Transcript
Our passage begins in verse 11. But the story that we are about to read really should be considered against the background of the story we looked at last time. And therefore, in order to refresh our memories, I’m going to read again the story of the centurion, starting in verse 1. And then we will read the passage for today.
So beginning to read in Luke chapter 7 and verse 1,
Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was worthy, for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.
Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him,
“Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes. And to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes. And to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him,
“I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.
And now our passage for today.
Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain. And many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother. And she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen up among us,’ and, ‘God has visited His people.’ And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
It will be four years ago this July that Eldora Caffrey had an experience she will never forget. Mrs. Caffrey was twenty-five years old at the time. And although she had grown up in the city of Dallas, she had lived for more than a year in Fort Worth. In November of 1984, on a Wednesday shortly before noon, she left off her three-year-old daughter at her mother-in-law’s house. Because Mrs. Caffrey worked for the Hermit’s Company, which is a Dallas-based stationery distributor, she was on her way to a Kmart in south Fort Worth in order to check on the stationery counter there.
As she pulled under the shade of the Campus Drive overpass, she found herself behind a big water-tank rig that was being towed by a truck. Suddenly the rig swerved out of control and it struck the support columns of the overpass. There was a loud crash as Mrs. Caffrey saw the overpass above her begin to crumble. The only thing she could think of was, “I have got to get out from under this bridge.” So she floor-boarded the accelerator in her Chevrolet Citation. The next moment she blacked out.
When she awoke, she realized that tons of falling concrete had come to rest just about a foot behind her, crushing the rear of the car. She was scared to death. She was crying. But somehow or other she managed to peel away enough glass from the shattered windshield to crawl out through the front end of the car. As police took her to the hospital, she glanced at the car, which she and her husband had had only about three months, and she saw that it was an incredible piece of wreckage.
That night as she walked out of John Peter Smith Hospital, she was interviewed by the media. And she said this to them,
“I can’t believe that I only got cuts and bruises. I could have died.”
And she added,
“It was just God who saved me. That’s it. There’s no such thing as a fluke. It just had to be God.”
Walking beside her husband, she went down to the bus stop in front of the emergency room of the hospital. And one of her last remarks to the media was this,
“I just want to lie down and rest.”
Well, who could blame her after an experience like that? And don’t you agree it would be very, very scary to be underneath a concrete overpass and to see it begin to crumble and collapse around us?
But sometimes, sometimes, my friends, life itself is a whole lot like that. And sometimes the troubles that we have seemed to shake the very ground beneath our feet. Sometimes the firmest pillars of our lives seem to be about to totter and fall. And if you’ve ever had the feeling that your life was coming apart at the seams, if you’ve ever felt that everything was going wrong at the same time, then you know what I’m talking about this morning. And you will be able to understand the question which I want to ask you today, which also happens to be the title of my message.
And the question is this. What happens when everything collapses? What happens when everything collapses?
Now of course, my friends, not all the troubles that we have deserve to be described as though our life was collapsing around us. Because none of our troubles are a lot less serious than that. Take the Baltimore Orioles, for example. At the beginning of this baseball season everybody was worried about the Orioles because they began the season with one of the longest losing streaks in American League history. And when they finally won their first game, that was national news. And since then they won a few more games. But they still have the very worst record in baseball today.
But don’t grieve your heart over the Baltimore Orioles. Do you know that at the beginning of the season they had five players on their roster who were earning more than a million dollars a year? They had thirteen players on their roster who were making a salary in six figures. And the lowest-paid guys on the Oriole roster were earning a miserable, pitiful sixty-two thousand five hundred dollars a year. So don’t cry over the Orioles, folks. They may be losing a lot of ball games, but you can bet that they are laughing all the way to the bank.
And please do not think either that the centurion that we read about last week was facing an earth-shattering experience. Because he wasn’t. This centurion was well-off financially. In fact, he had enough money to finance the building of a synagogue in the city of Capernaum. And the sick man that he was worried about wasn’t even a member of his own immediate family. The sick man was a slave of his. And of course the centurion didn’t want to lose him. But if he had, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world.
Let me assure you that it was different. It was altogether different for the woman that we have read about today. You see, she was a widow. And in New Testament times widows were among the neediest class of people. Remember, there wasn’t any Social Security program. And the Roman government didn’t sponsor a welfare program. And widows very often had a very desperately difficult time supporting themselves during the closing years of their life.
And yes, this woman was a widow. And her husband had died. But it means she had one son. And as long as that son was alive, as long as that son was well, she could look forward to support perhaps to the very end of her days. But alas, alas, one day the son died too. One day the son died too.
And you better believe that the death of her only son was like an earthquake that shook the ground beneath this woman’s feet. It was as if, as if the last firm, stalwart pillar of her life had collapsed. And make no mistake about it, as that young man was being carried out of the gate of the city of Nain on the way to the cemetery where his body would be laid to rest for the last time, make no mistake about it that in that great crowd of mourners no one was more desolate, no one was more overwhelmed with grief than this tearful mother who was walking beside the casket.
