Jesus Comes Into Our Midst to Give Us Life :: Luke 7:11-17

I had us sing Abide With Me (LSB 878) as the hymn of the day before the sermon today (instead of after it) because ... death ... coming into the midst of our lives ... is what we see today. And oh, how we need to see our Lord coming to us, to serve us, always in every way. 

Luke writes: And it came to pass soon afterward, [Jesus] journeyed into a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd were journeying with him. As he drew near to the gate of the city ... behold, the only son born to his mother had died and was being carried out. And she was a widow and a great crowd was with her (vv 11-12). 

Please now turn to page 324 of your (Lutheran Service Book) and join me in confessing our faithful doctrine on the seventh petition of the Lord’s Prayer. 

What is the seventh petition? But deliver us from evil.

What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven (SC III 8).

1.

There is nothing darker than death. Death is a special kind of evil. There is nothing that causes more grief. There is nothing that is more difficult to accept. Death surrounds us every day. Noone can deny its reality. It steals our loved ones. It reminds us of our sin. And we don’t like that. It’s uncomfortable, and it takes our breath away. Death is a special kind of evil. 

Martin Luther wrote about death a lot. We have 24 hymns in our service book by Luther (27 if you add three that have slightly different translations and tunes.) One of the more poignant is No. 755, “In the Very Midst of Life”. 

In the very midst of life / Snares of death surround us / Who shall help us in the strife /
Lest the foe confound us? // In the midst of death’s dark vale / Pow’rs of hell o’ertake us /
Who will help when they assail / Who secure will make us? // In the midst of utter woe /
When our sins oppress us / Where shall we for refuge go / Where for grace to bless us?

We try to ease the pain death causes by calling death something else. We say someone passed away, slipped away, went to a better place. We say they bought the farm and are resting in peace and standing at the pearly gates. We tell ourselves they were called home and entered eternal rest. But death is still a special kind of evil.

So thanks be to God, today we see Jesus coming to a town called Nain. 

IN THE MIDST OF GRIEF AND DEATH, GOD COMES WITH THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN TO VISIT HIS PEOPLE, BRINGING LIFE AND SALVATION

This is our theme for this Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. 

Luther said that if you look at this matter in the right light, “death is the (aspect of life) in which the entire world moves.” ... “Until Judgment Day,” he goes on, “life is a constant and daily journey toward death. One after another dies, and the living must engage in the miserable business of carrying one another through” this valley of sorrows.

It’s a terrible thought. But it’s so true. This is the scene before us today. 

As he drew near to the gate of the city ... behold ... there came a crowd of mourners. 

You might try to argue that the devil is more evil than death. But the devil didn’t kill us. We are the ones who bring death into the world. We are the ones who bear it. Death is the result of our sin. We kill ourselves with our own sin. We kill ourselves with the strife we create. We continue to bring death into the world. We kill ourselves. 

The devil will pay his price for his fall into sin, and he will continue to tempt us. But we are guilty of every evil of body and soul. We despise the Sabbath. We dishonor father and mother. We hate. We cheat. We steal. We gossip. ... Stop gossiping. ... We covet. We say my way is the better way ... My way is the only way ... My way is the right way. 

And it’s all evil. It’s evil because it is opposed to God. It is opposed to his way ... and his life. It pushes him away, and it ends in death. Evil is everything and anything that opposes God. Evil is whatever separates us from God. Death is a special kind of evil.

God says don’t ... so we do. And we die. God says do ... so we say later, if at all. And we die. God provides us with continual care, and we stand in his way ... we turn him away ... we tell him that we don’t need him. And then we say it’s someone else’s fault. 

2.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, repent every one of you in the name of Jesus! 

That is, mourn your sin. It is killing you. And then believe the Gospel. It is saving you! 

Though your sin separates you from God and pushes you away from God ... today, because of Jesus, you can now hear and see the Gospel: He comes into the very midst of our lives, with the company of heaven. He touches death and overcomes it. He enables you to begin to speak the Gospel. He opens your eyes so that you can see your death on his cross. He opens your eyes so that you can see the empty tomb and your new life arising from it. God is visiting his people. 

Have faith in all that he has said and done and is doing and will do. 

Have faith that it is he who comes to visit his people, bringing comfort to those who mourn. 

When the Lord saw [the widow of Nain], he had compassion upon her and said to her, Weep no more. And coming forward, he touched the bier, and said, Young man, I say to you, be raised (vv 13-14). Our Lord sees the widow’s grief ... he sees her isolation ... he sees her loneliness ... he sees her sorrow ... and he is moved to do something about it ... he creates new life with a word: Be raised. He sees how our sin is destroying our lives. He sees death surrounding us. And so Jesus comes into our midst with a word, Be raised. Thanks be to God!

As Luther taught us to sing: 

Thy precious blood was shed to win / Full atonement for our sin. /
Holy and righteous God! / Holy and mighty God! / Holy and all merciful Savior! / Eternal Lord God! Lord, preserve and keep us / In the peace that faith can give. Have mercy, O Lord! 

3.

And so he does. Jesus is the God of compassion. Today he shows us the compassion of the Good Samaritan. He shows the compassion of the Father of the Prodigal and Older Sons. Jesus has compassion for those weighed down by sin. He comes with a healing touch and healing word. He shows us that the Kingdom of God is one of grace, that is ... forgiveness on account of what God in the Flesh is doing for us in our midst. Jesus comes ... and with his gentle touch, he takes away our sin, cleansing and healing. He brings purity to the unclean situation. He raises us into the newness of life, though we were once dead in our sins and trespasses.

And now you too can glorify God. 

Do you not know? In baptism, Jesus said to you, be raised! And as the Psalmist proclaimed, Jesus turns our mourning into dancing ... loosening our sackcloth and clothing us with gladness (Ps 30:11). Then the dead son sat up and began to speak, and [Jesus] gave him to his mother, and fear seized them all (v 15-16a). 

Don’t misunderstand that fear that overcame the crowd. This isn’t the fear and trembling that comes with death. ... This is the reverential fear and awe that comes upon us when we recognize that we have newness of life in Christ ... that Jesus is in fact God in the Flesh ... in the very midst of life ... bringing us salvation. As Luke declares, then they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people. And this word went out in the whole of Judea concerning [Jesus] and all the surrounding region (vv 16b-17). 

4.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, your Lord Jesus has not stopped visiting his people. He is always with us. He has defeated your death. He comes in his Divine Service to you with the company of heaven to raise the dead. He comes into his Divine Service to you with the company of heaven to feed and nourish your life-giving faith. And when he comes, we are enabled to recognize him as the Lord of Life who overcomes our sin and death and delivers the gifts of God to each of us. Our sinless Lord has taken all of your sin onto his sinless body. God nailed your sin to the cross of death. God suffered and died for you to ensure your sin died with him. Jesus ... whose heart felt the pain of the grieving widow ... bore all of the pain of death for your sin. 

But because he is holy and righteous, God raised Jesus from the dead so that like the widow’s son, you too will have the hope to walk in the newness of life through the resurrection with the robes of righteousness into the unending feast of forgiveness, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. With a word, he gives new life to those who mourn so they can celebrate with him. Be raised, he says in baptism. Arise, he says in the supper. Life and salvation are yours.

Through these means, our Father in heaven rescues us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation. Then when our last hour comes, he will give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven ... in his name! 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power working in us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, into all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Eph 3:20-21).