1 Kings 17:17-24/Ephesians 3:13-21/St Luke 7:11-17
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
It is such a simple word. A small part of speech. One of the conjunctions. “And.” In the Greek, kai. It joins parts of a sentence. St Luke uses it, though, to elucidate the gravity of the scene.
Jesus went to a town called Nain with His disciples where they observed a funeral procession. A man who had died was being carried out AND he was the only son of his mother AND she was a widow AND a considerable crowd from the town was with her. This little conjunction compounds her misery. She had buried her parents, father and mother. She lost her husband. Now a child, her only son. Though the crowd is with her, she is alone. Desperately alone. Isolated in her grief and misery.
This is the potential of suffering: to separate us from one another in sorrow, to become cut off, cold, calloused, bitter. You hear it in the words of the widow of Zarephath, how she lashed out at Elijah, Have you come to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son! How often have your words echoed her’s? In what prison has your grief confined you? Have you grown bitter, calloused? Lashing out those who love you?
These poor, childless widows embark on a procession of death. A procession that began not at the gates of Nain or the town of Zarephath, but at the Garden of Eden. In trespassing the Word: Don’t eat of the tree, Adam and Eve severed fellowship with the Lord AND they brought sin and death into the world AND they were exiled from paradise AND they were sent into the cursed wilderness AND you follow in their train. Oh how our misery is compounded! You take your place behind your first parents, along with these widows, in the procession of death, that slow march to the grave for the wages of sin is death (Rm 6:23).
But - another conjunction! - But, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rm 6:23). Jesus went to a town called Nain, AND His disciples AND a great crowd went with Him. AND when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her. The superabundance of our Lord’s mercy!
There are two processions. One of death - the dead man, the boy, their mothers, Adam, Eve, you, all creation. A long, slow march to the grave; a walk of sorrow and fear, of compounding misery and grief.
And there is a procession of life - Christ our Lord, the life of all the living, at its head! He has compassion, splancnidzathe, for this childless widow. Alone and scared, filled with anxiety, our Lord feels for her deep down in His guts; it is a visceral love. His heart goes out to her. Do not weep, He says. He speaks His Word of comfort and peace.
Then He came up and touched the bier and the bearers stood still. The two processions - one of death, one of life - confront each other. The Lord of life steps in front of this death march. He stops death dead in its tracks. Death shall not pass. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to His mother.
This is the God of the prophet Elijah who gave life to the young boy. He is the Greatest Prophet, come in the flesh. He is able to far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. In the beginning His Word spoke all creation into existence. Be light and there is light. Be there seas, be there dry land and animals. And there are seas, earth, animals! So to now: Young man, I say to you, arise. It is as if He said, “Be there life! Death be ended.” And there is life! The boy sat up and began to speak.
This is the surpassing love of Christ, as St Paul says. Oh the breath and length and height and depth! For Christ the Word of life made flesh does not merely stop funeral processions, He has undone death entirely in His own death. This scene is but a skirmish of the great battle; where the Lord of life confronts the Prince of death in mortal combat. As that great Easter canticle sings, “Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous; the Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal” (LSB 460:1).
Upon the Cross Christ confronts death in His own death. He who touched the dead man’s bier, takes into Himself the death of all; He assumes the deadly consequences of your sins and bears them in His own body on the tree. There He dies for sin, once for all, AND the Father punishes the Son for your sin AND the Son willing obeys AND you are reconciled to the Father.
He swallows up death in His death, and He, the Word of life, has been raised from the dead, brining life and immortality to light. AND He puts His victory over death and sin and the grave in His Word AND in Holy Baptism AND in the Absolution AND in the Eucharist AND in the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren. Oh the superabundance of our Lord’s compassion for you!
For in your baptism Christ, the Lord of Life, stretched Himself upon you three times in the Triune Name of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There He stopped your death and gave you a share in His own death for sin and His eternal life. You were raised from your watery grave and Jesus gave you back to your mother and father. In fact, He gave you a new Mother and Father!
What does St Paul say? For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. You bear the Name of the God. You are His child, He your Father, Christ your Brother. AND the Church is your Mother. He has given you into her arms AND into the arms of one another, to care for in love and compassion, as fellow heirs, as brothers and sisters in Christ. Thus you are not alone. You are not cut off in your grief and sorrow, but you bear one another’s burdens as Christ shouldered your sin to the Cross.
Thus does He place a Cross upon you, as His beloved. Hence St Paul’s words again, I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. He rightly sees his own suffering as to the glory of the brethren, of the Church. So it is for you. You come here, the His Supper. You do not touch His funeral bier, rather you are given to share in His everlasting life, His Body and Blood back from the grave, victorious over death.
In eating and drinking you have fellowship with your Lord and King, but also with one another. He who loves and has redeemed you, gives you to one another in love. In this way, dear ones, you share one another’s burdens. For His Supper is not merely between you and Him, but also between one another; in confession, in fellowship, in love and compassion. This is made plain in the Greek as St Paul speaks to the churches in Ephesus. He does not speak in the singular “you,” but in the plural. He speaks to “you all.”
This is how it shall be on the Last Day. His Spirit who strengthens you in your inner being now, shall on that Day raise you and all the dead. It is as if He will come to your graves, touch you and say, “Little one, I say to you, arise.” And you shall sit up and be welcomed with all believers into the glory prepared for by the Father from the foundation of the world. To Him be glory in the Church, through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
It is such a simple word. A small part of speech. One of the conjunctions. “And.” In the Greek, kai. It joins parts of a sentence. St Luke uses it, though, to elucidate the gravity of the scene.
