Luke 7:11-17

Luke 7:11-17

And it became in the next day He departed into a city being called Nain, and many of His disciples with a great crowd journeyed with Him.  And as He drew near to the gate of the city, behold!  The only son to his mother was being carried out while being dead.  And she was a widow.  And a sufficient crowd of the city was with her.  And while looking upon her, the Lord was moved with compassion upon her and He said to her, “Do not weep.”  And after drawing near, He touched the bier.  And the ones who carried it stood in place.  And He said, “Young man, I say to you, rise up.”  And the dead man raised up and he began to speak!  And He gave him to his mother.  And fear came upon all.  And they glorified God while saying that, “A great prophet was being raised up in us,” and “God has visited His people.”  And this word regarding Him went out into the whole of Judea and all of the surrounding countryside.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus takes advantage of opportunity.  He sees an opportunity to put the power of God on display and He takes it.  This doesn’t mean that Jesus took every opportunity that came His way.  After all, I doubt that there was hardly any time that he wasn’t surrounded with someone who was sick, in pain, injured, or in need of some general healing.  But in this particular case He sees a teachable moment.  He sees a moment where He can impart some grace into the world.  He takes it.  We should likewise live our life with eyes open to see where we can put God’s power into practice.

How good are you at see opportunities that come before you?  How good are you at stepping up into an opportunity and either teaching about God or putting God’s grace and mercy into practice?

Second Thought:

Furthermore, Jesus doesn’t just have compassion upon anyone.  Jesus has compassion upon a widow who has just lost her only son.  Jesus sees a woman who is alone in the world.  Granted, she clearly isn’t emotionally alone – a great crowd has sensed her need and has come to mourn with her.  But at night, when everyone else goes home, she is all alone in the world now.  Jesus looks upon this woman and has compassion.  Jesus doesn’t help someone who is in a position to return the favor.  He doesn’t help someone who can help Him later.  He doesn’t help someone who might bestow some reward upon Him.  He helps a widow.  Jesus is consistent in His teaching and His ministry.

When you see a person who is more disadvantaged than you, are you more likely or less likely to help them?  When you see a person who is like you, are you more or less likely to help them?  When you see a person who is in a better position than you, are you more or less likely to help them?

Third Thought:

The young man is raised to life.  The young man speaks.  The crowd is amazed.  In fact, the crowd became afraid!  But if we look at the result of this, God gets the glory.  The people see what has happened and rejoice.  The people know that a prophet is among them.  The people know that God has visited them.  Their fear is healthy and it leads them to be in awe of the awesome power of God.

Why should God’s demonstrations cause us to give Him glory?  When you see something amazing from God, how do you respond?

As an aside … isn’t it interesting that when God’s power is put on display and there are no overly critical religious people around to judge, that God actually does get the praise and His message does actually get across to the people!

What sometimes gets in the way of you seeing God’s power at work and giving Him glory?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 7:18-23