha could thus have spoken; but He who spoke thus was very God of very God.
5. The miracle was wrought straightway: for this young man, to the astonishment of all about him, sat up. It did not take a month, nor a week, nor an hour, nay, not even five minutes.
IV. Our time has gone, and although we have a wide subject we may not linger. I must close by noticing that THIS WILL PRODUCE VERY GREAT RESULTS. To give life to the dead is no little matter.
1. The great result was manifest, first, in the young man.
2. A new life also had begun in reference to his mother. What a great result for her was the raising of her dead son!
3. What was the next result? Well, all the neighbours feared and glorified God. These prodigies of power in the moral world are quite as remarkable as prodigies in the material world. We want conversion, so practical, so real, so Divine, that those who doubt will not be able to doubt, because they see in them the hand of God.
4. Finally, note that it not only surprised the neighbours and impressed them, but the rumour of it went everywhere. Who can tell? If a convert is made this morning, the result of that conversion may be felt for thousands of years, if the world stands so long; aye, it shall be felt when a thousand thousand years have passed away, even throughout eternity. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The widow and her dead son
1. The mystery of Gods providence is encircling our daily lives. God had planned that meeting from eternity. Nothing happens by chance. Every event in the dullest day has a purpose.
2. And a further consideration must of course be our dear Lords tender sympathy with mourners, and His hatred of our last enemy, death. (T. B. Dover, M. A.)
The widow of Nain
Such were the works of our Saviours earthly ministry; and it is of no little moment that we enter fully into their significance. By them, then
(1), He manifested forth His glory; they were the countersigns and credentials of His mission. By them
(2), again, He showed the infinite compassion wherewith His heart was full. By them
(3) He lightened the burden of human suffering. Further
(4), they are the abiding witness to the Church of the truth of His Divinity.
These mighty works bring before us the true glory of our redeemed state. They show us, in the person of our Lord, for what each one of us is training who of His mercy have been baptized into Him, and are daily seeking to grow up into Him in all things. They show us why and how we should strive after a closer union with Him; that we, too, may triumph with Him over these rebellious powers, under which our race has so long groaned. For He is the healer of our spirits as He is of our bodies. Here, too, His words are spirit and are life; for with them goeth forth the mighty Spirit of life. He meets us bearing forth our dead hopes through the citys gate; He meets us when our hearts are faint and weary; when we feel the emptiness of all with which this world has sought to cheat our earnest longings for the great, the real, and the true. He stands beside the bier, He bids us weep no more, He stops our mourning steps; the dead hear Him; hopes of youth, aspirations of heart, dreams of purity, of reality, of high service, with which once our spirits kept glad company, but which had withered, and sunk, and died, as the hot and scorching sun of common life arose upon us--these revive; they sit up; they begin to speak; they find a voice; they turn to Him; and He gives them back to us, and bids us cherish them for Him. On Him, then, may our affections fix. On Him, the Healer, the Restorer of humanity, may our hearts learn to lean the secret burden of their being.
1. If earthly trouble is upon us, let us fly to Him; let us beware of all those who would cheer us without Him; let us be always sure that the poison of the asp is hidden under their softest and most enticing words.
2. Or, is it the heavier burden of spiritual trouble under which we groan? Let us see here that His purpose is the same. For why does God suffer this to harass oftentimes His faithful servants, but to teach them to lean more simply upon Him? (Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.)
Young man, Arise!
There is something specially touching and impressive in a village funeral. In a small population every family is known; and death, when it enters, throws a general sadness and gloom around. There were several things that combined to make this funeral peculiarly affecting.
1. Raise up for a moment the sheet that is spread over the corpse (for the coffin is borne on an open bier), and look on that pale countenance--it is the face of a young man. Perhaps it was consumption that laid its withering hand upon him, or fever may have snapped the thread of life; but there he is, cold, motionless, and still. I think death never seems so utterly cruel, as whoa it cuts one off in the bloom of opening manhood. And yet, mysterious as is the event, and deeply affecting, it is no uncommon one. It occurs every week in London. Even in this church I have seen some of the most bright and promising lives suddenly brought to a close. Your youthful strength gives you no guarantee that death is far away. Nobody steps out of the world when he expects to do so. Though for twenty years you have never had an ache or a pain, you can make no safe calculation about the future. A fine, amiable, robust fellow of twenty, who used to worship here, was sitting in his office one day, when a fellow-clerk came up merrily, and slapping him upon the back, said, Well, how are you this morning? That good-humoured blow injured the spine, and after some weeks of almost total paralysis, the young man was borne to his last resting-place.
2. There is another thing that adds much to the impressiveness of this funeral: the young man is an only son. Well, I imagine that, let a family circle be ever so large, the parents feel there is not one of them that can be spared. Every one is dear, every one is precious. A rich and benevolent gentleman, who had no children of his own, was entering a steamboat one day, when he noticed a poor man with a group of little ones around him, all in a state of pitiful destitution. Stepping up to him, he proposed to take one of the children, and adopt it as his own. I think, said he, it will be a great relief to you. A what! exclaimed the other. A relief to you, I said. Such a relief to me, sir, rejoined the poor man, as to have my right arm cut off; it may be necessary, but only a parent can know the trial. But, an only son, in whom all the hopes and the joys of the parents centre: ah! it is long since the extreme bitterness of such a bereavement passed into a proverb (Zec_12:10).
3. I have not yet finished the picture. You will not wonder that this funeral created exceptional sympathy, and that much people of Nain joined the procession, when I remind you that this young mans mother was a widow. The light of her dwelling was now put out; the comfort and support of her advancing years taken away. No doubt he had been a good son, or his death would not have created so profound a feeling in the place.
4. With Dr. Trench, I believe that this majestic voice was something more than a summons back to this mortal life--that it included also an awakening of the young man to a higher and a spiritual life; with nothing short of which would the Saviour have delivered him to his mother. He gave him back to her who bare him, not merely to be for a few years longer her earthly companion, but, as now a saved and regenerate man, to be to her a joy both for time and for eternity.
(1) Arise from the death of unbelief. Conversion is a passing from death unto life. When you become a saved man, it is as though a corpse were quickened into life.
(2) Arise from the bondage of sin. You cannot afford to be lost. The interests at stake are too tremendous to be imperilled by delay. Wont you yield, and say, Yes, Lord, at Thy bidding I arise, to live from this day for Thee? But some young man will say, I feel the force of all you say; I know I ought to be a Christian, and shall never be happy till I am one; but it is no use trying; sin has got the upper hand of me, and when certain temptations meet me, I fall, and must fall, and will fall. I remember of a young man talking to me in that style, and saying, I believe the gospel to be true: that Christ is an omnipotent Saviour, I have not a doubt. I can fully trust Him, so far as that is concerned; and yet I dare not profess Him, because I know that a particular sin has complete mastery over me, and I am not going to be a hypocrite. But I took him by the buttonhole, and said, Let me read a verse to you, and then I turned to Joh_1:12 --As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God; and I showed him that, when one accepts Christ, he accepts Him, not merely as a Saviour from guilt and from hell, but as a Saviour from lust, and from vile passions, and from evil thoughts; and that He must be trusted for this just as for the other.
(3) Arise from the apathy of indolence. The great mass of nominal Christians are asleep. The only thing they want religion for is its comfort; it gives them a pillow to lay their heads on. Is that the purpose for which you have enlisted? When the stern Scottish chief was walking round his encampment one night, he saw his own son lying on a pillow of snow which he had carefully gathered and packed together before he lay down; the father kicked the pillow from under his sons head and said, Come, I will have no effeminacy here. I want robust men in my army. Oh, how many in Christs army are fast asleep, not on a bolster of snow, but on a pillow of down. Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. Arise from the slumber of lethargy and come and grapple with the foe. (J. Thain Davidson. D. D.)
The raising of the widows son
Some places have been made famous by a single incident. Nain is the village of the widows son whom Jesus raised from the dead. By no other event is Nain known. For a moment the light of heaven fell upon it, and haloed it with a glory which has attracted the eyes of all the Christian ages, and then it disappeared into its former obscurity. The site of the ancient village is well authenticated; it is occupied by the modern Nein, a squalid, miserable collection of huts, situated on the northwestern edge of Jebel el Duhy, or the Little Hermon, where the hill slopes down into the plain of Esdraelon. Our Lord came to Nain on His way south to keep the Passover. The day before He had healed the centurions servant at Capernaum; and now, after having walked eighteen miles since the cool hours of early morning, He toiled slowly in the afternoon up the steep slope leading to the village. He was tired and footsore. But there was work for the Father awaiting Him, in the doing of which He would find His meat and drink. They were carrying a dead man to his burial on the east side of the village, where the rough rock was full of sepulchral caves.
1. It would be difficult to make the picture of desolation more complete than the evangelist has done by a few simple words. Notice that the three recorded miracles of restoration from the dead were performed upon young persons.
2. We are apt to look upon the fact of Jesus meeting the funeral procession at the precise moment when it was issuing out of the gate of the city as a mere chance or fortunate coincidence. But nothing really occurs by chance; there is no such divinity in the universe.
