He Had Compassion on Her

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Luke 7:11-17

“Now when He drew near to the gate of the city, behold, there was carried out one that was dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, ‘Weep not.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Almighty and Everlasting God, the Consolation of the sorrowful and the Strength of the weak, may the prayers of them that in any tribulation or distress cry unto Thee graciously come before Thee, so that in all their necessities they may mark and receive Thy manifold help and comfort; through + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends in Christ, at the city gates of Nain two crowds meet. One is joyful. They are with the Lord + Jesus. He has healed their sick, cured the lepers, given hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, and has helped the lame to walk again. He has had compassion on the people of Israel in many ways. He had in fact just healed the servant of a Roman centurion, who expressed that he was unworthy to come to the Lord or for the Lord to come to his house. He confessed with great faith that the Lord + Jesus only needed to speak the word, and his servant would be healed. Our Lord confessed that He had not seen such great faith even in all of Israel. This crowd with our Lord + Jesus is joyful and happy, because they believe that He is the Messiah, the promised Anointed One of the Lord God, Who would come to redeem the people of Israel. Indeed, our Lord + Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to do that very thing. He is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die to atone for the sins of the whole world. He will have compassion on the whole world, by offering up His life as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. So that all those who believe on Him might have everlasting life.

This crowd is joyful because they are unaware that the Lord + Jesus must suffer and die in Jerusalem, where He is headed. This joyful crowd meets another crowd at the gates of the city of Nain. This crowd is the opposite of the crowd with our Lord. Whereas they were joyful being with the Lord, this crowd is in mourning as they bear the body of a young man, who was the only-begotten son of his mother. She is doubly sorrowful, for she has not only lost her only-begotten son to death, but she had also already lost her husband to death. For, St. Luke the Evangelist tells us that she was a widow. Indeed, this is what she is known as to us: the widow of Nain. The crowd with the widow of Nain weeps with her. They mourn with her. They can mourn with her, because we who live in this sinful world, have all felt the sting of death. We have all lost someone close to us, grandparents, fathers, husbands, wives, mothers, daughters, and sons.

The consequences of sin in this world is the sting of death. When our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned in the Garden of Eden, they cursed all of their children to death. The devil deceived our first parents to give up life for death. All for the sweet savor of a fruit from a forbidden tree. Therefore, we are cursed to mourn in this life whenever someone we love succumbs to the consequences of sin. We are left to mourn when death claims the one in whose bondage he has bound. Death had claimed the husband of the widow of Nain previously, and now he has claimed the only-begotten son of the widow of Nain, too. So, she is surrounded by the people of the city of Nain as they carry her only-begotten son to the sepulcher to bury him.

This mourning crowd of the people of the city of Nain who surround the widow of Nain and her dead son, meets the joyful crowd who surround the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, Who is the Author and Perfector of life. Our Lord meets this woman and has compassion on her. Just like He has had compassion on countless others before. However, there is a difference. He has healed many blind, and lame, and deaf, and sick, and lepers. But He has raised very few people from the dead. In all our Lord + Jesus raised only three people (besides Himself). He raised Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus. We are unsure where this resurrection of the widow’s son takes place in correlation to the others, but it is quite possibly the first, because we know that Lazarus was raised just prior to our Lord’s passion.

As our Lord heads to Jerusalem to defeat death and the grave, He begins to show His power over not just the sick and lame, but He shows His power over death. He begins to show that He is the Author of life. It is for this reason that He alone can truly say to this woman, “Weep not.” For He is the only One Who can restore her son to her. He is the only One Who can raise her son from the dead. 

We often say to those who mourn the death of their loved one, to “weep not.” We can share with them the promise of eternal life. This is especially true of those who have died in the faith. Those who die clinging in faith to the Lord + Jesus can truly bring us comfort and peace. We can dry our tears at this great promise of eternal life with our Lord + Jesus. We can take comfort knowing that we will see our dearly departed one in heaven. Their soul rests in the loving and compassionate arms of our Lord + Jesus. We will also join them there if we also remain faithful unto death. Then, on the Last Day, our Lord God and Savior will give to us new and glorious bodies with which we will praise our Lord God for all of eternity with all of the saints and angels of heaven.

This is because we place our faith in the One Who is the Author of life. We place our faith in the One Who has had compassion on us by coming down from heaven to take upon Himself our flesh. He is the Only-begotten of His heavenly Father. He has come to bring life everlasting to all those who believe on Him. The Only-begotten of the Father meets the widow of Nain when the two crowds they are in meet. The Only-begotten of the heavenly Father sees the only-begotten son of the widow of Nain, and He has compassion on her. The gates of death have enclosed her son. He was bound in the chains of sin and death, having been a seed of Adam and Eve, just like we are. But at the gates of the city of Nain, our Lord + Jesus burst open the bonds of death that held this young man, the only son of his mother. He opens the gates of death that held him, and gave him back to his mother.

And St. Luke records an amazing thing for us. This young man does not just wake up groggy and half alive like it is when people are resuscitated by natural means. No, my dear friends, this young man, the only-begotten of his mother, sat up and began to speak. He was fully alive, and fully had all of his capabilities. He was no longer dead, but alive. 

This presents to us a picture of our own resurrection from the dead. Every resurrection that our Lord + Jesus performed is a picture of our own resurrection from the dead. He has power over death to raise not only us, but all those who we love who have departed in faith towards Him. Indeed, my dear friends, our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed Messiah of the heavenly Father, His Only-begotten Son shows that He has power over death by offering up His life as a ransom for our lives upon the tree of the holy cross. He suffers and dies in our place. He dies to atone for our sins. The sins which were inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. He Who knew no sin, became a curse for us. He took upon Himself the curse of our sins, and suffered and died in our place. Then on the third day, He showed His power over death and the grave by raising Himself from the dead. He burst open the gates of death and the grave. The stone was rolled away, and He came forth from death and the grave alive again.

This is why we are now in a new crowd, the crowd of the holy Christian Church. In this crowd we who mourn over of sins daily, who mourn over those dearly departed ones who have succumbed to the wages of sin—to death—take joy and comfort in our Lord + Jesus. For He has defeated death and the grave. He has had compassion upon us, just as He had compassion for this poor widow of Nain whose only-begotten son had died. Here in this place, we rejoice with the people of Nain that our Lord has raised him up from the dead. For this young man is a picture of our own resurrection from the dead. He is a picture of the resurrection for all those who fall asleep in the faith of our Lord + Jesus. 

Therefore, my dear friends, let us also take comfort when we feel the sting of death; when we come face to face with the consequences of our sinfulness. For He Who knew no sin has had compassion on us by taking upon Himself our flesh, and offering up His life as a ransom for ours so that He might defeat death and the grave, and win for us and all mankind the atonement of all our sins. Let us cling to Him in faith, for by faith we are justified with our heavenly Father. By faith we are granted the promise of everlasting life. Through faith we will see our dearly departed ones who also remained faithful unto death and received the crown of everlasting life. This promise gives comfort and joy to we who still mourn in this life. Let us cling in faith to our Lord + Jesus, so that our joy may be made complete, and that we may obtain an everlasting life with Him and all the saints and angels of heaven. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!