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Scripture for Sunday, January 15: Luke 7:11-17
Additional Scripture: Numbers 19:11-22
This week we meet Jesus just a few miles southeast of his hometown, Nazareth. He, his disciples, and a large crowd are traveling from Capernaum to the town of Nain.
As they approach the town gate, the sound of wailing reaches their ears. Then a large funeral procession comes into view. Almost the whole town has come out to pay their respects and stand together in grief.
The young man who has died is "the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." Luke's short description is packed with meaning. Twice bereft, the mother is utterly alone. Being widowed was bad enough; being without her son too means no safety net, no way to support herself.
Jesus sees the procession and this mother, and his heart goes out to her. More accurately, his "guts" go out to her. Jesus is deeply moved in his inner being as he feels this mother's loss.
And Jesus does something shocking: He touches the young man's burial stretcher.
Never mind that Old Testament law says this makes him ceremonially unclean, unable to be among the community of God for a week. Never mind that now Jesus has to observe purification procedures. Never mind that whatever the young man died from might be contagious.
Jesus is moved. And he doesn't meet the widow's grief with a word at a distance; he comes close enough to touch.
"Stop crying," he tells the woman. "Young man, I say to you, get up!"
As if asleep, the young man sits up and begins to talk to them all. And Jesus gives him back to his mother.
Reflect
1. In what ways have you received the nearness and compassion of God? Thank Christ for them.
2. How has God led you to follow a "More Dirt-Covered" Jesus? (Perhaps in caring for a sick child or parent; perhaps serving people that you may not have envisioned yourself working with at another time in life, etc.) Name some of the challenges and gifts of following a "More Dirt-Covered" Savior.
3. Read 1 Kings 17:17-24 alongside Luke 7:11-17. See if you can identify why the people of Nain called Jesus "a great prophet."