3. And when the Lord saw her He had compassion on her. It is not said that the bereaved mother addressed Jesus. But He knew all the circumstances of the case. Never was there a human heart so feeling as His. The very word employed in our version to express His sympathy denotes His exquisite tenderness. It signifies the unutterable pity which a mother has for her offspring. Jesus Himself was, strictly speaking, the only son of His mother; and, as Joseph was in all probability dead by this time, she, too, was a widow, worn down by the duties and cares of a humble home. We cannot wonder, then, that the woman who came before Him in agonizing circumstances, similar to those in which He would soon have to leave His own mother, drew from His heart a peculiar compassion, and induced Him, unsolicited, to perform for her one of His rarest and supremest acts of mercy.
4. And said unto her, Weep not. This weep not different from that addressed to the hired mourners of Jairuss household. There it was uttered in indignation, for the purpose of restoring quiet; here it is said in deepest sympathy, for the purpose of cheering and soothing. How often do these words proceed from the lips of earthly comforters! No argument here for stoicism under sorrow. No one need be ashamed of tears, since our Saviours eyes were filled with them. The very existence of tears shows that God has designed them and has a use for them. When Christ then, says, Weep not, He does not mean to forbid tears, or to make us ashamed of them; but to give us a reason, a sufficient cause for drying our tears.
5. He came and touched the bier. Not necessary for Him to do this, so far as the exercise of His Divine power was concerned. But there was deep significance in what He did. He violated the letter of the law that He might keep its spirit.
6. And they that bare him stood still. They were struck by a sudden consciousness that they were in the presence of One who had a right to stop them even in their progress to the tomb; and they waited silently and reverently for what He might say or do. What a scene for the genius of a great painter does the imagination picture at this sublime expectant moment, when the power of God is about to be visibly displayed. The mother bowed down with grief, and yet lifting up to the face of Jesus eager eyes, in which a new-born hope struggles with the tears of despair; the bearers of the bier standing still with looks of awe and astonishment; the motley groups of the funeral procession, and the multitude who followed Jesus in their picturesque Oriental dresses, turning to one another as if asking the meaning of this strange proceeding; the calm, holy form of Jesus touching the bier, and the last red level rays of the sun setting behind the green hills on the western horizon, haloing with a sacred glow the head of the Redeemer, and the shrouded figure that lies motionless and unconscious on the bier, speaking touchingly of that sun that shall no more go down!
7. The stillness is broken by words such as human ears had never heard before--Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. How suggestive of omnipotence is that I.
8. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. What did he speak about? His lips were sealed upon those things which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Our Lord Himself, after His resurrection, said not a single word regarding what He had seen and heard during the three days when His body was in Josephs tomb and His soul in Hades. How opposed is all this to the so-called revelations of spirits, given to those who call themselves spiritualists.
9. And He delivered him to his mother. Who can describe the unutterable gladness of that restoration? The revulsion of feeling must have been painful in its very intensity. But the evangelist has left a veil over it, for there are feelings with which a stranger may not intermeddle. Truly the promise was literally fulfilled to her, Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.
10. Upon the spectators the effect of the wonderful miracle was overwhelming. A great fear fell upon them, that strange instinctive fear produced by sudden contact with the invisible world, which we feel even in the presence of our beloved dead, on account of the awful mystery in which they are shrouded. They glorified God that the long period during which there had been no prophet, no supernatural sign, no communication between heaven and earth, nothing but the continuous motion of the wheels of providence along the same beaten track, and the uniform action of the dull unchanging signals of nature that carried the general despatches of the universe, had come to an end at last. They had open vision once more, and a sense of the nearness of heaven. But far short were their impressions and conceptions, however vivid at the moment, of the glorious truth. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
The story of Nain
I. THE WORDS OF CHRISTS CONSOLATION WERE SIMPLE, AS ALL CONSOLATION OUGHT TO BE. Too much talking spoils comfort. Give few words, but let them be crowded with the infinite of feeling.
II. CHRIST PUT THIS COMPASSION OF HIS AT ONCE INTO ACTION. NO sooner had the feelings of pity arisen within Him than He came forward and touched the bier, did what He could to help the woman. That is a deep lesson to us, though a commonplace one. What an absurd self-deception it is to call ourselves Christians if we never, like Christ, come forward and touch the bier.
III. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DIVINE POWER IN THE MIND OF CHRIST. Contrast His consciousness of Divine power with His lovely, sad, and hidden life.
IV. IT WAS ALWAYS FOR PROFOUND MORAL AND SPIRITUAL ENDS THAT CHRIST USED THE POWER HE WAS CONSCIOUS OF POSSESSING.
V. THE SPIRITUAL LESSONS TO BE DRAWN FROM THE MIRACLE.
1. Often in the midst of death that we meet the true life.
2. Every miracle has a two-fold object, to meet some physical want or distress, and to point to Christ Himself as the one alone who could relieve the higher wants of the spirit of man. It is with us spiritually as it was with the widows son. Upon the path of life comes Christ, and touches the bier, and that which was dead arises. (Stopford Brooke, M. A.)
The widows son of Nain
This miracle has much in common with Christs other two miracles of raising from the dead. The same calm authority, the same Divine self-confidence is evident in them all.
I. CHRISTS IMPULSE OF COMPASSION. We are not satisfied with our knowledge of any man until we have seen something of his impulses.
1. See how this illustrates the greatness of Christ. His air was not distraught. His sympathies were as prompt, His considerateness as full and tender, as though not a care was on His spirit.
2. Remember, too, how Christ subordinated family affection to the call of the gospel. How hard and irresponsive, how cold and unsympathetic, are men who have sacrificed affection to obedience.
3. This gives us a view of God which we sorely need. Nature reveals one whom the strong may adore; a God for the happy. Christ reveals God as coming down to us in compassion and tender personal sympathy.
II. THE SIMPLICITY OF CHRISTS COMPASSION. For simple unmingled grief, simple unmingled comfort is the only balm. He could afford often to dispense with speech, because His life was unmistakably a witness for God. Simplicity is the great want of modern Christian life. If it were deeper it would be less fussy. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
The widow of Nain
I. THE BEREAVED MOTHER. Painter, as well as physician, we can believe St. Luke to have been. Desolation was never more graphically and pathetically summed up than in the words, The only son, &c. Then, too, it is hard for the young and strong to leave the world. Cut off prematurely, sayest thou? What if it be that the corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, and thus bear much fruit. Bereaved mother, a word to thee! If thy son is dear to thee, think him as much so to thy Saviour.
II. OUR LORDS ATTITUDE ON THIS OCCASION.
1. In the associations of the miracle there is much of deepest interest:
(a) Our Lords power to grapple with sudden emergencies.
(b) His sensitive compassion.
(c) The paucity of His words.
2. The miracle itself: All its details are commonplace, entirely divested of any clothing of the would-be wonderful.
(a) In the mercy there were the elements of fresh trials. Again there were all the anxieties to undergo, all the battle again to fight, the prospect again of severance.
(b) Why are miracles of resurrection no longer possible? Because there is no longer the same end to be nerved.
(c) Such miracle typical. Death a type of sin. Renewal of human nature a resurrection with Christ.
III. THE PEOPLE WHO ACCOMPANIED THE MOURNER.
1. Gratifying as their sympathy would be, the very crowds would cause her to feel more solitary.
2. In the feelings excited by the performance of the miracle, we trace no thought for those of the mother. We find only superstitious fear, which, in its turn, gives place to wild enthusiasm. The words of the people seem to denote that the miracle recalled those of Elijah and Elisha, and the prophets vision (Eze_37:1-28). They indulged in sentimental Messianic dreams; they built themselves up afresh in national pride; they gave themselves over to self-important babbling. We have only here a fresh illustration of that false spirit to which it was our Lords sad destiny to minister. With all their enthusiasm He knew that there was no real life, no deep apprehension of the character of the truths He had come to teach. (W. J. Gordon.)
Gospel for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
I. SOME MIRACLES OF THIS KIND WERE NEEDED, IN ORDER TO GIVE A FULL VIEW OF THE WORK AND POWER OF CHRIST.
II. Of this most striking class of miracles ONLY THREE ARE RECORDED, AND WE MUST SUPPOSE ONLY THREE WERE WROUGHT. For this infrequency there may have been many reasons.
1. A desire to make the miracle mote striking by its isolation.
2. The unbelief of the people. Christ is never asked to raise the dead. Even Martha just hints and no more, that God will grant whatever He asks.
III. THERE IS A GRADATION IN THE MIRACLES, LEADING UP, AS IT WERE, TO A CLIMAX. Just dead; twenty-four hours dead; four days dead. In all cases, the fact of the death well-ascertained, and abundance of witnesses secured. What must be the feelings of a man between one death and another?
IV. A MIRACLE PRODUCES ITS EFFECT ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF MIND OF THOSE WHO WITNESS IT. It does not necessarily carry conviction. Here a fear comes on all, and they glorify God. In the second miracle they are astonished with a great astonishment. At the crowning miracle, the hatred against Jesus having become more intense, some went their way to the Pharisees and reported what Jesus had done. (G. Calthrop, M. A.)