Jesus went to a town called Nain with His disciples where they observed a funeral procession. A man who had died was being carried out AND he was the only son of his mother AND she was a widow AND a considerable crowd from the town was with her. This little conjunction compounds her misery. She had buried her parents, father and mother. She lost her husband. Now a child, her only son. Though the crowd is with her, she is alone. Desperately alone. Isolated in her grief and misery.
This is the potential of suffering: to separate us from one another in sorrow, to become cut off, cold, calloused, bitter. You hear it in the words of the widow of Zarephath, how she lashed out at Elijah, Have you come to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son! How often have your words echoed her’s? In what prison has your grief confined you? Have you grown bitter, calloused? Lashing out those who love you?
These poor, childless widows embark on a procession of death. A procession that began not at the gates of Nain or the town of Zarephath, but at the Garden of Eden. In trespassing the Word: Don’t eat of the tree, Adam and Eve severed fellowship with the Lord AND they brought sin and death into the world AND they were exiled from paradise AND they were sent into the cursed wilderness AND you follow in their train. Oh how our misery is compounded! You take your place behind your first parents, along with these widows, in the procession of death, that slow march to the grave for the wages of sin is death (Rm 6:23).
But - another conjunction! - But, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rm 6:23). Jesus went to a town called Nain, AND His disciples AND a great crowd went with Him. AND when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her. The superabundance of our Lord’s mercy!
There are two processions. One of death - the dead man, the boy, their mothers, Adam, Eve, you, all creation. A long, slow march to the grave; a walk of sorrow and fear, of compounding misery and grief.
And there is a procession of life - Christ our Lord, the life of all the living, at its head! He has compassion, splancnidzathe, for this childless widow. Alone and scared, filled with anxiety, our Lord feels for her deep down in His guts; it is a visceral love. His heart goes out to her. Do not weep, He says. He speaks His Word of comfort and peace.
Then He came up and touched the bier and the bearers stood still. The two processions - one of death, one of life - confront each other. The Lord of life steps in front of this death march. He stops death dead in its tracks. Death shall not pass. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to His mother.
This is the God of the prophet Elijah who gave life to the young boy. He is the Greatest Prophet, come in the flesh. He is able to far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. In the beginning His Word spoke all creation into existence. Be light and there is light. Be there seas, be there dry land and animals. And there are seas, earth, animals! So to now: Young man, I say to you, arise. It is as if He said, “Be there life! Death be ended.” And there is life! The boy sat up and began to speak.
This is the surpassing love of Christ, as St Paul says. Oh the breath and length and height and depth! For Christ the Word of life made flesh does not merely stop funeral processions, He has undone death entirely in His own death. This scene is but a skirmish of the great battle; where the Lord of life confronts the Prince of death in mortal combat. As that great Easter canticle sings, “Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous; the Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal” (LSB 460:1).
Upon the Cross Christ confronts death in His own death. He who touched the dead man’s bier, takes into Himself the death of all; He assumes the deadly consequences of your sins and bears them in His own body on the tree. There He dies for sin, once for all, AND the Father punishes the Son for your sin AND the Son willing obeys AND you are reconciled to the Father.
He swallows up death in His death, and He, the Word of life, has been raised from the dead, brining life and immortality to light. AND He puts His victory over death and sin and the grave in His Word AND in Holy Baptism AND in the Absolution AND in the Eucharist AND in the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren. Oh the superabundance of our Lord’s compassion for you!
For in your baptism Christ, the Lord of Life, stretched Himself upon you three times in the Triune Name of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There He stopped your death and gave you a share in His own death for sin and His eternal life. You were raised from your watery grave and Jesus gave you back to your mother and father. In fact, He gave you a new Mother and Father!
What does St Paul say? For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. You bear the Name of the God. You are His child, He your Father, Christ your Brother. AND the Church is your Mother. He has given you into her arms AND into the arms of one another, to care for in love and compassion, as fellow heirs, as brothers and sisters in Christ. Thus you are not alone. You are not cut off in your grief and sorrow, but you bear one another’s burdens as Christ shouldered your sin to the Cross.
Thus does He place a Cross upon you, as His beloved. Hence St Paul’s words again, I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. He rightly sees his own suffering as to the glory of the brethren, of the Church. So it is for you. You come here, the His Supper. You do not touch His funeral bier, rather you are given to share in His everlasting life, His Body and Blood back from the grave, victorious over death.
In eating and drinking you have fellowship with your Lord and King, but also with one another. He who loves and has redeemed you, gives you to one another in love. In this way, dear ones, you share one another’s burdens. For His Supper is not merely between you and Him, but also between one another; in confession, in fellowship, in love and compassion. This is made plain in the Greek as St Paul speaks to the churches in Ephesus. He does not speak in the singular “you,” but in the plural. He speaks to “you all.”
This is how it shall be on the Last Day. His Spirit who strengthens you in your inner being now, shall on that Day raise you and all the dead. It is as if He will come to your graves, touch you and say, “Little one, I say to you, arise.” And you shall sit up and be welcomed with all believers into the glory prepared for by the Father from the foundation of the world. To Him be glory in the Church, through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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