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.
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Luke 7:13-15 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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And when the lorde sawe her he had compassion on her and sayde vnto her: wepe not.
And he went and touched the coffyn and they that bare him stode still. And he sayde: Yonge man I saye vnto the aryse.
And the deed sate vp and beganne to speake. And he delyvered him to his mother.
Show all 3 translations
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And when the Lord sawe her, he had compassion on her, and said vnto her, Weepe not.
And he went and touched the coffin (and they that bare him, stoode still) and he said, Yong man, I say vnto thee, Arise.
And he that was dead, sate vp, and began to speake, and he deliuered him to his mother.
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Cross-references (42)
- Psalms 103:13 (v13) Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
- Isaiah 63:9 (v13) In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore…
- Lamentations 3:32-33 (v13) For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. For he does not afflict…
- Hebrews 4:15 (v13) For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like…
- Psalms 86:15 (v13) But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
Show all 42 cross-references
- Jeremiah 31:20 (v13) Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart…
- Luke 8:52 (v13) All were weeping and mourning her, but he said, “Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but sleeping.”
- John 5:25 (v14) Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
- John 11:43-44 (v14) When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and…
- Psalms 86:5 (v13) For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
- Acts 9:40-41 (v14) Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw…
- John 11:25 (v14) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- John 11:33-35 (v13) When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, “Where…
- Hebrews 2:17 (v13) Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things…
- Judges 10:16 (v13) They put away the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
- 1 Kings 17:21 (v14) He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him…
- Jeremiah 31:15-16 (v13) Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for…
- Luke 8:54-55 (v14) But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he called, saying, “Child, arise!” Her spirit returned, and she rose up…
- John 5:28-29 (v14) Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done…
- John 20:15 (v13) Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you…
- 2 Kings 13:21 (v15) As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched…
- Mark 8:2 (v13) “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.
- Luke 17:5 (v13) The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
- Luke 24:34 (v13) saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
- John 5:21 (v14) For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
- John 11:2 (v13) It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
- Romans 4:17 (v14) As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the…
- 1 Kings 17:23-24 (v15) Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your…
- 2 Kings 4:32-37 (v15) When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door on them…
- Job 14:12 (v14) so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
- Job 14:14 (v14) If a man dies, will he live again? I would wait all the days of my warfare, until my release should come.
- Psalms 33:9 (v14) For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Isaiah 26:19 (v14) Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the…
- Ezekiel 37:3-10 (v14) He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones,…
- Luke 7:19 (v13) John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”
- Luke 10:1 (v13) Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he…
- Luke 13:15 (v13) Therefore the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead…
- John 20:13 (v13) They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have…
- 1 Corinthians 7:30 (v13) and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they…
- Luke 22:61 (v13) The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how he said to him, “Before the rooster crows you will deny me…
- Ephesians 5:12 (v14) For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (v13) But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–15 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had…
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Ver. 13. He had compassion on her] Of his own free accord, and unrequested, he raised him. Christ had a most tender heart. How shall he not pity and provide for his praying people?
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–15 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion…
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her,.... Knowing her case, that she was a widow, and had lost her only son:
and said unto her, weep not; signifying, that he would help her, which he did without being asked to do it, as usual in other cases.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v13 Luk 7:13-15. When the Lord saw her, he had…
Luk 7:13-15. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, &c. — Jesus, whose tenderness made him susceptible of the strongest impressions from occurrences of this kind, knowing that the mother’s affliction was bitter, and the occasion of it real, was greatly moved with compassion at the sorrowful scene. Here was no 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, and said unto her, Weep not. Observe, reader, Christ has a concern for mourners, for the miserable, and often prevents them with the blessings 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 doth this give us of the compassion of the Lord Jesus, and the multitude of his tender mercies, which may be very encouraging 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, 1Th 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 calmed by the consideration of Christ’s compassion. And he came and touched the bier — Which he could do without contracting pollution. The people of the East bury their dead without coffins, but they carry them to the grave on a bier that is shaped like one. By touching this, Jesus intimated to the bearers that they should not proceed. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise — And no sooner had he uttered this command than he that was dead sat up — Without any human help, having received life from Jesus, which was thus evinced, as it was also by his beginning to speak. Thus, when Christ communicates spiritual life to a person who had been dead in trespasses and sins, he instantly arises out of the state of insensibility, darkness, and death, in which he had lain, and his lips are opened in prayer and praise. And he delivered him to his mother — Christ did not oblige this young man, to whom he had given a new life, to go along and continue with him, as his disciple to minister to him, though he owed him much, even his own self; much less as a trophy of his dominion over death, to get honour by him; but presented him to his mother, to attend her, as became a dutiful son, showing hereby, that it was in compassion of her affliction he had wrought the life-giving miracle. Indeed, all 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. And as this miracle was an illustrious display of our Lord’s compassion for a person in distress, so it was a striking confirmation of his divine mission; this youth being raised from the dead near the gate of the city, a place of public resort, and in the presence of many witnesses, particularly the multitude which came with Jesus, the people who accompanied the corpse, and all who happened in that instant to be in or passing through the gate upon business.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v14 Here Christ shews that he raised the dead by…
Here Christ shews that he raised the dead by his own power, and at his own command: I say to thee, arise. This shews that it is the voice of God that speaks; for the dead can hear the voice of him alone, according to St. John. Amen, I say to you, the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they who hear shall live. (St. John v. 25.) (Maldonatus) --- Our Saviour is not like Elias, weeping for the son of the widow of Sarepta; nor Eliseus, who applied his own body to the body of the dead child; nor Peter, who prayed for Tabitha: but he it is that calls the things that are not, as those that are; who speaks to the dead as to the living. (Titus Bostrensis)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13–14 the Lord--"This sublime appellation is more usual with Luke…
the Lord--"This sublime appellation is more usual with Luke and John than Matthew; Mark holds the mean" [BENGEL].
