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"Life Meets Death on the Road of Life"
In our gospel for today there are two processions that
meet face to face at the gates of a little town in northern
Israel called Nain. The procession coming into the city is
led by Jesus of Nazareth. So far in Luke’s account this
Jesus has driven out evil spirits, healed the mother of
Peter from a fever and then many others from the town of
Capernaum, healed a leper, caused a paralyzed man to walk
and restored to health the daughter of a Roman soldier.
News of Him was spreading throughout the region, as you
can imagine. So it was that Jesus and His disciples and
a large crowd made their way into the little village of Nain.
Coming out of the village was another large crowd, this
one, led by the pallbearers carrying a casket which contained
the body of a young man. At the front of the procession was
the boy’s mother. And this wasn’t her first trip to the
cemetery, for the text reports that she was widow. And now,
her son, her only son was gone as well.
It is the collision of these two processions that is our
starting point for this morning. The contrast between the
parade of death coming out of Nain and the parade of life
coming in captures the contrast of life lived without faith
in the one and only true God of the universe and life lived
by faith. The procession of death lets us look at the sadness,
the hopelessness, the emptiness of our hearts when we do not
know and believe and trust in the salvation that God has
prepared and delivered to us by sending Jesus into the world.
The procession of life shatters that gloom and despair with
joy and hope and fullness that makes life livable, even
enjoyable no matter what our circumstances.
I want to do something a little bit different this morning.
I’d like to simply walk you through the text and highlight
key words and phrases and then talk about them with you.
It’s kind of a fun way to read or study your Bible. You
might want to try some time. Read a passage and then go
back underline the words or phrases that stand out to
you and then spend a few minutes thinking about them
and talking to God about what they mean in your life’s
context. So, if it’s helpful to you today, I encourage
you take the bulletin and underline phrases as we go along.
OK? You know how the story begins. Jesus, His disciples,
and a large crowd are traveling. Verse 12 says, “As they
approached the town gate” – the first phrase you can
underline is this – “a dead person was being carried out.”
In a Bible study a few weeks ago we talked about the
world’s view of “death.” It has become more palatable.
We are desensitized to it. One of the most popular shows
on network television, CSI – Crime Scene Investigators –
takes viewers into the autopsy room to witness the
examination of the bodies of those who have died under
suspicious circumstances. I think I even read in the
Orlando Sentinel a while back that the morgue has become
somewhat of a tourist attraction with a medical examiner
giving explanations of cases they have worked on.
Death to some is even viewed as a “friend.” We are losing
our Christian perspective on life. We are being duped
into believing that if there is actually life after
physical death then it is accessible to all based on
their relative goodness as a human being.
A 2005 poll, conducted by Newsweek and Beliefnet,
asked: "What happens when we die?"
The soul goes to heaven or hell — 67 percent
There is no heaven or hell, but the soul lives on in some kind of spiritual realm — 13 percent
It's all over; there is no soul — 6 percent
The soul is reincarnated into another creature — 5 percent
Don't know — 9 percent
The poll also asked, "Can a good person who doesn't share
your religious beliefs attain salvation or go to heaven?"
Of those responding, 79 percent said yes, including 68-90%
of Christians from varying denominational backgrounds and
73% of non-Christians.
Human beings are eternal beings – only a few people doubt
that. God is eternal from both ends of the space-time continuum,
while human beings are eternal only from the future dimension
of that continuum. In other words there was never a time when
God did not exist. He was and is and always will be. However,
there was a time when you and I did not exist, but upon our
conception in our mother’s womb we became eternal and now
there will never be a time when we cease to exist.
Christianity demands a decision on how and where that
eternity will be experienced. Christianity claims that
to reject God as He is revealed in the Bible and His
divine plan for our eternity with Him solely through
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will
result in an eternal separation from Him. Or as one
bumper sticker reads: Where will you spend eternity?
Smoking or Non-smoking?
What say you? Is death our friend? Is eternal life simply
a matter of how hard you try to be a good person? Then
why waste your time coming to church and listening to
goofy sermons, and singing boring songs, and standing
and sitting and praying and putting money in an offering
plate and taking a little piece of bread and wine? Somebody
is going to be in for a big surprise. Either eternal life
is a reward for your best effort or it is a free gift
bought and paid for by Jesus Christ, God in human flesh,
hanging on a cross and risen again from the dead. You go
your way. I’ll go mine. I’d like to meet up on other side
and see how that worked out for you.