The miracle of Nain
How splendid the career of Jesus! Observe here--
I. WHAT THE REDEEMER BEHELD.
II. WHAT CHRIST FELT--Compassion. His eye affected His heart.
1. Agreeable to His nature.
2. Agreeable to all His works.
III. WHAT CHRIST SAID--Weep not. Was it not a very harsh and unreasonable demand?
1. Might she not have reminded Him that to weep was in accordance with the feelings of our nature?
2. Have not the best of men wept?
3. This was an extremely afflictive case. Still He insists that she must weep not. We shall soon perceive the reason: He was about to remove the cause of sorrow.
IV. WHAT THE REDEEMER DID.
1. He touched the bier. Arrested it in its course; bearers felt it impossible to advance; finger of God was upon it. Hence they stood still-astonished, amazed.
2. He commanded the corpse to arise. Although dead, he heard the voice of the Son of God, and lived. His spirit heard it in Hades--the invisible state, and came back.
3. He delivered him to his mother. Christ might have insisted on the consecration of himself to His service, as a disciple, evangelist, or apostle. Compassion commenced, and compassion gave the finishing stroke to this splendid and Divine scene.
4. The people glorified God. The glory of God was the grand object and end of Christs undertakings.
Application: See in this young man--
1. A striking picture of the natural state of man.
2. Learn the only means of restoration.
3. God is greatly glorified in the salvation of sinners. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Christian attendance at a funeral
What are the sentiments with which we attend a funeral?
I. OUR CONDUCT IN RELATION TO THE DECEASED AND HIS SURVIVING FAMILY.
1. Let us attend the funeral not merely for the sake of politeness, but out of Christian charity.
(1) Such attendance is in conformity with human nature.
(2) It is beneficial to ourselves, reminding us that we are brethren, children of the same heavenly Father.
2. Let us succour the deceased, by remembering him in our prayers, &c.
3. Let us console the family of the deceased.
(1) Let us weep with them that weep. Compassion is like balsam.
(2) Let us speak comfort to the grief-stricken family. Remind them of the dispositions of Divine Providence, of immortality, and future reunion.
(3) Let us perform consoling works.
II. OUR CONDUCT WITH REGARD TO OURSELVES. A funeral is a warning to us.
1. Look at the corpse.
(1) What has it been? What we are: full of life and health, full of hopes, prospects, and plans for the future. Was this person young or old, rich or poor, beautiful or deformed, learned or illiterate? It does not matter. No one is secured against death. The only important question is this: Was the dead person virtuous or wicked?
(2) What is it now? What we all shall be: a hideous corpse, deprived of life and beauty, deprived of all advantages of mind, form, and earthly conditions. Only one thing has been spared by death: the good and evil deeds done in life.
(3) How has it come to this state? In the same way as that by which we must pass--death. Has death come unexpected, or after an early warning? When and where?
(4) What will it be? Like every one of us, a prey to vermin, an inhabitant of the grave. So passes the glory of the world. But, at the same time, it is the seed of a future body--either glorious or ignominious.
2. Let us turn our eyes to Jesus, the Life-giver. (Tschupik.)
A bereaved mother
The mother of poor Touda, who heard that I wished to see him once more, led me to the house where the body was laid. The narrow space of the room was crowded; about two hundred women were sitting and standing around, singing mourning songs to doleful and monotonous airs. As I stood looking, filled with solemn thoughts, in spite of, or rather because of, perhaps, the somewhat ludicrous contrasts about me, the mother of Touda approached. She threw herself at the foot of her dead son, and begged him to speak to her once more. And then, when the corpse did not answer, she uttered a shriek, so long, so piercing, such a wail of love and grief, that tears came into my eyes. Poor African mother! she was literally as one sorrowing without hope; for these poor people count on nothing beyond the present life. For them there is no hope beyond the grave. All is done, they say, with an inexpressible sadness of conviction that sometimes gave me a heartache. As I left the hut, thinking these things, the wailing recommenced. It would be kept up by the women, who are the official mourners on these occasions, till the corpse was buried. (Du Chaillu.)
The voice of a funeral
Every funeral is Gods repetition of His anathema against sin. When our friends are carried to the silent sepulchre the Lord of all does in fact say to us, See what a bitter thing sin is; it takes the light from the eye and the music from the ear; it silences the voice of song, and palsies the hand of skill; it quenches the fire of love upon the hearts altar, and removes the light of understanding from the brains judgment seat, and gives over the creature once so lovely and beloved to become a putrid mass, a horror and a loathing, so that affection itself cries out, Bury my dead out of my sight. Thus every gravestone and every green hillock in the cemetery may be regarded as the still small voice of God solemnly condemning sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A risible sermon
Archbisbop Leighton, returning home one morning, was asked by his sister, Have you been bearing a sermon? Ive met a sermon, was the answer. The sermon he had met was a corpse on its way to the grave. The preacher was Death. Greatest of street-preachers!--nor laws nor penalties can silence. No tramp of horses, nor rattling of carriages, nor rush and din of crowded streets can drown his voice. In heathen, pagan, and Protestant countries, in monarchies and free states, in town and country, the solemn pomp of discourse is going on. In some countries a man is imprisoned for even dropping a tract. But what prison will hold this awful preacher? What chains will bind him? He lifts up his voice in the very presence of tyrants, and laughs at their threats. He walks unobstructed through the midst of their guards, and delivers the messages which trouble their security and embitter their pleasures. If we do not meet his sermons, still we cannot escape them. He comes to our abode, and, taking the dearest object of our love as his text, what sermons does he deliver to us! His oft-repeated sermons still enforce the same doctrine, still press upon us the same exhortation, Surely, every man walketh in a vain show. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Here we have no continuing city.
Power of sympathy
Happy is the man who has that in his soul which acts upon the dejected as April airs upon violet roots. Gifts from the hand are silver and gold; but the heart gives that which neither silver nor gold can buy. To be full of goodness, full of cheerfulness, full of sympathy, full of helpful hope, causes a man to carry blessings of which he is himself as unconscious as a lamp of its own shining. Such a one moves on human life as stars move on dark seas to bewildered mariners; as the sun wheels, bringing all the seasons with him from the south. (H. W. Beecher.)
Silent sympathy
Bishop Myrel had the art of sitting down, and holding his tongue for hours, by the side of a man who had lost the wife he loved, or of a mother bereaved of her child. (Victor Hugo.)
The compassion of mankind a sign of the compassion of mankinds Head and Lord
Contrast between the two compassions of which the bereaved mother was the object. Helpless compassion of multitude; mighty compassion of Christ.
I. The Father sent His Son into the world to adopt and justify these common and daily human compassions, and to reveal what had all along been implied though hidden in them.
II. Jesus Christ shared in the compassion of the Jewish mourners, and shares now in such compassion everywhere because He is the Son of Man.
III. The text, however, reminds us that He who comes to meet the funerals of our kind and unites His compassion with our compassion, is more even than the Son of Man, the Head of our race. And when the Lord saw her. The Son of Man, who is the Lord, has compassion with humanity in its troubles. (T. Hancock.)
The power of Christs voice
Only three such reprieves recorded in the Gospels. Not fewer, that there might be no doubt as to the fact; not more, that the fact might not be too common.
1. All whom our Lord called back to life were comparatively young. It was death as a blight that He checked and restrained.
2. In all three cases it was kindness to the living which chiefly moved Christ to raise the dead. In each act we see Jesus in a higher character than a worker of miracles; it showed Him as the binder of broken hearts.
3. The resurrection of the dead is the result of the Divine power of Christ, In the most stupendous of all His works of power He put away secondary means; the creative command went direct from the creative voice to the matter and the spirit which were bound to obey that voice. The mode of working is majestic, Divine.
4. The three risings which took place at the command of Christ were preludes and foreshadowings of His own. But they did but imperfectly resemble that one complete resurrection. Christ rose at no word of command, but because He had life in Himself.
5. Taking our stand upon the truth that Christ is risen from the dead, we may see in these revivals the foreshadowings of that universal revival, when all the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live. If you do not hear and obey the gentle, persuasive, loving voice of Christ now, it will be ill with you when that great voice sounds which will call all of us from our graves, and which we shall then be compelled to hear and obey. (The late Dean of Ely.)
Visit to Nain
We crossed Hermon, and found ourselves in a small decayed village on the edge of another bay of Esdraelon, which runs between the hills of Galilee and Hermon to the north. It was Nain. It is poor, confused and filthy, like every village in Palestine, but its situation is very fine, as commanding a good view of the plain, with the opposite hills, and especially of Tabor, that rises like a noble wooded island at the head of the green bay. And Nain, in the light of the Gospel-history, is another of those fountains of living water opened up by the Divine Saviour, which have flowed through all lands to refresh the thirsty. How many widows, for eighteen centuries, have been comforted; how many broken hearts soothed and healed; by the story of Nain--by the unsought and unexpected sympathy of Jesus, and by His power and majesty! What has Nineveh or Babylon been to the world in comparison with Nain? And this is the wonder constantly suggested by the insignificant villages of Palestine, that their names have become parts, as it were, of the deepest experiences of the noblest persons of every land and every age. (Norman Macleod, D. D.)
