January 28, 2011 Forward Motion Faith

God Intervenes for a Widow

Scripture was clear on His birth.  Many in His day overlooked it.  They missed it completely.  His name would be called Immanuel which is interpreted, “God with us!” (Matthew 1.23).  He was man yet He was God.  He was “with us” and He is still with us.  All of us.  But every day there are millions of people on this planet who miss Him completely.  For too many reasons to list they just miss His being with us.  What will it take for us to know He is with us?  For one widow woman and her family and friends, realizing God was with them would be result of her son being resurrected.  It would be one day she would never forget.  Her story is told in Luke 12.12-17.  Just a handful of scriptures but they leave the finger print of God with one family in particular.

Luke 7:16  Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

In a nutshell here is what happened.  Jesus is walking to a city called Nain.  On His way He comes up on a funeral procession with a large crowd following.  A widow woman is marching behind the coffin of her only son.  The coffin was not a covered casket like we’re used to seeing.  It was more of a stretcher with the covered body of the deceased on it.  Several things to note here right off the get-go!  First, Jewish law forbade anyone except the immediate family from touching the body or the coffin or else they would be unclean.   Jesus broke this law!  Second, the woman had been acquainted with grief because she was a widow.  She had already lost her husband and following this coffin more than likely brought out of her a lot of emotions, pain and grief.  Third, the boy or his mother must have been somehow influential in the city of Nain because scripture informs us there was a large crowd following the coffin.  Fourth, when Jesus saw this woman, compassion overwhelmed His heart.  He spoke to her and told her not to weep.  Fifth, He returns life to this deceased boy and presents him to his mother.  Sixth, and not recorded in holy writ is the fact that this boy would face death again. 

What does this say to us?  How does this impact us?  I think the point here for us is that Jesus knows our heart.  He knew this woman’s heart.  She had been down this road before and He really didn’t want her to deal with death like this again.  So He stepped in and resurrected her son. 

How many of us have had to face the same critical, if not fatal issues of life not once, but again and again.  How many of us have had to walk behind our “coffin” which carried a promise given?  How many of us have walked with “the crowd” not toward victory but to the tragic end of a life experience we didn’t want to end?  How many of us have heard Jesus whisper in our hearing, “Don’t weep!” but wrestled with His words, not knowing the next few steps He would take to give us reason not to weep? 

This widow had already lost her husband.  She now was going to bury her son.  Jesus for a sovereign reason did not want this to happen to her.  Can’t tell you why He didn’t stop all funeral processions – but this one I can.  Compassion wouldn’t let Him watch this opportunity go by!

I was coming home from visiting family in Tennessee several years ago when I was caught in a speed trap.  Go figure!  Me?  Speeding?  Unbelievable!  Yep, I was guilty as home sin on pop sickle stick!  Got a blistering ticket I wasn’t happy about.  The conversation went something like this:

            Officer: “Did you know you were speeding?”

            Pastor: “I was driving with traffic.”

            Officer: “Do you know how fast you were going?”

            Pastor: “I was traveling with traffic!”

At this point the officer returned to his car and wrote me a nice expensive award for passing through “his state.”  I then proceeded to make this smart-mouth remark to the officer.

            Pastor: “Since I was riding with traffic why did I get a ticket?”

            Officer: “I couldn’t catch everybody but I did catch you.”

End of not so pleasant conversation with a Kentucky State Highway Patrol Officer.

Here’s my point.  Jesus couldn’t stop all funerals but this one He did.  He stopped it and administered His duty just like the officer did for me (although the widow woman’s experience was much more joy-filled than mine).  I got a ticket but she got her son back.

Jesus cares for us.  He steps into our life to minister to us – because He can.   Does He stop our life experiences all time from tragic results or devastating effects or discouraging moments?  No, He doesn’t.  But at His will and by His omnipotence He just knows when to step in and stop the parade of sorrow, confusion, disillusionment, grief or pain.  He just knows when to move.  How does He know?  I have to rest assured it has something to do with His ability to take compassion to action.  It’s His call.  He knows when to move.  He knows when to tell us not to weep.  He knows when to stop the crowd from moving in the direction of sadness.

My starting point?  This widow woman – this mother and her crowd of followers would have a life experience that would leave them never to ask the question, “Is God really among us?”  They concluded, “God has visited His people!” 

I have seen many times when people have gathered as a crowd.  We have followed into our sanctuary’s those who have been broken hearted, broken spirited, disillusioned, confused, grieved, lonely, in bondage, etc.  I have seen many times when the Lord has “interrupted” the service only to speak loud and clear, “Stop weeping.”  I have seen Him in supernatural ways change the direction of the “parade”.   He has presented life back to us in a variety of ways.  You see the widow woman’s son would be given the gift of life only to have to face death again at some time in his future.  But that was yet to come.  The important thing to himself and his mother was that he was alive.  Life today is more important than any circumstance presented tomorrow.

Sometimes we experience a move of the Lord in our life only to realize that we may have to deal with this life circumstance again in the future.  But the future isn’t as important as this very moment – right now.  And right now God is speaking to someone and saying, “Stop crying.”  Why does He speak this to us?  To you? To me?  Because He is about to break every law, stop the crowd, interrupt our life experience to turn things around for us.  He may not catch every situation in our life but the one’s He does – He sure makes a difference in.  We too can say to those around us, “God has not just visited His people!”   He has visited us!  He has visited you!  He has visited me!  Praise be to His name!