“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.” (Luke 7:16).
The news about Jesus
spread faster than He could travel. “Soon
afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large
crowd went along with him” (Luke 7:11). The event in Nain occurs soon after
the Sermon on the Mount (the lecture on the level plain).
This case is unique in
the sense that no one pleads for help; no person approaches Jesus asking for
His healing; no one intervenes on behalf of the needy (dead) young man.
In this case Jesus takes
the initiative…not to bring proof of His claims…not to make a point…but
because “…His heart went out to…”
the distressed widow (v.13).
This case is unique in
the sense that the person who was to benefit from Jesus’ help was in a very
serious condition: couldn’t hear; couldn’t see; couldn’t move at all…actually
he was dead…on his way to a resting place.
His death caused a lot
of distress…due to his young age. He went ahead of his time (time as in
“human expectations”). We take it for granted that people need to live long and
die when old. Being the only child of his mother…a widow…added to her
grief.
“Don’t cry!” I believe that God
hates tears…He has an aversion to tears…He is allergic to tears. We don’t
find Jesus crying…very often. Two cases are worth mentioning: at the tomb of
Lazarus (John 11:23) and watching Jerusalem in the distance, seeing not a beautiful
city, but a people who were in the process of rejecting His loving sacrifice (Luke
19:41).
Jesus weeps today,
still.
But for us…let us be reminded that in God’s fully established kingdom, there will be no tears…there will be no death. Don’t cry! God has come.