THE WIDOW OF NAIN.
Forth from the city gate the pitying crowd
Followed the stricken mourner. They came near
The place of burial, and, with straining hands,
Closer upon her breast she clasped the pall,
And with a gasping sob, quick as a childs,
And an inquiring wildness flashing through
The thin grey lashes of her fevered eyes,
She came where Jesus stood beside the way.
He looked upon her, and His heart was moved.
Weep not! He said; and as they stayed the bier,
And at His bidding laid it at His feet,
He gently drew the pall from out her grasp,
And laid it back in silence from the dead.
With troubled wonder the mute throng drew near,
And gazed on His calm looks. A minutes space
He stood and prayd. Then taking the cold hand,
He said, Arise! And instantly the breast
Heaved in its cerements, and a sudden flush
Ran through the lines of the divided lips,
And with a murmur of his mothers name,
He trembled and sat upright in his shroud.
And while the mourner hung upon his neck,
Jesus went calmly on His way to Nain. (N. P. Willis.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv11–16 11. He went into a city. The raising of…
11. He went into a city. The raising of the son of the widow of Nain is only recorded by Luke. Nain. A village on the northwest slope of Little Hermon, about twenty-five miles south of Capernaum.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v11 Luk_7:12. Carried out.—Places of burial were outside the towns,…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_7:12. Carried out.—Places of burial were outside the towns, to avoid ceremonial defilement.
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Luk_7:13. The Lord.—This title for Jesus is much more frequently found in the third and fourth Gospels than in the first and second, and is perhaps an indication of their having been written when Christianity was somewhat widespread.
Luk_7:14. The bier.—An open coffin.
Luk_7:15. He delivered.—This is closely connected with what is said in Luk_7:13, “He had compassion on her.” Cf. 1Ki_17:23; 2Ki_4:36.
Luk_7:16. There came a fear on all.—Rather, “fear took hold on all” (R.V.).
Luk_7:17. Judæa.—“It is evident that the miracle of Nain, as being a greater marvel of power than any which Jesus had previously exhibited, raised His fame to the highest pitch. His name was spread abroad, not only in the immediate neighbourhood of the town in which the miracle was wrought, but throughout Judæa also. It was upon this that news of our Lord’s wonder-working power reached the Baptist in his prison” (Speaker’s Commentary). A comparison has often been drawn between the miracles of raising the dead which are recorded in the Gospels. The daughter of Jairus was newly dead, the widow’s son was being borne to the grave, while Lazarus had been dead four days and his body was in the grave, at the time of the working of the respective miracles by which they were recalled to life.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_7:11-18
The Compassionate Lord of Life.—Observe—
I. The meeting of the two processions.—Jesus is coming up to the city, with a considerable crowd following, and meets the funeral coming out of the gate. Face to face stand the Prince of life with His attendants and the waiters on death. The dead man, dead in his youth, and when most needed, the lonely mother, the sympathising or gossiping crowd—these show the ravages of death, the sorrow that shadows all human love and every home, and the unavailing, though well-meant, consolation which men can give. That procession is going one way, and He and His the other. They come in contact, and His power arrests the march, sends the dead back living, and the mourner glad. That meeting may stand for a symbol of His whole coming and work. Why this widow should have been chosen out of all the mourners that laid their dead to rest that day we do not know. The reasons for the distribution of His gifts are generally beyond us.
II. Christ’s unasked pity.—The sight of the extreme grief of the poor mother, whom He knew to be reduced to utter loneliness, and probably to poverty, by the death of her only bread-winner and object of love, went straight to Christ’s heart. Misery appealed to Him even if it was dumb. His perfect manhood was perfectly compassionate, and was hindered from the freest flow of pity by no selfishness. One great glory of this miracle is spontaneousness. Neither request nor faith precedes it. How should they? Death was a final and inexorable evil, and none of the three recorded raisings from the dead was in answer to prayers or belief in His power. The last thing that could have occurred to that weeping mother was that this Stranger, whom she was too much absorbed to notice, could give her back her son. But if there was no prayer, there was sorrow and there was need; and sorrow which He could soothe, and need which He could supply, never made their moan in His hearing in vain. Most of His miracles had some measure of faith in some persons concerned as a precedent condition. But that was a condition established for our sakes, not for His. His love and power were tied to no one manner of working, and unasked, untrusted, probably unobserved, He feels the impulse of pity, which is love turned towards misery, and the impulse moves His all-powerful will. While ordinarily He is still wont to be found of those that seek Him, He still finds and blesses some who seek Him not.
III. Christ the compassionate immediately becomes the consoler.—Very beautiful is it that the soothing words “Weep not” are said before the miracle, as if He would not wait even for a moment before seeking to calm the sorrow. But words which are impotent on other lips, and only make tears run faster, are of sovereign power when He speaks them. Nothing is emptier than the usual well-meant attempts to comfort. What is the use of telling not to weep when all the cause of weeping remains? But if we know that He is with us in trouble, and can hear His whisper of comfort, the sharpness of pain is lulled, though the wound remain. He comforted the widowed heart by the utterance of His sympathy before He gave her back her dead, and therein He reveals Himself to all as the compassionate, and therefore the Consoler even of sorrows that will last as long as life. His “Weep not” is not rebuke nor a vain attempt to stop the expression without touching the source of grief, but is a specimen of His continual work, and a prophecy of the time when “there shall be no more sorrow, nor crying.”
IV. To compassion and comforting succeeds the stupendous act of life-giving.—Christ’s look and word to the mother showed His heart, if not His purpose, and so the bearers halt in silent obedience and expectation. Jesus spake two words—“Young man, arise”—as if waking him from sleep, and the young man “sat up.” How bewildered he would be, finding himself there on the bier, in the blazing light, and with this crowd around him! He “began to speak”—some confused exclamations, probably, like those of a suddenly awakened man, not knowing where he was or how he came there. Like the other cases of resurrection, this one suggests many questions—Was return to life a kindness to the young man? how did the experience during death fit in with that of earth? and others which might be raised but not answered. As to the first of these, no doubt, this and all the cases are presented as done out of compassion for the mourners; but we cannot suppose that that motive is irreconcilable with regard for the persons raised, and we may be assured that the gain to the mother was not attained by loss to the son. Probably the restoration of his bodily life was the beginning of his spiritual life.
The whole incident may be regarded as a revelation of Christ’s power, or as a revelation of death’s impotence. Christ stands forth as the Prince and Giver of life. His word is enough. Wherever that dead man was, he heard and obeyed. The ease with which the miracle is done contrasts with the effort of Elijah and Elisha in their analogous acts. The assumption of authority by Christ is of a piece with all His tone. The whole is His proclamation that He is “Lord both of the dead and living.” It is prophetic too, for it foreshadows the day when they that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. The miracle also teaches the impotence of death, which is but His servant, and vanishes at His bidding. It demonstrates the partial operation of death, as affecting not the person, but only the body. It shows that when a man dies he is not ended, but that personality, consciousness, and all that make the man are wholly unaffected thereby. “He gave him to his mother.” Who can paint that reunion? May we not venture to see in Christ’s action here some dim forecast of the future, when, amid the joy of heaven, we too may hope to be reunited to our dear ones, lost awhile. Surely He who brought this young man back from the dead to soothe a widow’s sorrow, and found joy in giving him back to a mother’s arms, will do the like with us, and let lonely and yearning hearts clasp again their beloved.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_7:11-17
Luk_7:11-17. At the Gate of Nain.—In this most touching story we see Jesus as a true friend. From a true friend we expect compassion, comfort, help.
I. A friend needed.
II. A friend found.—He offers to the widow pity, comfort, help.
III. A friend still needed and still near.—Jesus is the same. Heaven has made no change in His friendship. He by His spirit still raises the spiritually dead, and by His mighty word will yet raise the physically dead.—Spence.
Luk_7:11-15.
I. The compassion of Jesus.
II. The pains taken by Jesus in all that He did.
III. The power shown by Jesus.—Brown.
The Lord of Life.
I. Two crowds (Luk_7:11-12).—In the midst of the one a dead man. In the midst of the other the Life of the world. In the first death in its hardest, cruelest form; for the dead man was just entering on man’s life, and his only real mourner was his widowed mother.
II. The meeting.—The pity of Jesus—pity of sight, of speech, of touch, a whole body of pity. The power of Jesus—power brought forth by pity. A true picture this of the Saviour.—Lindsay.
I. The Saviour’s tender sympathy.
II. The Saviour’s words of power.
III. The Saviour’s spreading fame.—W. Taylor.
The Divine Consoler.
I. The widow mourning.
II. The widow comforted.—By
(1) a word of compassion;
(2) a word of power.—Watson.
