16th Sunday after
Trinity – September 23rd, 2012 – Luke 7:11-17
In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and His disciples
and a great crowd went with Him. 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
was with her.” Today’s sermon
isn’t going to pull any punches. Today
we are going to pull the curtain back on life in this fallen world, we are
going to wipe off the makeup and see what we really looks like. Why?
Because in our text, in our Gospel lesson, the rubber meets the
road. This text is what Christ’s life is
about, what this Church is about. It is
about life versus sin and death.
Consider what our Lord sees when He approaches the town of Nain. He sees death. Unvarnished death and tragedy. He sees a man who has died. There’s death. He sees a widow wrapped in
pain and sorrow – that’s death as well.
The death of joy, the death of blessings that He Himself had given to
her. The husband that Jesus had given
her – gone. What God has joined
together, let not man put asunder – well, death has sundered them. The son, the child that God had given her – Jesus
sees that child snatched away by death.
When he sees the crowd, what does Jesus see? He sees death. He sees people who have lost a friend, a neighbor. He sees people mourning, forced to confront
the reality that they too are going to die, that someday it’s going to be them
carried out of that city on the funeral bier.
And in this situation, we see death clearly. But here is the thing. Death is always around us. One of the old funeral hymns of the Church
begins with the line “In the midst of life, we are in death.” We don’t know it here, so we don’t sing it,
but it’s printed up in my book that I use when I do the burial service – it’s
words I see every time I bury someone.
And it speaks to a truth that we often avoid. In this world, we are surrounded by
death. At all times. The wages of sin is death. We’ll try to cover it up, to pretend it isn’t
there, but sin is death, sin always leads to death. Think on our culture – how much goes on
trying to deny death, pretend it isn’t there.
How much do we spend on diets or make-up. Buy this cream and the wrinkles will go away,
guys can take this pill and suddenly they’ll have the body of someone half
their age. Our popular music glorifies
youth, when we tried to pretend that we would live forever. All just trying to hide death. Or think of all the drugs, the alcohol, even
the legal drugs or prescription ones – all trying to mask, to hide the pain
that keeps creeping in. We need more
medical coverage… because death continues its relentless crawl after us. Or even in our own personal lives – the sin
we see there – that’s death. Our greed
takes the blessings God has given us and kills them, turns them to ashes, and
we are not satisfied. Lust slays the
blessings of family. Anger and hatred
and envy slay friendship, even slays families.
And all the niceities, all the self-righteous backslapping and makeup
doesn’t fix it.
Well,
boy Pastor, you’re kind of dour. Remind
us not to eat whatever you had for dinner last night. No, I just want you to think for a moment,
think on this life, this world. You see,
when God looks upon this world, when Jesus is running around in the Gospel
lessons and comes across the sick, the lame, the Pharisees grasping on to their
own righteousness, He sees death. He sees
the Fall, His perfect world torn asunder by pain and violence, and mankind
doing it’s best to pretend that there’s nothing wrong, hiding from Him, trying
to cover up everything with a fig leaf and pretend everything is normal and
a-ok. And if you remember this, that
this is what Jesus sees, the Gospels make much more sense. Jesus sees death, so of course He weeps over
Jerusalem as He rides in on Palm Sunday – “And when He drew near and saw the city, He
wept over it, saying ‘Would that you, even you had known on this day the things
that make for peace.’” Of course
Jesus will turn over the money changers’ tables in the temple, as His house of
prayer is turned to a den of robbers and death.
There’s a reason He doesn’t beat around the bush, there’s a reason Jesus
doesn’t mollycoddle sin. There’s a
reason He has to heal the sick, the suffering, there’s a reason He has to cast
out demons. Because He sees death all
around, death messing with His world, and He can’t put up with it.
“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 was with her.” Death again.
Death open and obvious so that even we who like to live in denial, who
like to pretend that everything is alright, situation normal, even we see
it. And what does Christ do? “And when He saw her, He had compassion on
her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”
Profound. Christ Jesus, He who
Himself weeps over Jerusalem, who weeps over the death of His friend Lazarus
walks up to this woman, this woman in the obvious grasp of death, and He says
do not weep. Why would He say that? When He sees death, even He weeps. He has compassion – His own guts are
wrenched… that’s literally the Greek for compassion, to have your guts
wrenched. Why would He tell her not to
weep? Very simple – Jesus has put up
with all the death He can stand, and the Lord of Life is going to fix things.
