Sunday, June 9, 2013: Luke 7:11-17

We see it every day on the news—the raw grief of a parent whose child has died, perhaps in a drive-by shooting or while serving in Afghanistan. Sometimes the tragedy is tied to an automobile accident. We hear of these deaths so often that we become numb to the pain. Then comes something like the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Parents, friends and neighbors weep. We see pictures of smiling boys and girls and hear of their talents, their passions and their joy. There is a particular poignancy when we hear that one of the dead was an only child. We cannot ignore the grief. We respond viscerally.

Like the Newtown parents, the widow at Nain lost a child. She felt the raw grief of any parent whose child has died, and as the child was her only child, she despaired at the loss of her identity and support. Her social security and status were gone.

With all that Jesus had seen in his ministry so far, we might expect that he would have shown some evidence of compassion fatigue. Instead he found the scene gut-wrenching. He responded to the bereft widow with “Do not weep” and then touched the bier, told the dead young man to arise and gave him back to his mother, thus restoring her life as well.