saw her, he had compassion, &c.--What consolation to thousands of the bereaved has this single verse carried from age to age!
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 vv13–15 13. Compassion on her—”Here was no solicitor,” says Bishop…
13. Compassion on her—”Here was no solicitor,” says Bishop Hall, “but his own compassion. The centurion came to him for a servant, the ruler for a son, Jairus for a daughter, the neighbours for a paralytic; here he seeks up the patient, and offers the cure unrequested. While we have to do with the Father of mercies, our afflictions are the most powerful suitors.” Compassion for her is the suggesting motive, but doubtless other reasons favoured the result. There was a temper of faith and tenderness in both his followers and the funeral assembly, that stood in perfect contrast to the faithlessness of the Nazarenes, from whose hands he had so lately walked forth, rejected and rejecting.
Weep not—The large attendance came to weep with her; this stranger met them to arrest her tears. They came to deposit her son in the tomb; he came to give him back to life. Like John, in Rev_5:5, she was bidden to weep not, because the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed to unseal the enclosures of death.
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 vv13–14 13. when the Lord saw her] “The Lord” is…
13. when the Lord saw her] “The Lord” is far more frequent as a title of Jesus in St Luke (Luk_7:31, Luk_10:1, Luk_11:1, Luk_12:42, Luk_17:5-6, Luk_19:8, Luk_22:61) than in the other Evangelists except St John. The fact is a sign of the spread of Christian faith. Even though St Luke’s Gospel may not have been published more than a year or two after St Matthew’s, yet St Luke belongs so to speak to a later generation of disciples.
he had compassion on her] Jesus, who was always touched by the sight of human agony (Mar_7:34; Mar_8:12), seems to have felt a peculiar compassion for the anguish of bereavement (Joh_11:33-37). The fact that this youth was “the only son of his mother and she a widow” would convey to Jewish notions a deeper sorrow than it even does to ours, for they regarded childlessness as a special calamity, and the loss of offspring as a direct punishment for sin (Jer_6:26; Zec_12:10; Amo_8:10).
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weep not] Rather, Be not weeping, i.e. ‘dry thy tears.’
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 vv13–15 (13) And when the Lord saw her.—The words are…
(13) And when the Lord saw her.—The words are noticeable as being one of the comparatively few instances in which the term “the Lord” is used absolutely instead of Jesus. As far as it goes it confirms the view suggested in the previous Note, that the narrative came from those who had a profound reverence for the Master they had followed, and at a time when they had learnt thus to speak of Him. (Comp. the language of Mary Magdalene in Joh_20:2; Joh_20:13.) It may be noted further that this use of “the Lord” occurs more frequently in St. Luke and St. John than in the other Gospels. Comp. Luk_7:31; Luk_10:1; Luk_11:39; Luk_12:42; Luk_17:5-6; Luk_19:8; Luk_22:61; Joh_4:1; Joh_6:23; Joh_20:18; Joh_20:20; Joh_20:25; Joh_21:7; Joh_21:12. The last three or four references show that the disciples habitually used the same mode of speech, but it would not follow that in their lips it necessarily meant more at first than our “Sir,” or “Master.” After the Resurrection, doubtless, it rose to its higher meaning, as in the exclamations of St. Thomas (Joh_20:28; comp. Joh_20:25), and of St. John (Joh_21:7).