Luk_7:11. The Beauty of the Narrative.—The exquisite literary skill of St. Luke is nowhere more clearly manifested than in telling of this incident; it and the walk to Emmaus will stand comparison with the masterpieces of literary style in any language. Abundant particulars are given which serve to call up a very vivid picture: the city, the gate, the multitude that followed Jesus, the long funeral procession that met them, the open bier, the man’s age and circumstances, his mother’s condition, the feeling manifested by Christ, His actions and words, His gestures, the eager attention of the bystanders, the astonishment at the miracle, and the excited comments passed upon it, are all touched upon. Yet there is no wearisome elaboration of details and no height of colouring. The story is told without using adjectives—the great resource to which modern word-painters betake themselves. So far from St. Luke’s work being of the word-painting order, it is simply a clear conception of the whole scene with all its details, expressed in a perfectly simple, natural manner.
Luk_7:12. “The only son.”—The special circumstances of this bereavement are carefully noted:
1. The man was young.
2. He was an only Song of Solomon 3. His mother was a widow. In several places in Scripture grief for an only son is taken as the very type of grief—as an expression of the keenest distress the soul can feel. “O daughter of My people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation” (Jer_6:26). Cf. also Zec_12:10; Amo_8:10. Indeed, to a Jewish mind this form of bereavement was specially grievous, since it was regarded as often a direct punishment for sin.
“And she was a widow.”—St. Luke has told us the sum of her misery in a few words. The mother was a widow, with no further hope of having children; nor with any upon whom she might look in the place of him that was dead. To him alone she had given suck. He alone made her home cheerful. All that is sweet and precious to a mother, was he alone to her! A young man (Luk_7:14)—that is in the flower of his age; just ripening into manhood; just entering upon the time of marriage; the scion of his race; the branch of succession; the sight of his mother’s eyes; the staff of her declining years.—Gregory of Nyssa.
Luk_7:13. “Had compassion.”—In some cases Christ wrought a miracle when asked by a sufferer, in some cases when asked by their friends, and in some cases, as here, of His own accord. No request was presented to Him—the only appeal was that of the sorrow which filled the mother’s heart, and touched the spectators with sympathy. What comfort there is in this thought—that our needs, our helplessness, our grief, speak louder than our prayers and fill the heart of Christ with compassion. Some sought blessings from the Saviour; but this was a case in which He sought out the sufferer, with the purpose of stanching her sorrow. The purpose for which Christ wrought miracles is often unwisely said to have been to attest His mission by displaying the Divine power which He possessed. But clearly this was not His motive on the present occasion: His one idea was to do good—to comfort the sorrowful.
“Weep not.”—He felt authorised to administer consolation; in the unexpected, almost accidental, meeting with the funeral procession, He recognised a signal given Him by the Father to put forth His power to comfort human sorrow and to overcome death.
This Case a Special Appeal to Christ’s Pity.—It is not wonderful that Christ had compassion in sorrow like this. Could He forget, as He looked at this weeping mother, that He was Himself the son of a widow, and the stay of her widowhood? or fail to foresee the day, only some months distant, the noon of which would see His own mother’s heart pierced with the sword as she stood by His dolorous cross, of which the eve should weep over her as she followed His body to its rocky grave? But forasmuch as He Himself must die that dead men may live, and forasmuch as His mother was soon to weep over His grave that all mourning mothers might thenceforth weep less bitterly, therefore He went forward to this widow, and with a voice in which there must have trembled a strange tenderness said unto her, “Weep not!”—Dykes.
An Authoritative Summons.—Here is something quite unusual. A man at once compassionate and wise does not try to check natural grief. He rather endeavours to find some consideration that will abate and moderate it. But here is no argument, no consolatory words; only a simple, weighty, authoritative summons, “Weep not!” This arouses attention, stirs expectation of something to come.—Laidlaw.
Luk_7:14. “Touched the bier.”—The gesture of touching the bier was a very significant one: it was symbolical of His power to arrest with His finger the triumph of death, and revealed almost unconsciously the majesty with which He was clothed. “Life had met death, wherefore the bier stopped.”
“Young man, I say to thee.”—By this word Christ proved the truth of the saying of Paul, that “God calleth those things which are not as though they were” (Rom_4:17). He addresses the dead man, and makes Himself be heard, so that death is changed into life. We have here:
(1) a striking emblem of the future resurrection, as Ezekiel is commanded to say, “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord” (Eze_37:4); and
(2) we are taught in what manner Christ quickens us spiritually by faith. It is when He infuses into His word a secret power, so that it enters into dead souls, as He Himself declares, “The hour cometh, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live” (Joh_5:25).—Calvin.
Sleep and Death.—In sleep as in death there is a sundering of the connection between soul and body, though in the one case it is but temporary, while in the other it is permanent. Yet just as the sound of the human voice is sufficient to restore the connection in the case of one buried in sleep, so the Saviour’s word avails to restore connection, even in the case of the dead.—Godet.
The Lord of Life and Death.—There is incomparable majesty in the phrase, “I say unto thee.” He to whom it was addressed seemed to have passed away beyond the reach of the human voice; no lamentations of his mother and friends could reach his ear. Yet the Saviour spoke as one whose words resounded through the world of the grave and could give commands which even the dead must hear and obey. “The Lord of life and death speaks with command. No finite power could have said so without presumption or with success. That is the voice that shall one day call up our vanished bodies from those elements in which they are resolved, and raise them out of their dust. Neither sea, nor death, nor hell can offer to detain their dead when He charges them to be delivered” (Hall).
The Compassionate Heart, Mouth, Feet, and Hand.—Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercy: the heart had compassion, the mouth said “Weep not,” the feet went to the bier, the hand touched it, the power of the Deity raised the dead.—Ibid.
Luk_7:15. “Sat up and began to speak.”—The return of life is marked by movement and speech: the rigid corpse resumed its vital functions, the mute tongue was loosened. The young man thus restored by the creative power of Christ became as it were His possession—he belonged by the gift of life for a second time to the Saviour. But Christ gives him over to his mother.
A Spiritual Resurrection also.—The feeling of sympathy expressed by our Saviour for the mother is put forth as the motive which created the resolution in Jesus to raise up the person reposing on the bier. But this does not exclude the idea of this action having a reference also to the resuscitated person. Man as a sentient being can never be only a means, as would here be the case were we to regard the joy of the mother as the only object of the raising of the youth from the dead. Her joy, on the contrary, is only the immediate but more unessential result of this action, recognisable by those who were present; the secret result of this resuscitation was the spiritual raising up of the youth to a more exalted state of existence, through which only the joy of the mother assumed a true and everlasting character.—Olshausen.
Luk_7:16. “Fear.”—This effect is often mentioned in connection with the miracles of Jesus. Cf. Luk_5:26; Luk_8:37; Mar_4:41. It is the natural shrinking of sinful human nature from the evident presence of the power of an all-holy God. Like feeling is recorded in the case of almost all appearances of angels recorded in Holy Scripture. Cf. also Simon Peter’s words and action in Luk_5:8.
“Prophet.”—The use of this name in connection with the work wrought by Jesus indicates the true idea of the prophetic office. The prophet is not a mere predictor of future events: he is the representative of God and spokesman for God; he brings benefits from God to man, and proofs of the Divine interposition in the government of the world.
“Visited His people.”—After a long interval of silence and apparent inactivity (cf. Luk_1:68-69). The miracle now wrought reminded the people of those of Elijah and Elisha. Yet there was a notable difference between the two. For though these prophets raised the dead, they did so laboriously; Jesus immediately and with a word: they confessedly as servants and creatures, by a power not their own; Jesus by that inherent “virtue which went out of Him” in every cure which He wrought. “Elijah, it is true, raises the dead; but he is obliged to stretch himself several times upon the body of the child whom he raises, he struggles, he feels his limited power, he is agitated; it is very evident that he invokes another power to help him, that he recalls from the kingdom of death a soul that is not altogether subject to his word, and that he is not himself the controller of death and of life. Jesus Christ raises the dead in the same way that He does the most ordinary of actions: He speaks with authority to those who are plunged in an eternal sleep; and it is very evident that He is the God of the dead as of the living, never more tranquil than when He does the greatest deeds” (Massillon).
