Pentecost 3 [Luke 7:11-17] (9 June 2013)

 This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (9 am) and St. John's Lutheran, Karoonda (11 am).

We all know how easy it is to talk somebody to death, but reason loudly insists you can't talk someone to life. That's why when the enlightened 19^th century writer Mary Shelley wanted to tell a scary story, she put the scientific advances of the day into a mad scientist's lab, as the only way that Frankenstein's monster might make sense. If you follow that lead, then you shy away from the reality of what Jesus did in today's Gospel until it's a nice story, but Jesus didn't actually do it. But that's denying that Jesus actually really did raise someone with a compassionate word, and the word about that word got out.

When Jesus raises from the dead, word gets out.

Jesus actually really raises from the dead. It's what happened there, in that town of Nain. But that required someone to raise from the dead. That's who Jesus, his disciples, and the crowd following him ran into. They ran into another crowd, a crowd in mourning on the way to bury someone, as we hear, “Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹² As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only[-begotten] son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.”. And that phrase should remind us of something so that we can see how Jesus is different than this dead man. First, for Jesus, death is easier to undo than sleep. To prove that, how many times does it take to wake up a sleepy family member? And how many times does Jesus tell this young man to arise? Second, Jesus is also an only-begotten son but in a different way than this dead young man, because he's the only-begotten Son from eternity, the only-begotten Son of the Father, being of one substance with the Father, yet always of one substance as the Son, as the Father is always of one substance as the Father. And lastly, like that son at Nain, Jesus too will be really, actually dead but he will rise that by the preaching of his death and resurrection he may say to many “arise”.

But that's not the only person we can compare Jesus with. In last week's Gospel, Jesus goes to a Gentile, and now in the next few verses he raises the only son of a widow. The Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 17 should be a hint – that's the same order that Elijah did it – first he goes to a Gentile widow, then later he raises her son. But unlike Elijah (and Elisha his successor after him), Jesus doesn't intercede in prayer that the child be healed, he simple says, “Arise.” And Elijah and Elisha were pretty great, but Jesus just tells the dead man to rise, and it happens.

And the crowds that saw Jesus raise this dead son in Nain said some really great things. Because, remember, one of the crowds was in mourning. They weren't holding any of their grief back, but Jesus turns that grief into exclamations – 1. “A great prophet has arisen among us” and 2. “The Lord has visited his people.” But they don't get it unless they can say the same thing at Jesus' cross. There in Nain they don't even get what they're saying: a great prophet has arisen, which is the same word that Jesus said to the young man. He has arisen all right, because he himself will lay down his life on the cross and pick it up again when he rises. And hearers of Luke's Gospel would recognize the language of God 'visiting' his people from the song of Zechariah : “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people”. But all three of these are only pointing forward to the great visiting of salvation that Jesus brings with his suffering and death.

And not just then and there does Jesus do this, but he does this starting here. It's only seen more clearly in today's reading that death confronts us. We see it very clearly when we see this wailing crowd runs into Jesus as they are coming out of the city as Jesus is coming in. Death is literally right in Jesus' face. Just as powerfully as at a funeral, in this text we see that it's just as much our problem as theirs. So when Jesus really raises from the dead, it starts where he does things for you who are born, as St. Paul writes, “dead in your trespasses” (Colossians 2:13). And where he does things for you is where he speaks a word of compassion to you.

That's Jesus really raising from the dead. And it happens in Baptism. Baptism rescues from death and the devil, so that in your Baptism Jesus says “you are joined to my death and resurrection” and that's what happens.

Jesus really gives eternal life when he invites us to pray the Lord's Prayer. Because when we pray the Lord's Prayer, when we pray “but deliver us from evil”, we are praying, as Dr. Luther explains, “that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to himself in heaven.” So when we pray it on Sunday as the Church, we are together and each one of us being prepared by our Lord for a blessed end, for our death.

Jesus raises from the dead here in the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper does this because it is a heavenly eating here on earth of eternal life. That's why it's called “a foretaste of the feast to come”, because he comes with eternal life and shares it with us bodily. Through the forgiveness Christ offers through his body and blood in this Holy Supper, he prepares your place at the heavenly feast. The bread and wine you taste now give you a foretaste of heaven itself. It's not just a part of the service you tick off the list as having done, it is all comfort of eternal life, when heaven touches earth according to Christ's promise.

So Jesus really raises from the dead. And when Jesus raises from the dead, word gets out. The word got out of what Jesus did at Nain: “And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.” The word got out, but this is only what Jesus said he would be doing. In Jesus' first sermon, in Luke 4, Jesus says he fulfills the prophecy spoken by Isaiah to declare the year of the Lord's favor – good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, liberty to those who are oppressed. And so, in the verses after today's Gospel, when John the Baptist sends his disciples to see if any release is coming his way (since he had been put in jail by Herod), Jesus says to them, report what you have seen - “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up.” Jesus does what he said he would do, and word gets out. Compare that with the crucifixion and resurrection – same thing. Jesus does what he said he would do, and word gets out, only this time it's the message of what Christ did, which Christ spreads through the Church which calls the world into the Church. Word gets out.

And while that word does get rejected, as he himself was rejected, the same compassion of Jesus which we see in today's Gospel is seen most clearly at the cross for you.

The Word of his compassion gets out here. See, Jesus isn't disinterested like you. You're like the son in today's Gospel. He's so disinterested he doesn't even ask to be raised, because he can't, because he's dead. But because of his compassion, Jesus is keen, keen to raise that son and give him to his mother. And he's keen to raise you, to forgive you all your sins.

And if Luke's sequel, Acts, shows us anything, it's that he will send his word – which he did at Pentecost, in the founding of the Gentile mission in Antioch, in the sending of Paul and Barnabas. Yet what he sent is nothing less than his Word. It doesn't matter how keen we are if we speak something that isn't God's Word of Law and Gospel to people. Our opinions or our programs won't matter, because God's Word is what matters, and he's promised the Word will get out.

All this is to say, the word of Jesus' compassion for you gets out. What's the heart of today's text? “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." ¹⁴ Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” The miraculous removal of the woman's grief starts with a word of Jesus: “stop crying”. So we look for Jesus to preach his word to us too. He has a lot to say to your death. He preaches, and at his word he gives eternal life. He meets your death and grief and says to you “stop weeping” and “arise”. And it happens.

The Word gets out that that he makes of death a nothing, a defeated enemy. He overcomes death, for only he can, because he's the only-begotten Son. The Word gets out because it's the word that the Father gives the Son to speak, the word which the Holy Spirit teaches us. The Word gets out that this is the only God who can give life and raise from the dead.

Conclusion: Jesus actually raises from the dead. But more than that, he does it by his word. And more than that, this is a compassionate word because it is the saving word of his cross. And that word gets out. Amen.