Readings 3Rd After Pentecost No. 97, June 21, 1998, Trinity

Sermon by Pastor Robert Green, read by Ralph Buehler, Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 13, 2010, Yr. 3C, No. 820, Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, PA, W.E.L.S., based on Luke 7:11-17 (NIV) How would you deal with the death of a loved one murdered in a terrorist attack? While such possibilities here in America were once very remote, now it seems we are constantly being warned it could happen once again. The treat of a terrorist attack is even more likely in other parts of the world, especially in Israel. Shmuel Greenbaum has sought comfort in response to the tragic murder of his wife Shoshana, one of over 100 victims that were killed or injured on August 9, 2001 at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem by a suicide bomber, by encouraging others to do acts of kindnesses. He says, “After my wife’s violent murder, I began a project to teach people how to be kinder,” which is to send out a by email the “Daily Dose of Kindness." Shmuel explains why he did this saying, “an article in the New York Times about how medical researches have found that acts of kindness stimulate the brain in the same place that physical pleasures do… you can feel the thrill of an international sports victory every day if you visualize 100,000 people applauding for you and cheering you on when you do an act of kindness. Studies have shown that our hormonal system has actual biochemical responses even though the victory is totally a figment of our imagination. Shortly after my wife’s death, I prayed with great intensity to G-d to help me to make the world better. From the feedback I am getting from my kindness projects, it is clear that my prayers are being answered and that I am helping to make the world a little kinder – one person at a time. This feeling of Divine assistance combined with the biochemical responses to my imagined victory has given me tremendous emotional strength.” You don’t have to be a Jew in Jerusalem losing a wife to a suicide bomber to have personal tragedy. Though it is sad to say, there will be times of sorrow for each one of us, this side of heaven. Terror attacks, death, sickness, financial problems and the cruel events of this life can affect each one of us. In such times, God wants you to know that in the darkest hour of sorrow; Jesus offers real comfort; the comfort of victory over sin and death! Hear the words of Luke 7:11-17, “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out -- the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." 14 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 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." 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.” (NIV) In the darkest hour of sorrow I. Jesus offers real comfort; These verses follow last week’s reading about Jesus healing the servant of the centurion, a foreigner. Soon after healing the servant of the centurion, Jesus went on his way and came to a little town called Nain. We are told that “As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out -- the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." The picture of Jesus’ heart going out to the women captures the picture of one’s emotions being moved to the extreme, as if the seat of emotions has so powerfully been touched that deepest part of one’s being reaches out to another. With that deep compassion, Jesus said, “Don’t cry.” But why shouldn’t this woman have cried. After all, she had already lost her husband and now she had lost her only son. This was not only an emotional lost; it was also the lost of her only means of support in her old age. If you had lost your spouse and now your only son, upon whom you were financially depended, wouldn’t you cry your heart out? Jesus never tells her why she should stop crying. He did not offer meaningless platitudes to the woman; rather he gave her reason to stop crying by powerfully taking away the cause of her sorrow, the death of her son. Jesus then “went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The Greek word for coffin used here does not mean a box like we use, but it more like a stretcher that the body was laid upon as it was carried to the tomb. Note that Jesus was emphatic in saying “I say to you” words that were not needed for all the crowd could see that Jesus was the one speaking. His point was that he was saying these words on his own accord. The words “get up” are a command and only God can command the dead to rise. Jesus was laying claim to be the one true God in making this command. Why offer this sympathy? The picture of the old lady crying as she walks without a husband or a son, behind the ball bearers, certainly tugs at the heart. Indeed, Jesus’ heart went out to her as he, as true God, knew she was alone. Was it the sadness of this affair that led Jesus to offer his comfort and raise her dead son? Did this poor lady deserve Jesus’ comfort? Though we know very little about this widow, we do know she was a sinner. Her sins earned her not the compassion and mercy of God, but rather his wrath for the wages of her sin was death, physical and eternal. Eternal death by definition is the complete separation from all the love and blessings of God. As sinners, we deserve not God’s love, blessings, and comfort in time of sorrow, but rather to be completely separated from him. No one deserves God’s care and comfort, thus the beauty of this scene lays not so much in the tenderness of Jesus reaching out to say “Don’t cry,” but in the fact that Jesus was reaching out to someone who did not deserve his comfort. What does this mean for you? Do you deserve Jesus’ compassion and mercy any more than the widow of Nain? Are you any better than her? In doing this, Jesus reminds us that he does care for us and so invites us to come to him in all times, the good, the bad, and the ugly, not because we have deserved his comfort, but because of his great mercy and compassion. Does this mean Jesus will also bring back your dead to life? Jesus can still do this, even this side of heaven, but he never promised he would do so. But he has promised eternal life to all who believe in him. The comfort that Jesus offers you and me is not that he will right the wrongs and the pains of this life, rather his comfort is the simple truth that if Jesus can bring back a dead man about to be buried to life, so he can bring you and me back to spiritual life and grant us life eternal with him. II. the comfort of victory over sin and death! The dead man came back to life at Jesus’ command. We are told, "The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” God tells you the young man began to speak to prove to you that he lived again! There would be only one reason why this command to rise would could have any power, even spoken by Jesus. God’s judgment had been that the wages of sin was death, both physical and eternal. Although, we do not know why the young man died, we do know that he was a sinner and God’s absolute judgment of death was as applicable to him as it is to you and me. The only reason this man could rise from the dead, would be if Jesus removed the cause of death, sin; for without sin there would be no death. The only way for Jesus to remove the sin would be for him to die on the Cross to pay for that man’s sins. Thus, the raising of this dead son is proof that Jesus died for all sins of all people. You can be sure of this because Jesus has won the victory over sin, death and the devil at the cross. In times of tragic sorrow remember the widow at Nain and how Jesus proved he is the Savior by raising her dead son, not just to this life, to die again, but also to eternal life through faith in him. Let the act of Jesus of bringing the young man of Nain back to life be a reminder to you that he offers sympathy in time of woe by removing the cause of sorrow, sin and death. What should be our response? The crowd that gathered does not seem to have offered Jesus the glory that he alone deserves as our Savior God. The crowd was to be “filled with awe and praised God." A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." They called him a great prophet, but seem to have missed the point that he was also true God. Indeed, in the verses that follow, this report reaches the ears of John the Baptist, as he was imprisoned in Herod’s dungeon, and even John is confused for he then sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he were indeed the Savior. These people would have known the story from the Old Testament reading for today from 1 Kings 17. There Elijah prayed to the Lord to bring the young son of a widow lady back to life. We are told, “The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth." (NIV) The difference is that Elijah did not bring that boy back to life, but God did it through him, but here, Jesus brought the young man back to life by his own word. The report should have reported that Jesus, the Savior, the God-Man had come to save his people; a report that we should likewise make known in all the regions around us. Who knows, had those Jews believed the truth about Jesus, maybe the truth of who Jesus was would have reached Shmuel, who finds comfort, not in his Lord and Savior, whom as a Jew he rejects, but in the biochemical responses to imagined victories when he does acts of kindness. Unlike Shmuel, find the true divine comfort that comes from believing in the Triune God, the Savior God, and the only true God, who wants you to know that in the darkest hour of sorrow you can have real divine comfort. The comfort that only Jesus can offer; the comfort of victory over sin and death! To God be all glory, amen!