Sermon Snippet – A Return to Someone You Should Know
INTRODUCTION – After three weeks dealing with a somewhat different subject, we return to the theme of someone that we all should know. Luke 7:11-19 records the account of a widow and her “only son” – her deceased “only son.”
1. THIS LADY WAS CRUSHED BY LIFE – REALLY, BY DEATH
She was already a “widow” (verse 12). She was likely not an elderly woman, for women generally married young at that time. Somehow, she had managed to raise her son alone. He was a “young man” (verse 14), seemingly strong and with many years ahead of him to care for his loving mother. The loss of husband and father had made life far more difficult; each day of struggle was a reminder of how much both mother and child had lost. Now, as expectations for a better standard of living seemed reasonable, hope was extinguished. Unless this young man died suddenly in an accident, he would have suffered as he thought of his mother’s impending poverty. She would be dependent on the kindness of others – the sometimes condescending kindness of others. Perhaps she also hurt spiritually, with a sense of being abandoned by God. She was enveloped by despair, but she was soon to find that she had remained in the embrace of God.
2. THIS TINY FAMILY WAS RESTORED
Jesus, God the Son, crossed paths with this grieving widow. The day before, He had been in Capernaum. He had traveled on foot 25 miles, much of it over hilly terrain. There are no limits to the effort that Jesus puts forth to reach us, and there are no coincidences in His divine plan. He restores the young man to life with simple words of life (verse 14) and thus restores this two-person family unit. As always, Jesus is doing even more. The multitude of witnesses includes the “many disciples” and “much people” (verse 11) that accompanied Him on this considerable trek, as well as the “much people of the city” of Nain (verse 12). The result was the restoration of a family and an enlarged opportunity for many to enter into the family of God (verses 16-17). Thank You, Jesus, for Your unswerving devotion to our deliverance.
3. WE ALL ARE THIS WIDOW AND HER SON
These two returned home. Their abode was likely a humble one, and in some ways their lives would be the same. Their daily tasks would be exactly the same, and the loss of husband and father remained. Yet, the most important aspects of life – the spiritual and the eternal – were transformed. Their very existence would be an irrefutable testimony as long as they lived – and when they died, the story would remain the same and would be written down as a continuing testament. Like them, we suffer and labor and wonder, but also like them we have hope restored, joy unspeakable, and certainty stretched out across eternity. In our own Nains, we show to everyone that Jesus is real and that He saves.
CONCLUSION – Let us remember that the blessed exertions of Jesus on our behalf led Him to an even harder trek, to a journey to Jerusalem, to His death on the Cross. May we trust fully and solely in Him for His everlasting salvation and may our lives cause people to ponder His glory.