The Three Miracles of raising the Dead.—The comparison of the three miracles of raising the dead (referred to above in the Critical Notes), as illustrating various degrees of spiritual deadness from which Christ can awaken the soul, has often been made by the older writers. It is strikingly expressed by Doune: “If I be dead within doors (If I have sinned in my heart), why suscitavit in domo, Christ gave a resurrection to the ruler’s daughter within doors, in the house. If I be dead in the gate (If I have sinned in the gates of my soul), in my eyes, or ears, or hands in actual sins, why suscitavit in portâ, Christ gave a resurrection to the young man at the gate of Nain. If I be dead in the grave (in customary and habitual sins), why suscitavit in sepulchro, Christ gave a resurrection to Lazarus in the grave too.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v11 Luk 7:11-17. “And it came to pass consecutively, He…
RAISING THE WIDOW’S SON
Luk 7:11-17. “And it came to pass consecutively, He was going into a city called Nain, and many disciples of His, and a great multitude, were accompanying Him. And when He drew near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son to his mother, and she a widow; and a great multitude of the city were along with her. And the Lord seeing her, was moved with compassion toward her, and said to her, Weep not. And having come to them, He touched the bier; and those carrying it stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and the dead sat up, and began to speak; and He gave him to his mother. And fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, A great Prophet has risen among us, and God has looked in mercy on His people. And that word concerning Him went out in all Judea and all the surrounding country.” I visited the city of Nain during my recent tour. It stands on the northwestern slope of Mt. Ramoth-Gilead. Like other cities during the desolation of the country, its magnificence has long ago evanesced, leaving it nothing now but a filthy Arabic village amid the old ruins. A Latin church stands on the spot where it is certified that Jesus performed this stupendous miracle — a suitable commemoration of this mighty work. We find that our Savior traveled all the way from Capernaum to Nain, about forty miles, on foot, returning immediately; thus giving Him a journey of eighty miles for this one benefaction, as the record shows that He made the round trip from Capernaum, and specifies this only item in His ministry meanwhile. Doubtless He preached to the multitudes by the way. How wonderful was the sympathy for that poor widow who was burying her only son, and with him all her support, hope, and happiness, so far as this world is concerned! I trow she was a godly woman, and Jesus heard her prayers and saw her tears, despite forty miles intervening. When He stops the corpse on its way to the tomb, momentous was the sensation, all hearts leaping with inquiry, “What does this mean, stopping a corpse on its way to the tomb?” Such a thing was never heard of. The people in the city are astonished to see the halt of the procession. Now that the panic- stricken pall-bearers have set down the bier in the middle of the road, all eyes centered on the Prophet of Galilee. He walks round, lifts the pall from the face of the dead, takes him by the hand, and speaks with the voice that makes the mountain tremble, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” All eyes are centered on the corpse, which, sure enough, rises up, sitting on the bier, sees his mother, throws his arms around her, standing in loving embrace. Now the multitudes see that there is no mistake about it, Samuel is actually alive again. O what a shout they raise, “Glory to God in the highest! He has had mercy on Israel, and raised up a Prophet in her midst who has power to speak the dead to life!” What an inexplicable surprise falls on the people of the city! Who ever heard a shout at a funeral? What, in all the world, is the matter? They see the procession all broken up, and the people running hither and thither, as if they were wild, leaping and throwing their hats into the air, and shouting uproariously. They climb to the flat roofs of their houses, and stretch their eyes to see what is the matter. Behold! by this time the whole crowd are moving hack toward the city, their stentorian voices reverberating against old Mt. Gilead, and rolling back like thunder peals across the Plain of Megiddo, arousing all the community. Behold! they see the young man dressed in his grave-clothes, by the side of his mother, heading the procession.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v13 Luk 7:13 - Luk 7:15.
Luke
JESUS AT THE BIER
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Luk 7:13 - Luk 7:15.
We owe our knowledge of this incident to Luke only. He is the Evangelist who specially delights in recording the gracious relations of our Lord with women, and he is also the Evangelist who delights in telling us of unasked miracles which Christ performed. Both of these characteristics unite in this story, and it may have been these, rather than the fact of its being a narrative of a resurrection, that found for it a place in this Gospel.
Be that as it may, it is obvious to remark that this miracle was not wrought with any intention of establishing Christ’s claims thereby. Its motive was simply pity; its purpose was merely to comfort a desolate woman whose hope and love and defence were lying stretched on her boy’s bier. Was that a sufficient reason for a miracle? People tell us that a test of a spurious miracle is that it is done without any adequate purpose to be served. Jesus Christ thought that to comfort one poor, sorrowful heart was reason enough for putting His hand out, and dragging the prey from the very jaws of death, so loftily did He think of human sorrow and of the comforting thereof.
Now I think we unduly limit the meaning of our Lord’s miracles when we regard them as specially intended to authenticate His claims. They are not merely the evidences of revelation; they are themselves a large part of revelation. My purpose in this sermon is to look at this incident from that one point of view, and to try to set clearly before our minds what it shows us of the character and work of Jesus Christ. And there are three things on which I desire to touch briefly. We have Him here revealed to us as the compassionate Drier of all tears; the life-giving Antagonist of death; and as the Re-uniter of parted hearts.
Note, then, these three things.
I. First of all, look at that wonderful revelation that lies here of Jesus Christ as the compassionate Drier of all tears.
The poor woman, buried in her grief, with her eyes fixed on the bier, has no thought for the little crowd that came up the rocky road, as she and her friends are hurrying down it to the place of graves. She was a stranger to Christ, and Christ a stranger to her. The last thing that she would have thought of would have been eliciting any compassion from those who thus fortuitously met her on her sad errand. But Christ looks, and His eye sees far more deeply and far more tenderly into the sorrow of the desolate, childless widow than any human eyes looked. And as swift as was His perception of the sorrow, so swiftly does He throw Himself into sympathy with it. The true human emotion of unmingled pity wells up in His heart and moves Him to action.
And just because the manhood was perfect and sinless, therefore the sympathy of Christ was deeper than any human sympathy, howsoever tender it may be; for what unfits us to feel compassion is our absorption with ourselves. That makes our hearts hard and insensitive, and is the true, ‘witches’ mark’-to recur to the old fable-the spot where no external pressure can produce sensation. The ossified heart of the selfish man is closed against divine compassion. Since Jesus Christ forgot Himself in pitying men, and Himself ‘took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses,’ He must have been what none of us are-free from all taint of selfishness, and from all insensibility born of sin.
But there is another step to be taken. That pitying Christ, on the rocky road outside the little Galilean village, feeling all the pain and sorrow of the lonely mother-that is God! ‘Lo! this is our God; and we have waited for Him.’ Ay! waited through all the uncompassionating centuries, waited in the presence of the false gods, waited whilst men have been talking about an impassive Deity careless in the heavens, over whose serene blessedness no shadow can ever pass. This is our God. No impassive monster that no man can love or care for, but a God with a heart, a God that can pity, a God who, wonderful as it is, can and does enter, in the humanity of Jesus Christ, into a fellow-feeling of our infirmities.
If Jesus Christ in His pity was only a perfect and lovely example of unselfish sympathy such as man can exercise, what in the name of common-sense does it matter to me how much, or how tenderly, He pitied those past generations? The showers and the sunshine of this summer will do as much good to the springing corn in the fields to-day as the pity of a dead, human Christ will do for you and me. In our weaknesses, in our sorrows great and small, in our troubles and annoyances, you and I need, dear brethren, a living Jesus to pity us, there in the heavens, just as He pitied that poor woman outside the gate of Nain. Blessed be God!, we have Him. The human Christ is the manifestation of the Divine, and as we listen to the Evangelist that says, ‘When He saw her He had compassion upon her,’ we bow our heads and feel that the old psalmist spoke a truth when He said, ‘His compassions fail not,’ and that the old prophet spoke a truth, the depth of which his experience did not enable him to fathom, when he said that ‘in all their afflictions He was afflicted.’
Then, note that the pitying Christ dries the tears before He raises the dead. That is beautiful, I think. ‘Weep not,’ He says to the woman-a kind of a prophecy that He is going to take away the occasion for weeping; and so He calls lovingly upon her for some movement of hope and confidence towards Himself. With what an ineffable sweetness of cadence in His sympathetic voice these words would be spoken! How often, kindly and vainly, men say to one another, ‘Weep not,’ when they are utterly powerless to take away or in the smallest degree to diminish the occasion for weeping! And how often, unkindly, in mistaken endeavour to bring about resignation and submission, do well-meaning and erring good people say to mourners in the passion of their sorrow, ‘Weep not!’ Jesus Christ never dammed back tears when tears were wholesome, and would bring blessing. And Jesus Christ never said, ‘Dry your tears,’ without stretching out His own hand to do it.
How does He do it? First of all by the assurance of His sympathy. Ah! in that word there came a message to the lonely heart, as there comes a message, dear brethren, to any man or woman among us now who may be fighting with griefs and cares or sorrows, great or small-the assurance that Jesus Christ knows all about your pain and will help you to bear it if you will let Him. The sweet consciousness of Christ’s sympathy is the true antidote to excessive grief.
And He dries the tears, not only by the assurance of His sympathy, but by encouraging expectation and hope. When He said, ‘Weep not,’ He was pledging Himself to do what was needed in order to stay the flow of weeping. And He would encourage us, in the midst of our cares and sorrows and loneliness, not indeed to suppress the natural emotion of sorrow, nor to try after a fantastic and unreal suppression of its wholesome signs, but to weep as though we wept not, because beyond the darkness and the dreariness we see the glimmering of the eternal day. He encourages expectation as the antagonist of sorrow, for the curse of sorrow is that it is ever looking backwards, and the true attitude for all men who have an immortal Christ to trust, and an immortality for themselves to claim, is that not ‘backward’ should their ‘glances be, but forward to their Father’s home.’ These are the thoughts that dry our tears, the assurance of the sympathy of Christ, and the joyous expectation of a great good to be ours, where beyond those voices there is peace.