“And
then He came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.” This is
actually the most shocking part of the text.
A good Jewish Man wouldn’t touch the bier, the coffin. It made you ritually unclean. You don’t touch a dead body – and there is
Jesus, this stranger, just walking up and touching the dead man’s bier,
physically with His own Body walking up and stopping the procession of death in
its tracks. And then, “And
He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, ARISE.” And it’s not just “arise” – it’s be
GENESISed… be re-created. I, Christ
Jesus am the Word of God, I am the One by Whom all things were made, and I say
to you young man, BE MADE AGAIN. Enough
of this sin, enough of this death, enough even of this Genesis chapter 3 stuff,
we are going back to chapter 1 – let this young man be, be alive as I had
created Him to be. And when God speaks,
what He says happens. “And
the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” Recreation, restoration, sin and death
toppled, right then and there.
This
is why we hear, “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God saying, ‘A great prophet
has arisen among us,’ and ‘God has visited His people!’” This is something divine. This is God at work – this is a God thing,
this is a God fixing His creation thing, and it is wondrous and amazing and
amazing. This is God taking on death for
us. But you know, my dear friends, that
this is just one of the opening skirmishes of Christ’s assault on death. No,
when our Lord looks upon this world, He had seen death. And He was not going to be content with
raising a few people here and there, curing a handful over three years. No – if Jesus is going to stop death, by
Himself He is going to STOP DEATH for good.
And so He does that which is unthinkable, that which those so used to
covering up death, to ignoring death, would never have expected, indeed, cannot
understand. He goes Physically into
death with His own Body. He will not
just touch this young man’s funeral bier – He will take one Himself. He will go to the Cross, and there He will
face down death for all of us, even as the mockers stare on and mock in
stupidity. “He saved others,” they mock,
“but He cannot save Himself.” Blind and
caught in death, do you not see that with His death Christ Jesus is destroying
death, destroying even your death.
Christ Jesus goes to the cross and He dies, He swallows up everything
that death is – and then, He rises. The
third day comes, and the Lord of Life steps out of the grave and says, “That’s
it death… you’re finished. Kaput. That’s all you wrote. As I Myself have risen, so too will every
man, woman, and child that you have ever gotten your hooks into.” It’s what we confess in the Creed – and I
look forward to the resurrection of the dead.
Ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down, or your body down, or anybody’s body
down – for Christ is risen.
Yes,
you still live in a fallen world. Yes,
even in this life now you are in the midst of death – that reality is all
around you to see. But your Lord Christ
Jesus does not leave you to sin and death.
When you were born into this world of death, Christ Jesus took you,
claimed you as His own in the waters of Baptism, said, “You are mine, you are
with me, you are forgiven, and not only will you live because I live, but your
sins are forgiven and you will be with Me for all eternity.” And as we live out our lives in this world,
as we face the struggles of life in this world – as our own sinful flesh wars
against the new man that dwells within us, Christ Jesus comes to us in His Word
and says, “You are forgiven, for I have died and risen for you, and there is
nothing that will bind you to death. You
are mine.” He sees your struggles, and
He calls you to His table and says, “the food and drink of this world only
support you for a time – let Me give you True Food, True Drink, Food and Drink
that will forgive you and make you ready for the never-ending feast in the life
of the world to come – take and eat, this is My Body, take and Drink, this is
My Blood that is shed for you, My Blood
that has already faced down death once – and it will face it down again for you
and with you every moment of your time in this world.”
There is a battle going on around us, all the time. Sin and death creep along, waging their war against God’s creation, against you, seeking your corruption and downfall. But while they try to pull the wool over our eyes, while they try to coax us into denial and hatred and sin and vice – Christ your Lord sees. He sees death trying to do it’s worst, and He does what He always does – He jumps full bodied into death’s path, and He smacks death around and sends it to flight. Thus we sing, “My dearest friend, I now commend, my soul into Your keeping; from sin and hell and death as well, by You the Vict’ry reaping.” This is what Christ Jesus did upon the Cross, this is what He does and brings to you by His Word – He stops your death, and He gives you life, life that endures well beyond this world, all thanks and glory be to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
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