But wait a minute. Wait a minute. This picture is not as grim. This scene is not as dark as it looks at first. For you see, as this woman was going out of the gates of this city with her life seemingly in ruins, Jesus Christ was coming in. Jesus Christ was coming in.
And it would be hard to find anywhere words more exquisitely beautiful than the words that Luke writes for us here. Because Luke says that when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and He said to her, “Do not weep.” Think about those words for a minute. Aren’t they lovely? Aren’t they beautiful? When the Lord saw her, He felt sorry for her. And He said, “Don’t cry. Don’t cry.”
Now hear me in this, my friends. The reason that Jesus had been on the way to the centurion’s house is because the centurion had asked Him to come. But this woman had not asked Him to come. She didn’t even expect Him to be there. And the reason that Jesus healed the centurion’s servant was because the centurion had great faith in His word. But there is no mention of faith in this story.
You see, what happens in this story doesn’t happen because Jesus was asked to do something. What happens here does not happen because somebody trusted Him to do it. What happens in this story happens because Jesus is Lord. Because Jesus is Lord. And because He felt sorry for her. And a sovereign Lord, moved by compassion, does something that nobody asked Him or even expected Him to do.
And sometimes, sometimes, we fall into the trap of thinking that if I don’t bring my troubles to God, God isn’t interested in my troubles. And we fall into the trap of thinking that if I don’t trust God in my troubles, that He won’t do anything. Those things are not true.
No wonder that the writer of Hebrews tells us that we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our weaknesses, but He was in all points put to the test like we are, yet without sin. And Jesus Christ is a sympathetic, compassionate Lord.
A man was once visiting a jewelry store that was owned by a friend of his. The friend was conducting him on a tour of the store. As he went around the store, the man saw magnificent diamonds. He saw many beautiful jewels. But then they came to a stone that seemed to have no luster and no brilliance. And the man pointed at the stone and he said, “That has no beauty at all.”
And his friend the owner picked up the stone, put it in the hollow of his hand, and closed his hand around it for a few moments. And then he opened his hand. And what a surprise. That stone was gleaming with all of the colors of the rainbow. And the man who was touring the store said, “What did you do with it?” And his friend the owner replied,
“This is an opal. It is what we call the sympathetic jewel. All it needs to do is to be gripped by the human hand to display all of its wonderful beauty.”
Dear Christian friends, this morning Jesus Christ is the heavenly opal. He left behind all of the splendors of heaven. And He was gripped by human experience. He was gripped by human suffering. He was gripped by human sorrow. And it was in His manhood that all the wonderful colors of His sympathetic and compassionate beauty were revealed.
Many years ago a British publication was offering a prize for the very best definition of a friend. They received thousands of replies. Among the definitions of a friend that they received was this one: “One who multiplies joys and divides sorrows.” Or this one: “One who understands our silence.” Or this: “A volume of sympathy bound in cloth.” Or this: “A watch which beats true for all time and never runs down.”
But would you like to know what the winning definition of a friend was? Here was the prize-winning definition:
“A friend — one who comes in when all the world has gone out.”
One who comes in when all the world has gone out. And that’s the kind of friend we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. When everything fails us, when everyone fails us, Jesus is there. He’s the friend who comes in when all the world has gone out.
And don’t you see it? Here was this woman going out, her life in ruins. But the best friend that man has ever known was coming in. So there they are, the weeping widow and the sympathetic Savior, face to face. Her eyes are filled with tears and His eyes are filled with compassion.
And then, before her startled gaze, He walks over to that open coffin and He lays His hand on it and He brings that funeral procession to a stop. And with utmost simplicity He speaks to that corpse and He says,
“Young man, I say to you, arise.”
And immediately the young man arose and began to talk. And then we read this: He presented him to his mother.
You know, I don’t have the slightest idea of what Jesus said when He presented this young man to his mother. Maybe something very, very simple like, “Here’s your son. Take him home.” But I’m willing to bet that she forgot what He said the minute after He said it. This was the most thrilling and exciting moment of her whole life. And the grief that she had felt so deeply just a few minutes before is now swallowed up in unbelievable joy.
And friends, if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, if you’ve trusted Him as your personal Savior, that’s going to be your experience too. Your sorrows will be swallowed up by joy. “Oh,” you say, “wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is entirely different. I mean, this woman had only had a dead son for a day or two. Maybe he had not been dead more than a few hours. But my troubles, my sorrows go on and on and on.”
And yes, maybe from one point of view they do. But do you realize that there is a sense in which your sorrows are no longer in duration than the grief of this widow? And that is why the Apostle Paul wrote that inspiring passage in Second Corinthians chapter 4:
“For our light affliction, which is only for a moment, which is only for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.”
