Sermons

This seventh chapter of Luke contains two miracles. The first miracle is about a Roman Centurion, a soldier in the Roman Army, responsible for 100 soldiers under his command. He had a servant who was very sick. This was not just any servant, but someone who had won the trust and admiration of his master.

When the Centurion heard the servant was sick, he called on his best resources. He notified the Jews, whose God he worshipped. He told them he had heard about Jesus, the miracle worker, and wondered if they knew how to get in touch with him.

The Jews went to Jesus and explained that this request was not coming from just a Centurion, but a man who loved Israel and who paid to have their Synagogue built. He deserved to be helped.

Jesus went with them, but before Jesus arrived, the Centurion sent some of his friends to meet Jesus. “Do not trouble yourself by coming to my house. Just as I have command over 100 men to tell them when to go and when to come back, you have command over this situation. Just say the word and my servant will be healed.”

Jesus turned to the crowd that followed him and said, “Not even in Israel, the most likely place, have I found such faith.” When the Centurion’s friends returned to his house, the servant had been healed.

Today’s scripture begins with “soon afterward,” which is a hint to tell us that these two miracles were intended to be linked together. “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a city called Nain.” The city’s name meant pleasant place. Those who lived there had a great view whichever direction they looked.

In Iowa, we have places called, Mt. Pleasant, Pleasantville, and Pleasant Hill. Now, 25 miles down the road from Capernaum, where the last miracle took place, Jesus was just outside “Pleasant View.” The crowd traveling with Jesus was still basking in the joy of the last miracle of a Gentile, a Roman, a soldier, being extended the mercies of God in the healing of his servant. God had helped a good man, a deserving man. Now the Gentiles would glorify the God of the Jews and sing praise to him.

There would have been loud voices and joyous laughter reflecting the mood of those traveling with Jesus, maybe even singing some familiar Psalms.

That joyful crowd met head-on with a funeral procession coming out of the town.

This was not just any funeral procession, but one that represented the saddest of all kinds of sorrow. Many of the townspeople had joined the procession, which was a testimony of the tragedy of this particular death. A young man had died. A Jewish young man had died. He was the only son of a widow. Not only was the promise of his young life extinguished, and what he could do for Israel, but the hope of his mother, to be cared for in her old age, was gone as well. Along with her son, this woman had lost everything.

The noise of utter joy of those following Jesus met head-on with the noise of crying and wailing, of the utter sorrow of those mourning the young man.

Luke tells us the previous miracle was for a man, a Gentile, from the ruling class of society, a powerful man, a deserving man. Because of the faith of the Centurion, the slave was healed.

Now we see a woman, a Jew, at the bottom of society and powerless. Because of the compassion of Jesus, the young man was brought back to life.

Luke says nothing about this woman’s faith. We know nothing about her relationship to God. We know the Roman Centurion worshipped the Lord God of the Jews. He had great faith, and knew that Jesus was connected to the Lord God in a mighty way and sent a message to Jesus. The Jews, with the message, said that the soldier deserved Jesus’ help.

This woman had most likely never heard of Jesus. In fact, Jewish women knew little of religion. They did not study or memorize the scriptures. Women learned only what they picked up from listening to their husbands.

Although all of life came from women, women were always required to lead a funeral procession. Women were credited with bringing sin into the human family, which was the cause of death. The life they gave would be taken by death.

When Jesus saw the poor widow, he said, “Do not weep.” Those are not the words that should be said at a funeral. We know that there must be sorrow expressed when we lose a loved one to death. Crying can bring about a kind of healing that is necessary in saying “Good-bye.”

But Jesus had the authority to say, “Do not weep.” He could do something about her sorrow, and he did.

Jesus had not even visited the house of the Roman Centurion and the servant was healed. He did not have to come in contact with the sick servant, yet the servant was healed.

But here in the street, Jesus did something no Jewish rabbi would have done, something he did not have to do. He reached out and touched the coffin that held the young man’s body.

Touching the dead would have rendered any practicing Jew unclean. Numbers 19:11 said that anyone who touched a dead body would remain unclean for seven days. It was one thing to be there and touch, risk being made unclean for a loved one, but for a stranger? Who would do that? Jesus did.

Jesus touched the open coffin, then addressed the corpse. “Young man, I say to you, arise.”   The dead man was being addressed by the Son of God, who was there in the creation of all that is when the first person received the breath of life.

