The Widow of Nain (1927) oil painting by Harold Copping
Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 5, 2016 – Luke 7:11-17
We meet Jesus on his way from his first base of operations in Capernaum to his hometown. As they pass the outskirts of Nain, just a few miles from Nazareth, Jesus and his friends meet a funeral procession.
Luke gives us some details. The mourners walk with a widow. Her only son has died. This is how Luke frames miracle stories. An important relationship has been broken.
Miracle stories in all four gospels function as theological statements and literary devices. Whether or not they happened exactly as described isn’t the point. Arguing about that is a waste of time. Stick with the story. According to all four gospels, wherever Jesus went, amazing things happened.
Amazing to us, anyway. The original audience of the gospel stories would have expected signs and wonders to accompany Jesus. They wanted to hear what the storytellers made of the miracles.
Stand in the main street of Nain. The crowd you’re part of meets another crowd. It seems everyone in town is in a funeral procession. Hear the official mourners weep and wail. See the men straining under more than the weight of a body.
What will Jesus do? You’ve just heard that Jesus healed a Roman officer’s slave. Without a touch. Just with words. Maybe that’s why you’re following Jesus now. To see what’s next. Can Jesus also raise the dead?
Luke wants us to focus on the relationship. The harsh reality this grieving woman faces. To say she died with her son isn’t an exaggeration. No husband to protect her. Now no son to provide for her. The village that helped her raise her child can only offer her moral support and the occasional scrap of charity. Good people will turn away from her, afraid they’ll catch her bad luck.
Does Jesus know this? As a man of his time, he should. Luke just says Jesus has compassion for the woman. Compassion is one of God’s attributes.
God’s covenant partners can claim it. Jesus says, “Don’t weep.” He doesn’t forbid natural grief. He silences the mourners. Their world stands still.
Jesus says, “Young man, rise!” His mother can live again. He and she can return to their home, and their community.
The people respond with holy fear. They know God is at work among them. They hail Jesus as a great prophet. His presence is proof of God’s favour.
The miracle isn’t the point. It’s simply proof that, through Jesus, God’s reign is breaking out on earth. The coming of the kingdom is what matters.
The kingdom Jesus proclaims and embodies isn’t a world of miracles. It is a realm of reversals. Reversals prophets proclaimed and Jesus fulfilled. Each healing is a turning back of forces that drive us, and the world toward death. Each miracle overturns an order that withholds full life from vulnerable people. Luke and the other gospel writers build their case for Jesus by describing mighty acts that turn the world upside down. But they don’t want us just to see Jesus as a miracle-worker.
No, the kingdom of God isn’t a world of miracles. It’s a realm of reversals in which miracles are possible. Most miracles today come on the instalment plan, piece by piece, through prayer and sweat. Reversals call for both faith and hard work. Neither you nor I can raise the dead. But we can stand for life in the kingdom of death. We can stand with vulnerable people and work with them toward fullness and freedom. We can bring hope that defeats fear. Light that overcomes darkness. We know gospel truth.
You and I also have more worldly power and influence, and more wealth than we would ever admit. Will we use them to turn the world for good?