He had compassion.—Note, in this instance, as in so many others (e.g., Mat_20:34; Mar_1:41), how our Lord’s works of wonder spring not from a distinct purpose to offer credentials of His mission, but from the outflow of His infinite sympathy with human suffering.
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 vv13–14 And when the Lord saw her. It is rare…
And when the Lord saw her. It is rare in the Gospels to find the expression, "the Lord," used by itself, "Jesus" being the usual term. It agrees with the unanimous tradition in the Church respecting the authorship of this Gospel neither Luke nor Paul had been with Jesus. These had always looked on Jesus, thought of him, as the Lord risen from the dead, enthroned in heaven. At the period when St. Luke wrote, not earlier than A.D. 60, this title had probably become the usual term by which the Redeemer was known among his own. He had compassion on her. In this instance, as in so many others, our Lord"s miracles were worked, not from a distinct purpose to offer credentials of his mission, but proceeded rather from his intense compassion with and his Divine pity for human sufferings.
Vers. 13-16. Christ visiting and abiding.
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We cannot wonder that the people exclaimed as they did, "God hath visited his people," when they witnessed such a miracle as this. It was clear enough that One from the heavenly world was with them, manifesting Divine power and pity. We have here
I A TOUCHING PICTURE OF THE EXTREMES OF HUMAN JOY AND SORROW. The great darkness of death had overshadowed a human home; death had come to a young man, one who had passed through the perils of early life, and had qualified himself for the larger duties and weightier obligations of manhood; one, therefore, to whom life was peculiarly dear and precious. This young man was an only son, in whom all his mother"s love had centred, on whom she leaned as her one support; and she was a widow, most needing the solace of affection, least able to dispense with the prop that was left her. A supreme sorrow was hers. Then came a sudden revulsion of feeling. Just at the very hour when grief was at its very depth, as the young man was being carried to his grave, he is restored to her. The inanimate form is quickened to a new life; there is "a light upon the brows" which is not "the daylight only," but the light of consciousness; the stilled tongue speaks again; the pallor of death gives place to the hue of health. Her son is hers again; her home is home again; she takes back her life with his. A more complete rebound from uttermost sorrow to intensest peace and joy can never have been known.
II CHRIST"S CROWNING ACT OF AUTHENTICATION. When our Lord sent back his reply to John we are not surprised that he mentions, as the crowning instance of his power, that "the dead are raised" (ver. 22). Much as it was to give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and activity to the lame, much as it was to cleanse the lepers of their foul and terrible disease, it was very much more to restore the dead to life. That was the supreme and sovereign act, proving that Jesus did come forth from God, and was what he claimed to be. That was a power beyond all the skill of human science, beyond all the arts of necromancy; it bespoke the near presence of the Divine. Surely God was visiting his people.
III A PROPHECY OF THE PRESENT AND THE LASTING MISSION OF THE DIVINE RESTORER. What Jesus Christ visited this world to do for the bodies of men he now lives and reigns to do for their souls to restore them to newness of life. He is with us always, here on earth, "not to sojourn, but to abide" with us, exercising a far more glorious power than that he put forth at the gates of the city of Nain. That young man had another lease of life; to the days that he had spent on earth there were added a certain number more. Then he sickened again, and died; and death and the grave claimed their own. But when Jesus Christ, our Divine Saviour, now confers spiritual life, he awakens us to an existence
(1) which is far higher than the mortal life we are living here, and
(2) which is not limited by a few years. The great work of restoration which the risen Saviour is now accomplishing is that of which his work below was but the preparation and the promise.
1. The death to which this man succumbed was the type of the spiritual death which is the sad consequence of sin.
2. To those thus lost to God and man he speaks with sovereign voice, "Arise!" he bids them realize their guilt and danger; he summons them to repentance; he invites them to a whole-hearted trust in himself, the Almighty Saviour; he bids them walk thenceforth in the way of his commandments.
3. He restores them to their friends as those who, under his gracious hand, will be henceforth what they have never been before.
4. He calls forth deepest gratitude and reverence from all that witness the exercise of his power and grace. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv13–15 13. Had compassion. Sorrow or need always touched his…
13. Had compassion. Sorrow or need always touched his loving heart. Weep not. How often he has dried up the fountains of sorrow!
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.
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 7:13-14 The word translated coffin may refer to a…
7:13-14 The word translated coffin may refer to a casket or a funeral bier. A Jew was rendered unclean by touching a dead body or the coffin or bier (Lev 21:1, 11-12). As when he touched the man with leprosy (Luke 5:13), however, Jesus was not defiled. He replaced disease and death with cleansing and life.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.