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Compassion, Glory and Majesty

Preached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2008

by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults

Luke 7:12 And drawing near the gate of the city, even behold, one having died was being carried out,
an only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable crowd of the city was with her.

This section of the Gospel of Luke is nothing short of miraculous. In it, Christ shows his complete mastery over Nature and the afflictions of Man. Recall that in the Gospel for the week before last, the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, Jesus healed the ten lepers, freeing them from the bondage of a grievous disease. In this week’s selection, Christ raises a young man from the dead.

Also in the same chapter as our Gospel selection, Christ heals the centurion’s servant with a word from afar. Recall in that wonderful story, the centurion had heard of Jesus and had sent friends to Christ, begging him to come heal the man. Jesus went as requested, but was met by another delegation from the same centurion. This group informed Jesus that the centurion did not think himself worthy that Christ should come “under his roof” nor did the centurion think himself worthy to meet Christ, but asked Him to “say a word, and my servant will be healed.” Some commentators have thought that the centurion, being an uncircumcised Gentile, thought that he would be met with scorn by Jesus, a Jewish rabbi.¹ Of course, being the soul of compassion and Himself the Hope of the Gentiles, Christ “marveled” at the man’s faith and says so to the crowd following Him. In His mercy, the friends go home and find the servant healed.

Why would St. Luke “pack” two major miracles into the same compact section of his gospel, in this case, within a chapter? Of course, when the gospel was written, there were no chapter or verse demarcations. These were a medieval monkish addition to the Bible, for which we are forever grateful as an aid to our study and edification. Even so, here are two major miracles within a very short section of Scripture. What was St. Luke trying to accomplish?

We know that Luke’s Gospel originally intended for a target audience, the Greeks, just as Mark’s Gospel, which is thought to be the earliest, perhaps based on the oral tradition of St. Peter, was targeted towards the Romans. Matthew, with its long genealogies and emphasis on history, was targeted to the Christian Jews, while John, with its excellent and concise theology, was thought to be for the Gentiles in general. Each Gospel was aimed, through inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to a specific group of people. Not to be trite, but one could say that God is the original “target marketer.” Suffice it to say that God the Holy Spirit comes to us in the Word of God in a way in which we can understand. It’s always the way God works. He, in His almighty Graciousness, always meets us when and where we need Him, in His perfect Will.

Thus, Luke wrote his Gospel “theoneustos,” that is, God breathed, to appeal to the Greek mind. We Anglicans do not believe, as some Christians do, in the so-called “Dictation” theory of Scripture, where the writers of the Bible were merely passive scribes of the Holy Spirit. We tend to think of the Bible as a product of inspiration and perspiration, if you will, as the writers were inspired by the Holy Ghost, but also filtered His Testimony through their own human consciousness.

One can see this in both the fluidity of the writing in excellent but understandable Greek and the fullness of the treatment. That is, Luke sought to appeal to both the beauty and intellectual completeness of the Greek mind. Thus, St. Luke points his gospel towards the Greeks (and to us) in such as way that we “get it.” That is, we are supposed to see Christ in His Priestly and Prophetic role as he demonstrates complete mastery over disease and death. A key difference, however, between Christ and every other O.T. prophet and priest is that Christ is constantly testifying to Himself and to the Holy Trinity, whereas all other prophets spoke of Him. He is, obviously, the complete, self-fulfilling Prophet and Prophecy because He is both Subject and Object of his testimony.

Yet, while this is true, does Christ overtly testify to Himself? Only in the case of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 does Christ directly reveal Himself as the Son of God and the Messiah. In virtually all cases, as in this story, his deeds do the revealing for him.

A brief review of this passage of Luke clearly demonstrates this. First, Luke tells us plainly that Christ had “compassion” on the widow. Why? Christ, knowing all things, knew that this woman had only one means of support, her son, who was now dead in his youth. Recall that the state of widowhood was dire in 1^st century Palestine. If a woman was young enough, she could remarry and be a wife. Her other option was to be a prostitute, again if she was young and attractive enough. These were the very limited options for females in those days. Without family or riches, a woman’s place was perilous indeed.

