Another Day- Another Raised to Life

Luke 7:11-15- Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As 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. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."

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

Lazarus gets all the press, but he's not the only one raised to life in the Gospels. The widow of Nain, for example, got her son back in today's assigned Gospel. Perhaps because of the several deaths in recent months this one stuck me as particularly interesting. The event is told with simplicity, in a straightforward manner, without all the extras that John uses so beautifullt that can pull us into the story in a different way. Luke just tells us what has happened and lets us respond.

Don't cry.

That's what Jesus said to the widow. I don't know what was going through Luke's mind as he put that down on paper. The physician writing about the Great Physician. The Dr. Luke cannot offer the hope that the GP Jesus can. Did Luke think about that at that moment? Did he write it with trembling hands remembering all the families he had to cry with in his career? I am sure he did!

Don't cry.

Why not? That would be my response. And probably Luke's. There's an empty spot in my life now. It will not be filled. Crying is appropriate. It is even essential.

But he is not dead, your son is alive.

Don't cry.

Looking back at it from this vantage point I can understand it. But looking at it from today's vantage point, it is hard not to cry. We can live in assurance that this life isn't all there is. We can live knowing that there will be reunions and celebrations. But the loss is real. It is here because we poor powerless human beings can only see in these three dimensions that exist in the here and now. We can't see tomorrow let alone the eternal in the time dimension. We are limited .

Which is why we have to trust Jesus. He is the Son of the Eternally Today God. All those yesterdays and tomorrows join in Him today and everyday. Even as I write that I know it sounds like theological ramblings, attempting to give words to something wordless.

But as I said last Sunday, theology comes from experience. And, in my limited experience over these years as a Christian, I know these words express a deep, profound, inexplicable truth.

God is. In all time, God is. I am who I am. There is no past or future. It is all realized in Him today. Don't as me how- or even how I know it. It is in that area beyond consciousness.

But I know it is true.