Death had come into the world as the result of sin. Jesus had come to break the power of sin and overcome the reality of death. He had the authority to restore that breath of life to this widow’s son.

The dead man sat up and began talking. Luke doesn’t tell us what he said. I can imagine he said, “What in the world is going on? I go to bed not feeling well and wake up with six of my friends carrying me out to the cemetery? Why am I in this coffin? Whose idea was this, anyway?”

Luke says, “Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

Suddenly these two groups were welded together: those who had experienced the joy of walking with Jesus had been praising God for the healing of the Centurion’s servant they had heard about; and those who had come in sorrow to mourn the death of a young man. Now they all had become one group. They had witnessed a miracle firsthand.

No longer was joy or sorrow the order of the day, but Luke tells us they were no longer focused on the joy in their hearts, or the sorrow in their hearts, but something else took over. “Fear seized them all…”

They were awestruck, dumbfounded, stopped in their tracks.

They understood they were in the presence of a power that was like no other power they had ever experienced. They had heard of the healing of someone who was near death; now they had seen the resurrection of someone who was dead.

This Jesus had the power to defy death. He did it for the rich, the deserving, and the powerful, and also for the poorest of the poor, the nobody, and the powerless. He defied death because of who he is: the author and giver of life.

They had seen the young man rise from his coffin. No one had ever seen that before. Luke tells us of the reaction of those present.

Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. (Luke 7:16-17, Revised Standard Version)

They felt an overwhelming feeling of awe and a kind of terror of what would be happening next. They were in the presence of someone amazing.

Have you ever had that feeling, when you saw or understood something too awesome for words? It was beyond human explanation. You knew it came from God.

[The following verses are from the King James Version.]

Psalms 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

Proverbs 14:26
In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Proverbs 14:27
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Proverbs 15:16
Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

Proverbs 15:33
The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Proverbs 16:6
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Proverbs 22:4
By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life

Proverbs 23:17
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

What is the “Fear of the Lord”? What place does it have in our lives, in the life of this congregation?

When Christianity was new and faith in Christ was first spreading, there was a time when the early church went through some pretty tough times. They were scattered. Congregations met in homes. Communication was poor. Some churches were confused about matters of theology. Some of them didn’t know the basics. Some thought they knew it all.

But God had a plan. Let me read this verse from Acts 9:31.

So the Church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied. (RSV)

Because of the “fear of the Lord,” the church was “built up” and it was “comforted by the Holy Spirit.”

It is only when we are living aware of the awesome presence of God in our midst that we can learn and grow in our faith and feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit in this present age.

As the early church grew stronger in its purpose of sharing God’s love, the challenges grew stronger. God sees the whole picture of the life of this congregation and God has a plan.

Friends this is a time in the history of this congregation when we are experiencing peace and we are being built up in our faith. About one third of the membership is engaged in some form of studying God’s word. If you haven’t joined a group yet to enhance your knowledge of God’s word, I hope you will join one soon.

We are learning in the awesome privilege of what it means to walk in the “fear of the Lord,” and we also have the comfort of the Holy Spirit and just like the early church, our ministry here is being multiplied.

But we cannot assume that this is the way it is going to be forever. We cannot think we have arrived. Every congregation that begins to rest on its present good times begins to die.

Anytime a congregation grows in its commitment to Jesus Christ, it grows stronger. The level of God’s confidence in that congregation grows, and that causes its resources to grow. Its resources grow for a purpose. That purpose is so that it can be prepared for an even bigger challenge of serving the Kingdom of God in greater ways.

You have to say for any group of people as diverse as we are in this congregation to live in mutual respect and love for one another, doing what we do, is certainly testimony of the fact that God is at work among us.

The life I see in you, the level of your dedication, the ways I see you cooperate and love one another to accomplish the ministry of this congregation deepens my faith, and makes me stand in awe and “fear of the Lord.”

There was a time when this congregation was going the way of many churches today, on its way to hanging on to its savings and being contented with declining numbers and disappearing missions.

But we have placed our faith in the Christ who can defy death. He has called us to sit up, climb out of the coffin and be restored to the plan God has for us.

These are exciting times. Read the newsletter that was delivered to your house this week. See the life that is flowing from Christ through this congregation into the community. Stand in awe of what God is doing among us.

The funeral has been stopped, the open grave filled in, the dead declared alive. And we are a part of that. The applause does not go to us, but to the Christ who has called us to life.

These are certainly times we are privileged to live in the “fear of the Lord.”

Amen.