Weeping Turned into Rejoicing

~~~ 1 Timothy 3:1-13 ~~~ Psalm 101 ~~~ Luke 7:11-17 ~~~

  

We are given another example of the power Jesus had over death.
He has compassion for this widow who is mourning the death of her only son.
The funeral procession is passing by Jesus.
 No one comes to ask Jesus to heal the son;
 it is too late he is already dead.

When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”

It is never too late for Jesus to work a miracle. 

Jesus was moved by this woman's sorrow.
She was already a widow and now she has lost her only son
 meaning she had no one to provide for her.
She was all alone and on her own. 

 

 

 The longer I reflect on the scene of the weeping woman at the funeral
of her son the more I wonder about Mary.

 It just might be that Jesus had a moment of compassion for this woman
while at the same time having a flash of what it would be like for his own mother.

 We have no evidence that Joseph was still alive when Jesus
was crucified. The written accounts do mention John but never Joseph.
Mary may have already been a widow and now
 she would no longer have her son to care for her.

 

 “Do not weep.”

 

These are difficult words to hear when you are grieving.
Jesus wants this woman to experience the truth that physical death is not the end. 

He restores life for all eternity. He is the source of life.
God the father is the giver of life and the one who receives your last breath. 

 

 Jesus healed the slave of a gentile and now he restores life to the dead son.
Touching death was to make oneself unclean as was written in the law.

Jesus defied all of the accepted rules of that time.

By becoming one of us he was able to understand
the grief of losing a loved one. 

In breathing life back into this only child
Jesus was demonstrating what life in him would be.
He broke the chains of death.
If we die in Christ we too will be raised up on the last day with him. 

“Do not weep.”

For in Christ we have life...not only our earthly life
as in the case of this widow's son,
but we life everlasting. 

Nothing can compare to the life we will experience in heaven.
There will be no more weeping but only rejoicing.

All of the losses we have experienced throughout
our life will be no more. 

Mary certainly experienced the loss of her son, Jesus,
as they laid his lifeless body in her arms,
but she also had the hope and belief that this death was only temporary. 

In Paul's letter to Timothy he lays out the guidelines
for being a good bishop and deacon.

There personal lives should reflect for the people their firm
belief in everlasting life in the Lord. 

 

My eyes are upon the faithful of the land,
that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in the way of integrity
shall be in my service. 

 

I invite you to pray for the clergy in our churches today,
that they may conduct their lives with the utmost integrity.
Please, Lord, protect our clergy from the snares of the 'Devil's trap'

Blessings come in holding strong our belief in eternal life with Christ.