The Church Season of Trinity
The
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Our
Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 23, 2012)
1 Kings 17:17-24
Ephesians 3:13-21
Luke 7:11-17
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Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Luke 7:11–17, ESV
“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.”
In the Name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil
for You are with me. These are comforting words from Psalm
23.
The widow in Nain is probably not thinking about words, she’s thinking
about her son, her husband, what now.
But words do come to this woman from
an intruder, from someone who does what is not allowed, not pure or ritually
clean, nor right by the eyes of the world.
And that
intruder is Jesus Christ who is also surrounded by a large crowd who were
following Him from His healing of the Centurions servant. And the very first words Jesus tells the widow is “Do not weep.” Unbelievable words to this grieving widow.
But
when Christ comes, he comes to help. He came to help these people in the Gospel
of St. Luke. And he comes into our presence to help us. He comes to change our
wailing into dancing. He comes to change our grief into joy. Surely he knows we
have much to wail and grieve about. He sees that we know the pain and anguish of
losing those we love, sometimes much too soon. He sees that we know the grief
and anguish of being the one lost, the one who dies.
Yes,
we know what its like to be dead—dead in our sins. We know the death that
happens inside when we sinfully grieve as if we have no hope. We express our
sinful death with words that masquerade as comfort and consolation—like telling
those who grieve, "Don't Cry." We die in our sin, again and again,
when we gather around our grief-stricken brothers and sisters and do nothing at
all that shows true godly compassion and mercy. These and all our sins kill us.
They kill us spiritually. In the eyes of God they put us in a coffin and make
us just as dead as that young man from Nain. Whether we're grieving over the
death of a loved one, or even over our own death, our sins are carrying us to a
spiritual grave. We know very well the need for help. We know very well the
need for God to come and help us. Because we need Jesus to help us just like he
helped this young man and his mother.
And
help us is exactly what Jesus does. Most often, and rightly so, we think of
Christ helping us by his own death on the cross. By his death he killed our
sins. By his resurrection he seals his promise that we will rise one day like
the boy from Nain. This is great help indeed. But there's also a more personal,
intimate side to Christ's help. It's the way Christ delivers this help to us
today—through his holy Word in the Bible and through his Holy Sacraments of
Absolution, Baptism, and Communion. By these gracious gifts, our Lord Jesus
Christ comes and helps us. He walks up to the deadly coffins of sin we find
ourselves in and he says, "Young man, young woman, I say to you get up!
Dear old man, sweet old woman, I say to you, arise! Arise from the coffin of
sin that holds you in and I will give you back to our Father in heaven. Your
true father, to whom you truly belong. We experience Christ's touch when we
hear him say in Holy Absolution, "Your sins are forgiven." We hear
him say, "Get up!" as the water is poured over our heads in Holy
Baptism in the name of our Triune God. We feel him raise us up from death and
give us strength for our lives of faith as he feeds us his true body and blood
at this very altar. And all the time, together with these gifts, he speaks to
us from the Scriptures, telling us over and over and over again, "Get up.
Arise. Walk and live."
Without
Christ meeting us as we walk to our own sinful death, we would remain forever
dead. Because, we know exactly who we are without his help. We are the dead. We
are dead in our sins. But Christ does come to meet us. He does come to help.
With his holy touch in the Word and Sacraments we too arise from our sinful
death. We get up—and even though we may grieve the death of those we love, we
grieve with sure and certain hope for our eternal future, and the future of
those we love. We stand up, strengthened to comfort those who mourn with our
presence and with the consolation of the Word of God. We rise from death, even
in this life, with our eternal life preserved so we can help those among us
preserve their livelihood, their strength, and their own faith. With Christ's
help, we walk in newness of life. Christ's heavenly help gives us the faith and
the strength for these and all good works.
Every
good work we do, we do in hope. Hope for our everlasting life. Because as we
all know, our sin will eventually overcome our mortal bodies. We will finally
be devoured by sin, and we will die. People will mourn our death as the widow
mourned for her only son. There may indeed be weeping and wailing and great
sorrow. But Christ has promised his help even then, precisely then. He has
promised help for those who mourn, and help for the dead, as well. His promise
of help is his promise to return. And when he does, on that great and glorious
day, we will experience the touch of God on our own coffins. We will feel
Christ's hand not in Word in Sacrament, but in true, incarnate flesh and bone.
With our own ears we will hear his voice, and he will say, "Get up. Get up
from the grave. Get up from death. Get up and be alive forever. As his words
ring forth, the fields and floods will shout for joy, the rocks and hills will
echo with praise. And with his own hand, Christ will take us to heaven to live
with him there, and we will see the widow from Nain. We will see her son. We
will join with all the nations gathered in heaven and will prove the glories of
the righteousness and love of God. And for eternity we will sing words much
like those of Psalm 30. You turned my wailing into dancing. My heart will sing
to God and will not be silent. Because we will know, most intimately, the
blessings of our Lord. Forever, we will know the blessing of the Lord who has
come. We will know in full the grace, the mercy and the peace of our Lord Jesus
Christ—Our God who has come to help his people. Amen.
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