Brother! it may be with all of us-for all of us carry some burden of sorrow or care-as it is with the hedgerows and wet ploughed fields to-day; on every spray hangs a raindrop, and in every raindrop gleams a reflected sun. And so all our tears and sorrows may flash into beauty, and sparkle into rainbowed light if the smile of His face falls upon us.
And then, still further, this pitying Christ is moved by His pity to bring unasked gifts. No petition, no expectation, not the least trace of faith or hope drew from Him this mighty miracle. It came welling up from His own heart. And therein it is of a piece with all His work. For the divine love of which Christ is the Bearer, the Agent, and the Channel for us men, ‘tarries not for men, nor waiteth for the sons of men,’ but before we ask, delights to bestow itself, and gives that which no man ever sought, even the miracles of the Incarnation and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ our Lord. If heaven had waited until men’s prayers had forced its gates ere it sent forth its greatest gift, it had waited for ever, and all mankind had perished. God’s love flows out of its own expansive and diffusive nature. Its necessity is to impart itself, and its nature and property is to give. A measureless desire to bestow itself, and in itself all good, is the definition of the love of God. And Christ comes ‘to the unthankful and to the evil,’ bringing a gift which none of us have asked, and giving as much of Himself as He can give, undesired, to every heart, that thereby we may be led to desire these better gifts which cannot be bestowed unless we seek them.
So here we have the compassion of the human Christ, which is the divine compassion, drying all tears and giving unasked blessings.
II. Note, secondly, the further revelation of our Lord here as being the life-giving Antagonist of Death.
There is something exceedingly picturesque, and if I might use the word, dramatic, in the meeting of these two processions outside the city gate, the little crowd of mourners hurrying, according to the Eastern fashion, down the hill to the place of tombs, and the other little group toiling up the hill to the city. There Life and Death stand face to face. Jesus Christ puts out His hand, and lays it upon the bier, not to communicate anything, but simply to arrest its progress. Is it not a parable of His work in the world? His great work is to stop the triumphant march of Death-that grim power which broods like a thundercloud over humanity, and sucks up all brightness into its ghastly folds, and silences all song. He comes and says ‘Stop’; and it stands fixed upon the spot. He arrests the march of Death. Not indeed that He touches the mere physical fact. The physical fact is not what men mean by death. It is not what they cower before. What the world shrinks from is the physical fact plus its associations, its dim forebodings, its recoilings from the unknown regions into which the soul goes from out of ‘the warm precincts of the cheerful day,’ and plus the possibilities of retribution, the certainty of judgment. All these Christ sweeps away, so that we may say, ‘He hath abolished Death,’ even though we all have to pass through the mere externals of dying, for the dread of Death is gone for ever, if we trust Him.
And then note, still further, we have Christ here as the Life-giver. ‘Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!’ Christ took various methods of imparting His miraculous power. These methods varied, as it would appear, according to the religious necessities of the subjects or beholders of the miracle. Sometimes He touched, sometimes He employed still more material vehicles, such as the clay with which He moistened the eyes of the blind man, and the spittle with which He touched the ears of the deaf. But all these various methods were but helps to feeble faith, and in the case of all the raisings from the dead it is the voice alone that is employed.
So, then, what is the meaning of that majestic ‘I say unto thee, Arise’? He claims to work by His own power. Unless Jesus Christ wielded divine authority in a fashion in which no mere human representative and messenger of God ever has wielded it, for Him to stand by that bier and utter, ‘I say unto thee, Arise!’ was neither more nor less than blasphemy. And yet the word had force. He assumed to act by His own power, and the event showed that He assumed not too much. ‘The Son quickeneth whom He will.’
Further, He acts by His bare word. So He did on many other occasions-rebuking the fever and it departs, speaking to the wind and it ceases, calling to the dead and they come forth. And who is He, the bare utterance of whose will is supreme, and has power over material things? Let that centurion whose creed is given to us in the earlier portion of this chapter answer the question. ‘I say to my servant, Go! and he goeth; Come! and he cometh; Do this! and he doeth it. Speak Thou, and all the embattled forces of the universe will obey Thine autocratic and sovereign behest,’ they ‘hearken to His commandments, and do the voice of His word.’
Then note, still further, that this voice of Christ’s has power in the regions of the dead. Wherever that young man was, he heard; in whatsoever state or condition he was, his personality felt and obeyed the magnetic force of Christ’s will. The fact that the Lord spake and the boy heard, disposes, if it be true, of much error, and clears away much darkness. Then the separation of body and soul is a separation and not a destruction. Then consciousness is not a function of the brain, as they tell us. Then man lives wholly after he is dead. Then it is possible for the spirit to come out of some dim region, where we know not, in what condition we know not. Only this we know-that, wherever it is, Christ’s will has authority there; and there, too, is obedience to His commandment.
And so let me remind you that this Voice is not only revealing as to Christ’s authority and power, and illuminative as to the condition of the disembodied dead, but it is also prophetic as to the future. It tells us that there is nothing impossible or unnatural in that great assurance. ‘The hour is coming when they that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.’ There shall be for the dead a reunion with a body, which will bring men again into connection with an external universe, and be the precursor of a fuller judgment and an intenser retribution.
Brethren, that Voice that raised one poor bewildered boy to sit up on his bier, and begin to speak-broken exclamations possibly, and stammering words of astonishment-shall be flung, like a trumpet that scatters marvellous sounds, through the sepulchres of the nations and compel all to stand before the throne. You and I will hear it; let us be ready for it.
III. So, lastly, we have here the revelation of our Lord as the Reuniter of parted hearts.
That is a wonderfully beautiful touch, evidently coming from an eye-witness-’He delivered him to his mother.’ That was what it had all been done for. The mighty miracle was wrought that that poor weeping woman might be comforted.
May we not go a step further? May we not say, If Jesus Christ was so mindful of the needs of a sorrowful solitary soul here upon earth, will He be less mindful of the enduring needs of loving hearts yonder in the heavens? If He raised this boy from the dead that his mother’s arms might twine round him again, and his mother’s heart be comforted, will He not in that great Resurrection give back dear ones to empty, outstretched arms, and thereby quiet hungry hearts? It is impossible to suppose that, continuing ourselves, we should be deprived of our loves. These are too deeply engrained and enwrought into the very texture of our being for that to be possible. And it is as impossible that, in the great day and blessed world where all lost treasures are found, hearts that have been sad and solitary here for many a day shall not clasp again the souls of their souls-’and with God be the rest.’
So, though we know very little, surely we may take the comfort of such a thought as this, which should be very blessed and sweet to some of us, and with some assurance of hope may feel that the risen boy at the gate of Nain was not the last lost one whom Christ, with a smile, will deliver to the hearts that mourn for them, and there we ‘shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over-measure for ever.’ ‘And so shall we’-they and I, for that is what we means-’ so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v11 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XLIV. Jesus Raises…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XLIV. Jesus Raises the Widow's Son].
