Jesus entered the village of Nain, walked straight into a funeral procession and jolted life into a dead man. The only son of a widow, the mother depended on the boy. Jesus’s act placed her back on solid footing in a society where childless widows faced desperate futures.

It doesn’t appear that Jesus knew this woman or her son before he strolled into town. However, it didn’t take much for Jesus to understand the woman’s predicament. Jesus acted with compassion and mercy in reanimating the son.

Also, neither the woman nor her son show any previous knowledge of the man who crashed their ceremony. Jesus played his trump card over death for a family who didn’t follow him or profess faith in him—at least not yet.

Along with mother and son, the entire burial entourage experienced an impossible miracle. Hope born again. Heaven invaded their village for a day.

Of course, funerals don’t end miraculously. We experience tragic deaths and broken families again and again. This side of heaven they won’t go away.

But when Jesus arrived, a new hope entered those around him. It’s good to ask him to show up unexpectedly and fill us with his presence, whether we see hoped-for miracles or not.

Luke 7 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by panyawat auitpol