Jesus Ruins a Funeral

Luke 7: 11 - 18 (NIV): Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 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." Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. 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." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

    If you think about it, Jesus ruined every funeral he attended. Imagine walking up and raising the dead person back to life and stopping the whole thing. I guess the pallbearers gave the empty coffin back to the funeral director and everyone went home. Not sure if the funeral director got paid. He may have seen Jesus coming and said to himself, "uh oh, here he comes. I'm about to lose another one!"

    It's not that Jesus didn't have compassion on the people involved. His heart went out to the widow and he told her not to cry. You can feel the love and compassion he had for her in her time of sorrow. And Jesus knew this was more than an emotional loss for her. It would have devastated her, as a widow, to lose her only son, her means of support in that culture. The son came out pretty good in this deal too...

    But Jesus is not going to stop every funeral. He said we would have to face death and sure enough, we do, but Jesus knows the big picture. He knows that we are not bodies that have a soul, but souls that live temporarily in this body. He said believers will never die, even though our bodies do. Jesus knows that death is only a temporary separation. And Jesus has seen heaven so there is no mystery to him about how great it is.

    Jesus walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. He comforts us in times of sorrow and loss. But more than that, he gives us hope that we will go to heaven and be with each other again. Jesus always did know how to ruin a perfectly good funeral.