The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.
Pentecost 3, (Proper 5) Year C
Luke 7:11-17
There are some things that never change in our world. We hear the words “a funeral procession was coming out…” That is the last chapter in the short history of every human’s life on this earth. Everyone regardless of wealth or social standing, will eventually make their way out to the cemetery. This is true of the past, in the present, and it will be true in the future too.
In this case it is particularly sad because it is the son of a widow who is being buried. The widow has been on this journey before when the people of her village had joined her in her sorrow at the death of her husband. When she lost her husband she knew life would be harsh for her until her son was old enough to be able to work and provide food and the necessities of life. A widow in those times struggled to survive on her own. There was no pension or any of the government help we have available in such difficult times. So a widow depended on her sons. Now she has lost her only son too. We read, “When the Lord saw her, his heart was filled with pity for her.”
What can one say to a widow who has lost the last member of her family? We all struggle to find the right words to say when we go to a funeral in a tragic case, like the death of a child, or teenagers killed in a car accident. The most important statement we make can often be to attend the funeral and be with the immediate family. Our mere presence can say more than any words we might struggle to find.
It is also a time for weeping. It doesn’t seem fair – a son taken so suddenly. When we first hear the news we find it difficult to accept that it can be true. It can take a long time for the bad news to sink in. We need to weep and cry at times like this. One of the cruellest words we could say to a grieving widow who has lost her son is, “Don’t cry!” If you or I said that it would be cruel and hurtful.
But Jesus says to the widow, “Don’t cry!” Coming from Jesus, that statement is completely different. He is not like us. This is clear by what he does next:
Then he walked over and touched the coffin, and the men carrying it stopped. Jesus said, “Young man! Get up, I tell you!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Jesus is different from us because he can take a dead son, and give him back to his mother, alive. Where we are so completely helpless, Jesus is so strong. When all the doctors and specialists give up because death has won the battle, and no one in the whole world can do any more, then it is that Jesus comes with the resurrection: his own resurrection.
Jesus left a widow behind too when he died. And God gave her back her son in the resurrection, for a little while.
But more than that: God gave him back to you and me so we would not be left helpless and hopeless when death calls on us. There is somebody who gives us hope for the future. Someone who isn’t helpless like us when death calls and takes another person from our family. We still weep. We need to. We still stand at the grave of a loved one and wonder how we will manage in the future. The parting is so difficult for us it can feel as though a dark cloud has descended and we can’t see even an arm’s length into the future. It is as though we have no future.
Jesus knows the future. He goes ahead through the judgment of God. He goes ahead through death. Jesus is always out in front. Jesus goes out ahead because he knows there is life on the other side of the bottomless valley we call death. Jesus calls it ‘home’. It is to experience perfect love, and peace and rest. It is so different from life in this world we don’t have human words to adequately describe the new life on the other side.
Today we thank the Spirit of God for bringing Jesus to us in the Scriptures. The living Jesus who feels for people who have lost a loved one, who knows what lies ahead of us. He has been there and comes to take us through to his own home.
We don’t need to hear a lot of words today. We have Jesus with us. We don’t need to know lots of words to say: the 3 words of victory say it all, “He is Risen!”
At the graveside, when we humans feel utterly helpless, it is good to remember the words of Hymn 103:
“I know that my Redeemer lives –
what comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my everliving head.
He lives, and grants me daily breath;
he lives, and I shall conquer death;
he lives, my mansion to prepare;
he lives, to lead me safely there.
He lives, all glory to his name;
he lives, my Saviour, still the same;
O the sweet joy this sentence gives,
I know that my redeemer lives!”
And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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