Luke 7:11-17 The Funeral that Never Happened
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: July 24, 2018 Luke 7:11-17
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Soon afterward he 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 from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus left Capernaum sometime after the healing of the centurion’s servant. The SDA commentary says that the translation “the day after” is more like Luke’s style. I assume that the visit to Capernaum was for Peter and some of the other disciples who lived near there to check in with their families. I read somewhere that Jesus’ mother Mary may have moved to Capernaum, so maybe Jesus visited with His mother also. However, Capernaum was only a rest stop. The SDA commentary says that this was the beginning of Jesus’ second missionary journey through Galilee and that it probably took place in early autumn of A.D. 29. The setting of this passage is a town called Nain. Nain is far enough from Capernaum that there must have been other experiences that happened in between verses 10 and 11.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) The SDA commentary says Nain “is generally identified with the modern Nein, on the northern slopes of a mountain overlooking the broad plain of Esdraelon to the north. Nein is situated about 25 mi. southwest of the site of ancient Capernaum and about 5 mi. south of Nazareth. There is but one approach to the village, along a steep and rocky path (see DA 318) that comes in from the east. About half a mile east of the village is a rock-hewn burial ground still in use today.” If Nain was so out of the way, why was Jesus going there? It sounds like it was not on the way to some other place. Jesus was specifically choosing to go to Nain. Was He being led there by the Spirit, or was it just a town that He had not yet visited? Jesus grew up not too far from Nain. Did he personally know the widow? Did He come here specifically for her?
(Understanding the Text) Jesus is no longer traveling alone. He is accompanied not only by His twelve disciples but also by a large crowd walking with him. Did it seem like a parade of people going down the road? What did the people think they were receiving by traveling with Jesus? Didn’t they have day jobs? As they neared the gate of the town, they met another crowd of people leaving. They were carrying the body of a young man and his mother was sobbing. Jesus’ crowd politely drew back to let them pass. Also, they may not have wanted to become ceremonially unclean by accidentally touching the dead. This allowed Jesus easy access to the mother. As she passed, Jesus broke away from His own crowd and approached her.
He told her not to cry and then went over to the carrying platform and touched it. The SDA commentary says the bier “was an open coffin with the corpse shrouded in folds of linen”. The coffin “led the funersal procession (see DA 318). In Bible times such a ‘bier’ was probably made of wickerwork (see on Mark 6:43). The touch of Jesus on the coffin was a signal to the pallbearers to halt. According to the law of Moses, contact with the dead in any way, such as even touching the bier, brought ceremonial defilement for seven days (see on Num. 19:11). But to Jesus, who knew neither sin nor defilement, and who was the Source of life, there could be no defilement from contact with death.” Jesus told the young man to get up. The young man sat up and spoke. What did he say? Maybe he asked what was going on. I’m sure at that point that the carriers had hurriedly set the bier down on the ground, so the young man could stand up then. Maybe Jesus helped him to get up out of his wrappings. Then, Jesus led him over to his mother.
Lazarus is not the only person that Jesus raised from the dead, but he was different from this situation in two ways. First, he had been dead for four days. This man’s resurrection was remarkable and enhanced Jesus’ reputation as a prophet, but it could be explained away easily. Maybe they had made a mistake about the man being dead. Also, there was a Jewish superstition about the spirit hanging around for three days, so that the miracle was not that big of a deal. However, I think the big difference is that this was in the backwoods of Galilee and could be denied as rumor by the time it got to Jerusalem; however, Lazarus’ resurrection took place in Bethany, just a few miles away from Jerusalem with many important witnesses whose testimony could not be disputed. The widow of Nain’s son’s resurrection could be plausibly denied, but not Lazarus’ return to life. The SDA commentary points out one way that they are the same. In both cases, Jesus approached the grieving women and tried to stop their despair. He told the widow to stop weeping, and He tried to inspire hope and trust in Mary and Martha before He raised their dead loved ones.
(Revelation of God) Why did Jesus raise this young man to life? Was He simply moved by the widow’s tears? Many people interpret it in this way. Why this family and not another? Did Jesus personally know the woman since Nain and Nazareth were so near to each other? Was it simple proximity? There was only one road in and out of the town so the procession was unavoidable, Jesus was there, and He could not resist helping while in other situations, He was just not near the processions? Or was there some reason in this case to perform the miracle? Was it for His disciples so that they would start to understand that He had power over the grave? Maybe all the above reasons or maybe for another reason entirely?
Reading the SDA commentary gave me some perspectives. Jesus’ first missionary journey was before choosing the twelve disciples. Maybe it was more of a fishing expedition to find the men that He needed to set up His kingdom on earth. The background of this second missionary journey is that Jesus chose twelve men to be the start of His kingdom and then explained how the kingdom operated in the Sermon on the Plain. This second journey is a training mission where Jesus would do most of the work and teach by example. Jesus was showing His disciples the possibilities and responsibilities that they would be living with. During the third missionary journey, Jesus was having the disciples actually doing the jobs of healing and preaching. Did Jesus see this funeral procession as an opportunity to demonstrate to His disciples that even death was not final when they worked through the Spirit of God?
(Application / Prayer) My application to myself is that death is not permanent and even the most hopeless situations can be turned around through the power of God. My problem is trusting God to rearrange the situation rather than trying to do it myself when I know I cannot. My other application is to expect the unexpected from God. I’m sure that none of the disciples expected Jesus to do what He did. They expected Him to simply wait as the funeral procession passed by and then continue on into the city. Jesus surprised them all with His actions. As He approached the widow, they probably just thought that He was offering comfort. As He turned toward the body, they may have been somewhat confused. When Jesus touched the bier and called out “Arise,” they probably did not even have time to be confused by His words before they saw the astonishing sight of the dead man sitting up and talking. Their normal day had turned into a day of the impossible. I do not know the whole picture and I do not know the details of Your plans, so I should not expect that I know what will happen next. I just need to expect not to be able to predict what You will do, except to know that Your actions will always be out of love and for the best in the long run.