Luke 7:11-17I Say To You “Get Up!”

11Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out--the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."

14Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

16They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." 17This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.|

Funerals are always sad. The death of a human being, any human being, always produces some amount of sorrow or regret. That is not to say that the actual passing of an individual is always sad. In some cases, death is a welcome release from pain and suffering. We may, in fact, rejoice that the departed one no longer must endure the hardships of this life.

Nevertheless, no matter how relieved, or even happy, we may be at the death, some sort of sadness can al-ways be found in those who live on. Maybe we grieve that a dearly loved father or mother, husband or wife, son or daughter, or some other relative or friend will now, and for always, be missing from our lives. We may not be sad for them, but we are certainly sad for ourselves.

Maybe we are saddened by the degrading process of dying. As medical science advances more and more, the time it takes to die seems to get longer and longer – and it’s not always a pretty sight! A huge chunk of sadness may come from the knowledge that one day we will face that same lonely path – and we don’t like to be reminded of it. It makes us sad to think of what they, and we, must go through as we die.

Or maybe we are sad because of words left unsaid or emotions that were not expressed. Perhaps we wanted to patch up a rift, or receive forgiveness from someone we wronged, or just tell them how much they meant to us and how much we love them. And now, we can’t. It’s too late we’ve missed out chance. And so it is that funerals are always sad, in one way or another.

In our sermon text, we see that this is also true for Jesus. Overall, this must have been a very good time in Jesus’ life. After waiting for 30 years, it was finally time for him to begin his public ministry and the re-demption of all mankind. He must have been eager to put into motion the plans made in eternity, and now was the time to do it!

It was still early in his ministry, in what is often referred to as his Year of Popularity. As of yet, there was no organized opposition to him. The crowds that followed him were large and enthusiastic. His disciples had been gathered and their training was well begun. He was showing one and all, by his words and ac-tions, that he was the promised Messiah. It was a good time in his life!

In our sermon text we see Jesus and his entourage entering a town called Nain. Nain isn’t known for any-thing – either then or now! It is just a typical little town in Galilee. But as Jesus and the crowds come into the town, they are met by a funeral procession coming out of the town. All funerals are sad, but this one, it turns out, is especially sad.

The dead man isn’t an old geezer who lived a full life. It is a young man, struck down early in life. What makes it more tragic is that this young man was the only son of his mother, and his mother was already a widow. This funeral was sad, not only because she would face incredible loneliness in the years to come, but because it threatened her very life!

In her society, a woman didn’t work outside of the home. She depended upon her husband to provide. And should her husband die, their son was expected to provide. Failing that, she had to depend on the charity of others. Now that both the pillars of her life were gone, she faced a bleak future of poverty and want. So sad was this funeral that the whole town was there to console her.

Jesus, too, was moved by sadness at this tragedy. Only he, unlike everybody else, could actually do some-thing about it. Without saying a word to anybody about his intentions, he walked over to the coffin and motioned for the procession to stop. All eyes were on him as he looked down at the young man and sim-ply said Young man, I say to you, get up!

Before anybody could respond in outrage at his impertinence or amusement at his silly command or won-der about what might happen, the dead man sat up. His first sight was that of Jesus’ face and no doubt he had a lot of questions he needed answered. After assuring him that all was well, and helping him out of his coffin, Jesus reunited this mother and her son. A miracle had taken place! The dead had risen! Sadness was replaced with joy!

This was plain to everyone standing there. We can well imagine their awe and amazement! And we re-joice that their awe led them to a correct conclusion. They knew this was God’s doing – and they praised him for it! No doubt remembering the Old Testament promises they said A great prophet has appeared among us. God has come to help his people. No wonder the story quickly spread throughout the coun-tryside!

Like most things that Jesus says and does, this story is not told simply to relate something from long ago that has no impact on our lives today. The story reflects a number of truths that are important to us now. It teaches us things we must know. It offers comfort and assurance that cannot be found anywhere else.

First of all, it reminds us that death is a sad event. Now you may be thinking that this is a lesson you don’t need to learn or review. We are all well acquainted with death and its sorrows. But the Lord wants us to go further in our understanding of death and why it is so very, very, sad – much sadder than we realize. We know that God is life, life in its richest and fullest sense. Even the name of God means life! He is I am!

When God determined to make mankind, it was with the intention that his creation also have life. And, in-deed, he made us in his image – we had life to the full! We were supposed to live forever in the richness of life as he experiences it. We were never supposed to die. We were never to feel the sting of birth de-fects, injury, sickness, or disease that now mar life and serve as indicators of a death to come.

However death, which is the result of our sin, is much more tragic than any of that. Its true sadness lies in the reality of hell, that is, eternal separation from the love of God. That’s what makes sin the biggest prob-lem in our lives and death the most challenging event we’ll ever have to face. No matter how you look at death, it is sad.

It is sad, not only for us who must endure it, but sad for the God who created us for life. Surely, God is saddened by our sinful rebellion against him. But part of the Lord’s sadness stems from the certainty that there is nothing we can do about it. Left to ourselves, we’ll play out our years on this earth, die, and never feel the warmth of his love. That is not acceptable to God. He loves us too much to let us go that easily.

So he makes plans to remove death from our lives. There is nothing he can do about the death of our earthly bodies. They are too corrupt with sin to ever live in their current condition. But he can do every-thing needed to ensure that we can live forever with him with our soul and a new body. To remove death from us, he will first have to remove our sin. It must be cast away, and its penalties paid by someone else.

The second member of the triune God assumes that role. The true Son of God becomes a true human be-ing so he can be our Substitute. He lives a perfect human life and exchanges it for our sinful human lives. That leaves us without sin! Having our sin means suffering the penalties for our sin. And so, he dies, he goes to hell, he is cut off from the love of his Father. But, in the process, the threat of our eternal death is gone!

This exchange goes exactly as the Lord planned it! To prove it, he raises his one and only Son from the dead! And through faith in his Son, he promises that we all become his sons and daughters for ever and ever. That means that one day, Jesus will encounter your lifeless body. He will look at you in sadness, but it won’t be a sadness of despair.

It will be the sadness of a loving God who never wanted any of this for you or me! And then, in effect, you will hear these words I say to you, get up! For us this invitation will come through the trumpet call of God and the voice of the archangel which awakens all those who sleep in death at the appearance of our Lord in the heavens! On that day, Jesus will raise you from the dead.

He will not raise you to continue an existence on this earth. No, that will be gone. Something better will take its place. We call it heaven and use the most sublime human words in an attempt to understand it fully. What it is will be life, life as God intended it. It will be life in the fullness of his loving presence. It will be better than anything we can imagine.

We will be given new bodies, bodies referred to as resurrection bodies. These resurrection bodies will be real, like the bodies we have now. But they will be perfect! They will be sinless and holy! Without sin, we will never die or experience any of the maladies that precede death. There will never, ever, be anything to disturb our bliss, our contentment, our utter and complete peace!

This is no fairy tale spun from an overactive imagination or the wishful thinking of guilty desperados. This is a truth upon which to build a life – a life now in light of the life to come. It is your life through faith in Christ Jesus. You will hear the words of Jesus commanding you to get up! You will see his face and be comforted. You will live, never to die again! Amen.