Thomas Nast was an extremely gifted and skilled artist. And on one occasion he was demonstrating his skills at a public exhibition before a live audience. He took a canvas that was about six feet long and two feet wide and he laid it on an easel long way. And then he began to paint with his brush. And very rapidly he painted in a landscape scene. And quickly he added things like a green meadow with a path and a field of grain, a farmhouse with surrounding buildings and orchard. And finally he painted a lovely bright sky with fleecy clouds overhead.
And then he stepped back from the picture, still holding his brush. And his audience gave him a warm round of applause. But then Thomas Nast stepped back to the canvas. And this time he was using darker colors. And he seemed to be almost bashing them on the canvas carelessly. And he blotted out the landscape. He blotted out the farmhouse. He blotted out the orchard. He blotted out the pleasant skies. And finally what was left was a blob of dark color such as a child might make.
And then Thomas Nast stepped aside again. And this time he laid down his brush as though to say the picture is finished. And this time there was no applause from his puzzled audience. Then Thomas Nast ordered a couple of stagehands to frame the canvas in a gilt frame and then to set it upright so that the long side of the painting was vertical instead of horizontal.
And when that was done, before the eyes of everyone there appeared a panel picture of a beautiful waterfall with its waters plunging off some dark rocks, skirted on either side by trees and dark, rich, verdant undergrowth. And the audience was amazed. And they burst into enthusiastic rounds of applause.
And listen to me. God is the master artist. And sometimes He paints on the canvas of our lives in dark, dark colors. The dark hues of trouble and tragedy and difficulty and frustration. But listen. When that picture is framed by His sovereign wisdom, when it is viewed from the standpoint of eternity, it is a lovely and brilliant picture.
The songwriter got it right, didn’t he?
“If we could see beyond today as God can see,
If all the clouds should roll away, the shadows flee,
The present griefs we wouldn’t fret,
Each sorrow we would soon forget,
For many joys are waiting yet for you and me.
If we could know beyond today as God doth know,
Why dearest treasures pass away, why tears must flow,
And why the darkness leaves the night,
Why dreary days will soon turn bright,
Someday night’s wrongs will be made right,
Faith tells us so.”
And my dear Christian friends, this morning, don’t you see that this widow was standing in the presence of someone whose plans and purposes cannot even be defeated by death? His voice is more powerful than the grave. And someday He will say to every human being who has ever lived and died, “Arise, arise, arise.” And yes, some of them will arise and go out into everlasting damnation. But those of us who have trusted in Him alone for eternal life will go into a world where sorrow is no more, where tears have been wiped away, and where all of the griefs of earth have been swallowed up by eternal joy.
And you know, I really don’t blame the crowds for reacting as they did. This miracle was such a staggering exhibition of divine power that the people were afraid. And yet at the same time they glorified God with their lips. And they said, “A great prophet has arisen among us.” And they also said, “God has visited His people.”
You know what? You know what? They were right. But they were only half right. And most of the people in that audience didn’t realize that the God who in times past had spoken to their fathers through the prophets had now in these last days spoken to them and visited them in the person of His eternal Son. And most of the audience at Nain did not realize that the person they were looking at was God manifest in flesh.
And you see, Christian friends, if you and I really know who Jesus is, if we really understand how He feels when we go through problems, then we’ll be able to do what He commanded all of His disciples to do. We’ll be able to build our lives on the solid rock in His word. And then when everything seems to be caving in around us, His compassion and His power will be firm ground beneath our feet. And even if we doubt it, even if we don’t believe it, His compassionate power will be there for us.
No wonder that speaking to Christians the Bible says this beautiful thing: “If we believe not, and we don’t trust Him, and sometimes we don’t, if we believe not, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself.”
Some years ago a minister’s wife was sick in bed one Sunday afternoon. And her husband had to go to a meeting. And he was a little reluctant to leave her at home alone, sick in bed. But his wife encouraged him to go. And she said something that was a little unusual. She said to him,
“Don’t worry. God will take care of you.” Not “Don’t worry. God will take care of me,” but “Don’t worry. God will take care of you.”
Well, the minister left. And as the wife was lying there, she was meditating on some of the truths that her words suggested. And evidently she felt strong enough to compose a poem. And when the minister came back, he read the poem. And later on he set that poem to music.
Would you believe it that the hymn that was created by that minister and his wife out of a simple Sunday afternoon sickness is in your hymn books in front of you in the pew?
“Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you.
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.
Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you.
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you.
God will take care of you,
Through all the days or all the ways,
He will take care of you.
God will take care of you.”
My dear Christian friends, this morning the same tender, compassionate but powerful Savior who took care of a widow when she least expected it, that’s the Savior who will also take care of you.
Shall we pray?
Father, for the measureless compassion and the infinite power of our Savior we thank You. Help us to trust it more. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.