Fellow-Redeemed in Christ Jesus,
A sociologist named Zygmund Bauman said once that humans are the only creatures who know they are going to die, and even worse, they know they know it. It is not something they can “unknow.” All they can do is distract themselves, briefly, as you might give a child a sucker as the nurse sticks the needle in for a shot.
We observe the accuracy of Bauman’s observation in the postmodern American approach to death. Funerals with the body present have morphed into “Celebrations of Life” with a dead body nowhere around. Such celebrations are not necessarily wrong but might indicate an out of sight, out of mind approach to death.
The certainty of death and the grief death brings to those who have lost a loved one are not new. The funeral procession Luke relates is essentially the same we see traveling down the road today. Now instead of mourners following others carrying the deceased on a bier, more like a stretcher than a coffin, the hearse with headlights on leads the funeral procession with little flags on the roofs of their cars.
The essential thing we Christians have in our death rituals like the one in our text is the presence of Jesus Christ who conquered death. The “Christian Funeral” we use is a celebration of life. It is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s life for us, and our eternity in heaven through his redemption. Jesus carried out this redemption because his heart went out to us in our sinful and lost condition.
This meeting outside the city walls of Nain in southern Galilee points us to The Compassionate Heart of Jesus. It brings Jesus to us when we need him the most. It is our only comfort and hope in sorrow and death.
It is “soon after” Jesus had healed the Roman Centurion’s servant. Jesus was walking south with a large crowd that included his disciples. Make no mistake. What took place was no chance meeting. The compassionate heart of Jesus took him where others needed him the most. “As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out-the only son of his mother and she was a widow.” In his providential care, Jesus met up with this funeral procession walking to the burial ground outside the city walls.
Could it have been any sadder? This woman had lost her husband. Now she lost her only son, the one who had become the head of the house and her provider. The Bible speaks often about the deep grief of losing an only son. Jeremiah 6:26 reads, “mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son.” God’s Word speaks also of the precarious situation of the widow. The unscrupulous often took advantage of her.
The saddest part was that the young man had died. When Jesus saw death, he experienced that death deep in his own heart. How it hurt Jesus to see the people he had created in holiness for eternal life on earth suffer the wages of their sin and their first parent’s rebellion against him. The greatest need of Jesus’ compassionate heart was at that moment to bring the young man back to life. The result of that compassionate act was that Jesus was able to give the young man back to his mother. Jesus was able to do what the prophet Elijah had done for the widow in Zarephath.
The compassionate heart of Jesus brings Jesus to us when we need him the most. We might not even know when that is but Jesus does. Jesus experiences our deepest needs deeply in his inner being. He comes to us in his divine providence. It is no accident that in my hour of trial, God provides what I need to find release or stand up under that need without it crushing me. Especially is this true in death. We pray in the hymn, In the Hour of Trial, “When my life is ending, Though in grief or pain, When my body changes Back to dust again, On your truth relying, Through that mortal strife, Jesus, take me, dying, To eternal life.” CW 116:4
The Compassionate Heart of Jesus is our only comfort and hope in sorrow and death.
Jesus approached the funeral procession and the litter on which the mourners were carrying the dead man. With the powerful Word of God, Jesus who has the keys of life and death, who has the power and rule over death and the grave by virtue of his own death declared in his resurrection from the dead spoke first gently to the widow. In essence, Jesus told her, “Dry those tears you’ve been shedding.” Then the Son of God and Son of Man commanded the dead man, “Get up.” The Word of God gave new life to him and the reason to stop crying to his mother.
Jesus’ words and action bring about the immediate return to life for this young man. His Word is the power and pledge of our bodily resurrection from death and the grave when Jesus returns on the Last Day. Jesus’ Word and action also had a response from the people who witnessed it, “They were all filled with awe and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said, ‘God has come to help his people.’ This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.”
By the working of the Holy Spirit, people made the connection between Jesus’ action and his person. Other prophets had raised people from the dead but the prophetic office had been silent for four centuries. Now the one like Moses had come from God’s own people. Here was the true prophet, the Messiah, like Elijah but greater. Earlier believers had seen servants of the Lord perform miracles. Now they were excited to see the Son act in his compassion. Soon they would witness his compassion by giving up his life as the all-sufficient sacrifice for them and for the whole world on the cross.
The compassionate heart of Jesus is our only comfort and hope in sorrow and death. Jesus Christ is the Savior who has come to help his people by destroying the last enemy, death through his resurrection on Easter morning. We do not avoid the reality of death. We do not deny death’s cause. We do not look on death as actually being avoidable. Many look at death today as if man has the knowledge and power, or will someday, just to do the right thing at the right time so
] 1` qu’]death will become extinct like smallpox or polio.
The customs and rituals that surround death, even the death of a Christian, are adiaphora. God neither commands nor forbids specific practices. Visitation, a funeral service that centers on Christ with the body there, burial in a coffin in a cemetery. Fine. Cremation and ashes scattered with a memorial service that remembers the dead and celebrates Christ. Fine.
However, the compassionate heart of Jesus is the one essential element. It brings Jesus to us when we need him the most. It is our only comfort and hope in sorrow and death. Amen. <SDG>