You see Christianity teaches that death is absolutely
appalling to God. The evidence is in the next two
phrases I want you to underline. Look back at verse 12:
“As he approached the gate, a dead person was being
carried out” – now underline the next phrase – “the
only son of his mother,” – then keep going – “and she
was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her.
When the Lord saw her,” – here’s the next one – “His
heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.’”
We are not just corpses laying in a morgue or a funeral
home to God. He sees us as uniquely created individuals.
His own dear children whom He loves with the kind of
feelings you have when you hold your first grandchild
in your arms and marvel at the miracle of life. He sees
the horrible impact that death is inflicting on us day
after day. It’s not just the moment of death that haunts
God it is the everyday effects of dying that plague us
all: war, violence, child abuse, abortion, hatred, cruel
words, betrayal, broken relationships loss of a job,
broken promises, shattered hopes and dreams.
“When the Lord sees you His heart goes out to you and
he says, ‘Don’t cry.’”
But lookey, lookey, lookey here! It is more than just
words. Here are your next two phrases starting at verse 14:
“Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying
it stood still. He said,” – now mark these words – “Young
man, I say to you, get up!” Got it? Now verse 15: “The dead
man sat up and began to talk, and” – here’s the second one –
“Jesus gave him back to his mother.”
Can you imagine what that must have been like for her?
Can you try and capture that moment in your mind and
comprehend the joy behind the words, “Jesus gave him
back to his mother”?
Well of course SHE was happy and I guess we can be happy
for her, but how does that help me? And if that’s all
Jesus did you’d be right. But God’s compassion for us
did something infinitely more powerful than give one
dead son back to his mother. God’s compassion sent his
one and only begotten Son all the way to the cross.
Jesus intervened for us all. He stops the funeral procession.
He reaches out and touches the coffin. Now Jesus reverses
the flow, so to speak. He takes sin and death into himself
and puts his perfection and life into everyone he touches.
He dies on the cross and rising again from the dead He makes
the miracle in this text a reality for all who will believe
in Him.
The power of his perfect life, his innocent suffering and
death, and his resurrection is now packaged and delivered
to the holy Christian church on earth, to all believers.
It is called forgiveness. Forgiveness is the death of sin
and the resurrection to new life that is the daily, weekly,
lifetime installment of heaven here on earth.
He touches your coffin every time you remember your baptism.
He touches your coffin every time you hear the words “I
forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He touches your coffin
every time you receive his body and blood in the bread and
wine of Holy Communion. He says to you – “Get up!” And he
will continue to do it every day until He comes again in
glory and says it for the last time. Then the Scripture
says, the dead in Christ will rise bodily from their
graves and those who are still alive will be caught up
together with Jesus in heaven and sin and death will
be no more.
But my, my how hard it is for us to believe it. Here are
your next three phrases. Starting at verse 16: “They were all” –
now underline this – “filled with awe and praised God.” And
then the next three words – “A great prophet has appeared
among us,” they said. – now this is the last one, underline,
“God has come to help His people.”
They weren’t quite sure how to integrate Jesus into their
understanding. They’d heard about the great prophet Elijah
that we read about in our Old Testament lesson raising a widow’s son
from the dead. Maybe He was like that. Then they go a bit
further – “God has come to help His people.” They won’t be
able to up it all together until after the cross and the
resurrection and then mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost.
Has it hit you yet or maybe again? God has come – not just
to help us, not just to give us a little pep talk to try
harder and hope for the best. How do you integrate that
into your thinking and doing and being? God has come in
the person of Jesus Christ to save us. Death no longer
has any hold on us. We are set free to start living
eternally right now – like we actually know what’s going
to happen to us – because we do! That freedom of eternal
life is new every morning.
When you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say
“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.” Then, remember who you are, a dearly loved, bound
for heaven, child of the one true God, and then get after
it. Whatever your life has in store for you, keep moving
with confidence and boldness because you know where you’re
headed – to heaven – with absolute certainty.
Here’s your last phrase, verse 17, underline this, “news
about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
You see where that leaves us? Sitting in worship right here
at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and School proclaiming Jesus
Christ so that all may know God and grow in faith toward Him
and in love toward one another. And news about Jesus spread
to Chuluota and Sanford and Latvia and Honduras and to every
person you come into contact with.
Amen.
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