Big Idea: Who are those who belong to Christ’s kingdom? Should we be able to tell them apart from the world? What we will see over the next several weeks is that those who belong to Christ’s kingdom are the humble, the hurting, the honest, and the humiliated.
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Luke 7:12 (ESV) — 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
Together with the fatherless and the sojourners, widows were members of a disadvantaged class in ancient Hebrew society… the widow, in her frequent poverty and dependence upon public charity, was particularly vulnerable and easily exploited. Its repeated mention in the prophets and elsewhere testifies to the prevalence of such treatment (e.g., Isa. 1:17, 23; Ezek. 22:7; 10; cf. Job 22:9; 24:21; Ps. 94:6). In addition, widowhood was held by many to be a disgrace (cf. Ruth 1:19–21; Isa. 4:1; 54:4).
… and if her husband died prematurely, this was considered a judgment for the life he had led, and she became an object of reproach, partly for her inability to prevent his untimely death (Ru 1:20, 21; Is 54:4).
The widow from Nain is not only devastated by the personal loss of a loved one, but also the societal loss of honor and respect.
It is in the midst of all this commotion (which is quite a fitting description of our own lives when we suffer tragedy), that Jesus sees the woman. And in seeing the woman, we see the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Luke 7:11–13 (ESV) — 11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
What we learn from this text, and the rest of scripture, is that Jesus sees you in the midst of your tragedy.
Psalm 56:8 (ESV) — 8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
Beloved, imagine the infinite care of a God who makes a ledger of all of our tossings, who places our tears in his heavenly repository and records them in his celestial catalog.
Isaiah 57:15 (ESV) — 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
“God’s eternity does not remove him from time, but magnifies the wonder of his grace because the transcendent, eternal God dwells with the contrite to revive them in the time of their brokenness. God is not subject to time, but he lovingly draws near to the believer in their darkest times in order to sustain them. He who is eternal vivacity revives their hearts.” –Joel Beeke; Reformed Systematic Theology
Romans 8:31-39
Questions to Consider
Are you hurting this morning? In what ways is the Lord calling us to trust him in the midst of our hurt?
In what ways have you seen the Lord Jesus meet you in the midst of your hurting?