XLIV. JESUS RAISES THE WIDOW'S SON. (At Nain in Galilee.) cLUKE VII. 11-17.
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c11 And it came to pass soon afterwards [many ancient authorities read on the next day], that he went into a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. [We find that Jesus had been thronged with multitudes pretty continuously since the choosing of his twelve apostles. Nain lies on the northern slope of the mountain, which the Crusaders called Little Hermon, between twenty and twenty-five miles south of Capernaum, and about two miles west of Endor. At present it is a small place with about a dozen mud hovels, but still bears its old name, which the Arabs have modified into Nein. It is situated on a bench in the mountain about sixty feet above the plain.] 12 Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, there was carried out one that was dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. [Places of sepulture were outside the towns, that ceremonial pollution must be avoided. To this rule there was an exception. The kings of Judah were buried in the city of David ( 2Ki_16:20, 2Ki_21:18, 2Ki_21:26). The Jews were careful to give public expression to their sympathy for those who were bereaved ( Joh_11:19). The death of an only child represented to them as to us the extreme of sorrow ( Jer_6:26, Zec_12:10, Amo_8:10). But in this case the sorrow was heightened by the fact that the mother was a widow, and hence evidently dependent upon her son for support. Her son had comforted her in her first loss of a husband, but now that her son was dead, there was none left to comfort.] 13 And when the Lord saw her [Some take this use of the phrase "the [275] Lord," as an evidence of the late date at which Luke wrote his Gospel; but the point is not well taken, for John used it even before Jesus ascension-- Joh_21:7], he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. [As the funeral procession came out of the gate, they met Jesus with his company coming in. Hence there were many witnesses to what followed. But the miracle in this instance was not wrought so much attest our Lord's commission, or to show his power, as to do good. As Jesus had no other business in Nain but to do good, we may well believe that he went there for the express purpose of comforting this forlorn mother. Compare Joh_11:1-15. Good blessings may come to us when reason speaks and God's wise judgment answers; but we get our best blessings when our afflictions cry unto him and his compassion replies.] 14 And he came nigh and touched the bier: and the bearers stood still. [The word here translated "bier" may mean a bier or coffin, and the authorities are about equally divided as to which it was. It was more likely a stretcher of boards, with the pallet or bed upon it, and the body of the young man wrapped in linen lying upon the bed. Coffins, which were common in Babylon and Egypt, were rarely used by the Jews, save in the burial of people of distinction; and, if we may trust the writing of the later rabbis, the burial of children. When they were used, the body was placed in them, and borne without any lid to the place of sepulture. We find no coffin in the burial of either Lazarus or Jesus. Jesus was, no doubt, known to many in Nain, and it is no wonder that those who bore the bier stood still when he touched it. Though we can not say that he had raised the dead prior to this, we can say that he had healed every kind of disease known among the people, and therefore his act would beget a reasonable expectancy that he might do something even here.] And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. [Here, as in the other instances where Jesus revived the dead, we find that he issues a personal call to the party whose remains are before him. It suggests the sublime thought that he has as full dominion and [276] authority over the unseen as over the seen; and that should he issue a general call, all the dead would revive again as obediently and immediately as did the single one to whom he now spoke ( Joh_5:28, Joh_5:29). The command of Jesus, moreover, is spoken with the ease and consciousness of authority known only to Divinity. Compare the dependent tone of Simon Peter-- Act_3:6.] 15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. [Thus showing that not only life, but also health and strength, were restored.] And he gave him to his mother. [As the full fruitage of his compassion. The scene suggests that Christ will, with his own hands, restore kindred to kindred in the glorious morning of resurrection.] 16 And fear took hold on all [Because the power of God had been so signally manifested among them. They recognized the presence of God's power and mercy, yet by no means apprehended the nearness of his very person]: and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet is arisen among us: and, God hath visited his people. [Expectation of the return of one of the prophets was at that time widely spread. See Luk_9:8, Luk_9:19. That they should esteem Jesus as no more than a prophet was no wonder, for as yet even his apostles had not confessed him as the Christ. In state and conduct Jesus appeared to them too humble to fulfill the popular ideas of Messiahship. But in wisdom and miracle he outshone all God's former messengers. The "visiting" of God refers to the long absence of the more strikingly miraculous powers of God as exercised through the prophets. None had raised the dead since the days of Elisha.] 17 And this report went forth concerning him in the whole of Judaea, and all the region round about. [This great miracle caused the fame of Jesus to fill all Judæa as well as Galilee. It seems, from what next follows, to have reached John the Baptist in his prison on the east of the Dead Sea.] [277]
[FFG 275-277]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 Raising of the Widow’s Son.
Raising of the Widow’s Son.
The miracle:
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v. 11. And it came to pass the day after that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him and much people.
v. 12. Now, when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and much people of the city was with her.
v. 13. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
v. 14. And He came and touched the bier; and they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
v. 15. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother.
Jesus did not remain in Capernaum after he had healed the centurion’s servant, for the very next day we find Him approaching the little town of Nain, which was located at about an equal distance from Nazareth and Mount Tabor, to the south. Its name, Vale of Beauty, gives some idea of the surroundings, as they were also described by the early church historians. Jesus was accompanied, not only by a large number of His disciples, but also by a great multitude of people. As they came near to the gate of the city, a sad sight met their eyes, a funeral train just leaving the town for the burial-ground outside the gates. This was an exceptionally sad funeral, since the dead man was an only son, and his mother was a widow. Both husband and son taken away by death: her position merited sympathy such as was given her by her fellow-citizens, a great multitude of whom went with her to the grave. "This woman had two misfortunes on her back. First, she is a widow; that is a misfortune enough for a woman that she is desolate and alone, has no one from whom she may expect comfort. And for that reason God is often called in Scriptures a Father of the widows and orphans, as Psa 68:6, and Psa 146:9: The Lord preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow. Secondly, she had only one single son, and he dies before her, though he might have been her comfort. Thus God acts here, takes the husband and the son away; she would much more gladly have lost house and home, yea, her own body than this son and her husband. " "But this is pictured before us that we should learn that before God nothing is impossible, whether it be called damage, adversity, wrath, as severe as it may be. and remember that God sometimes suffers the punishment to go both over the good and the evil, yea, that He even permits the evil people to sit in the garden of roses and lets them suffer no want, but toward the pious He acts as though He is angry with them and cares nothing for them. " Note: There is a great contrast between the procession which is leaving the city, with sad and mournful steps, and that which is about to enter the city, happy because of the Savior in their midst. As Luther says, the Lord here boldly steps in the way of death, as the Mighty One, who has authority and might over him. Also: In Capernaum it is the daughter of Jairus, a mere child, that has barely closed her eyes in death; at Nain it is a young man, in the strength of incipient manhood, whose body is on the way to the place of burial; at Bethany it is a man in his best years that has rested in the grave for four days; surely enough diversity in these miracles of raising the dead.
When Jesus saw the funeral procession and noticed the peculiar sadness of the burial, His heart was moved with the deepest sympathy for the bereaved mother. lie had all the feelings of a true man, and those feelings, which are brought out in our case but imperfectly and unwillingly, He showed without reserve, Heb 4:15. His word to the widow was: "Weep not!" With what an expression of heartfelt compassion Jesus must have spoken the word, and how fully the poor woman realized the cordiality of the greeting and its power, to which she clung! So the Lord often reminds also us, when we are in great sorrow and trouble, of some of the verses and Scripture-passages which we learned in our youth or read at some time, as a form of introduction to the help which He graciously grants us. Jesus then stepped to the frame upon which the dead man lay, He touched the coffin: the hand of Life rapped at the chamber of death. Those who carried the coffin stood at the touch of the Lord’s hand. Then Jesus, as the Lord of life and death, gave a peremptory command: Young man, to thee I say, arise! He speaks to the dead as though he were merely sleeping. At His word the soul is reunited with the body, and death must yield up his prey. And the dead man, who was all ready to be buried, suddenly sat up and began to speak. He was restored to life. And Jesus gave him back to his mother, restored to the widow the one treasure which remained for her in life. She had been "surrounded with great pains and terror that she must have thought that God, heaven, earth, and everything were against her; and because she looks at things according to her flesh, she must conclude that it is impossible for her to be relieved of this fear. But when her son was awakened from death, then no other feeling took hold of her than as though heaven and earth, wood and stones, and everything was happy with her; then she forgot all pain and sorrow; all that went away; just as when a spark of tire is extinguished when it falls in the midst of the sea. " On the last day, when the Lord will return for judgment, He will halt the great funeral procession which is moving forward all over the world, He will bring the dead back to life, He will heal all wounds which death has made, He will reunite all those whom death has separated. Then there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, Rev 21:4. That is the hope of the believers. While they are in this vale of tears, they cling to the hope of the Gospel. And this hope will then be realized and revealed in them.
Luk 7:16-17
The effect of the miracle:
v. 16. And there came a fear on all; and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited His people.
v. 17. And this rumor of Him went forth throughout all Judea and throughout all the region round about.
At this manifestation of almighty power which they had seen with their eyes, a fear and dread of the supernatural fell upon, took hold of, all the people. They felt the presence of God in this Man of Nazareth. But they did not acknowledge Him as the Messiah in spite of the greatness of the miracle. Merely as a great prophet they heralded Him; only as a visitation of God’s grace did they look upon His coming. Their faith and understanding fell far short of that of the centurion of Capernaum. A mere recognition and acceptance of Jesus as a great prophet and social reformer is not sufficient at any time. All men must know Him to be the one and only Savior of the world. Only this knowledge and trust will bring salvation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 16 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus goes to the city of Nain, where he heals a man who had died.
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Nain
the name of a city (See: How to Translate Names)
behold, a man who had died
The word "behold" alerts us to the introduction of the dead man into the story. Your language may have a way of doing this. AT: "there was a dead man who" (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
a man who had died was being carried out
This can be stated in active form. AT: "people were carrying out of the city a man who had died" (See: Active or Passive)
carried out, the only son of his mother (who was a widow), and a rather large crowd
"carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A rather large crowd." This is background information about the dead man and his mother. (See: Background Information)
widow
a woman whose husband has died and who has not remarried
was deeply moved with compassion for her
"felt very sorry for her"
he went up
"he went forward" or "he approached the dead man"
the wooden frame on which they carried the body
This was a stretcher or bed used to move the body to the burial place. It did not have to be something in which the body was buried. Other translations may have the less common "bier" or "funeral couch."
I say to you, arise
Jesus says this to emphasize that the young man needs to obey him. "Listen to me! Arise"
The dead man
The man was not still dead; he was now alive. It may be necessary to state this clearly. AT: "The man who had been dead"
translationWords
Jesus
disciple
gate
lord
compassion
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 12, 13, 16 7:11-17 Jesus raised three people from the dead; the…
7:11-17 Jesus raised three people from the dead; the others were Jairus’s daughter (8:40-56) and Lazarus (John 11:38-44). Jesus has authority over life and death (cp. 1 Kgs 17:17-24; 2 Kgs 4:18-37).
7:11 The location of the village of Nain is uncertain; it might be the modern town of Nein, six miles southeast of Nazareth.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.