But, Jesus had compassion on her. He tells her, “Do not weep.” Then, he touches the funeral bier, causing those carrying it to stop. It is obvious what kind of authority Jesus Christ exuded. He actually stops the death procession, then commands the young man to arise from the grip of mortality:  “And the one who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother." (Luke 7:15)

Matthew Henry mentions several important points. First, he tells us it is very important to note that the young man was actually dead, not just sick. Christ comes to him and raises him from his death, just as He raises us who are dead in our sins to new life in Him. Note, Henry says, that the young man begins to speak immediately upon being revived, presumably with the words of praise for God.² Christ then heals the situation completely by delivering the young man back to his mother, thus mending the rupture made in the family by premature death.

Without being too simplistic, there are some very powerful parallels here to our lives. First, we know that Christ calls us to salvation. That is, in some strange and wonderful way, God calls to Himself those who will be saved.

We, who are called and hear the call, just as the young man heard the call to resurrection, will be saved through God’s Grace.

Note also that it is Christ who stops the procession towards death, vividly illustrated in this story by Jesus physically stopping the bier from its appointed destination. Not to belabor a point, but only Christ can do this, stopping our journey towards eternal death through his personal intervention. Not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Sun-yat-sen, nor the multiplicity of Hindu gods can halt one’s total oblivion, or in truth, one’s damnation. Only Christ can reach into the “muck” that is humanity and extract from it the shining kernel of an eternal soul, to be loved and cherished with Him forever.

This story uses an important literary device to point to this eternal truth. That device is called foreshadowing, which is simply the way an author hints at something coming later in the book by dropping clues or relating similar, smaller events. The Bible is full of resurrection stories, both in the Old Testament and New Testament. For example, the Prophet Elijah in I Kings17 22-23 prays successfully for resurrection of the widow’s son with whom he is staying. In the New Testament, Jesus personally resurrects three people: Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and this young man of Nain.

Once again, the Holy Spirit didn’t place these stories in the Bible incidentally or simply as wonderful moral examples. The purpose of all these stories is to testify to Christ and to foreshadow our own resurrection at the Last Day.

Forgive me for being painfully obvious, but the story as related in Luke is very straightforward and perhaps our understanding of if should be so as well. As we live in Christ, so shall we die in Christ and so shall we be resurrected in Christ. It’s a point that St. Luke wants us to get.

We are not to go into nothingness, called annihilationism. It was once a popular heresy, now back again full force. You see, as St Paul tells us in Romans 1, men want to suppress their knowledge of God, especially the eschatological, or end time, events. It is much easier to believe that we will just pass away into nothingness when we die. This, however, is not true.

We are not to slip into the One Great Being, as in Hinduism and Buddhism. We are not to achieve Nirvana, thereby escaping the great cycle of Sansara, where one is continually reincarnated. Our individual souls, given to us in the womb, will live forever. Thus, we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, individually. Individually, those who profess Christ will be absolved from all sin and received into the eternal and blessed fellowship. Thus, we will retain our individual personality and even our body, glorified and perfected, to live with Christ forever. This is the difference between Christianity and every other world religion, except Islam, which as you are familiar, paints a totally sensuous picture of Paradise for its believers and martyrs. Christianity goes beyond the mere physical aspect of salvation by stressing the oneness of the believer with the Blessed and Eternal Godhead, thus promising delights that far outstrip mere physical gratifications. We are, in the words of C.S. Lewis, echoing 2 Co 4:17, to have “a far more excellent eternal weight of glory.”

St. Paul echoes this theme of Glory in today’s Epistle from Ephesians. He prays:

that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:17-19)

This love was demonstrated very clearly and tangibly in today’s Gospel. It is love that is universal yet incomprehensible, vast yet localized, transcendent, yet immanent.

Therefore, we must leave it up to St. Paul to summarize this magnificent love, as he says from our Epistle for the day: “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, forever. Amen.” (Eph 3:20-21)

[1] Henry, Matthew, Commentary on Luke, Blue Letter Bible, www.blueletterbible.org

[2] Henry, op. cit

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