The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”
(verses 15-17)
-
A funeral entourage interrupted. It’s as if two worlds collide on the road outside Nain – a procession of death and a procession of life; a lifeless corpse, surrounded by grief, encountering the Lord of life himself.
As these worlds intersect, Jesus reaches out to the bereaved mother, his heart embracing her sorrow. “Don’t cry,” he says. Then, purpose-filled, he directly confronts the coffin, laying on hands, speaking to the dead son: “Young man, I say to you, get up!” At that divine word, the son revives, a corpse no more.
Imagine the wonder. “They were all filled with awe” – of course! What shock, what heart-thudding surprise, what joy, so intense it verges on fear. “Who is this?” “How can this be?” “What gives?” “What’s happening?”
The crowd provides its own answer, incomplete, but profound. “A great prophet – God has come to help his people.”
It’s not yet the full story, but they’ve truly grasped the essence. “God has come to help his people.” It’s an insight filled with tenderness. God has so loved that he has come, intersecting with our experience, connecting with our need, stepping right in, right up.
What areas lie dead and lifeless in my own experience? What assumption of death needs to be turned back? What impossibility needs to be interrupted by the divine word? At what points do I need to be confronted by the tender reality that God has indeed come to help me, right here, right now?
-
Lord, speak to my faith – it needs reviving. Interrupt any assumptions I’ve made that my prayers are dead in the water. Breathe new life into those gifts I’ve allowed to grow lifeless. And grip my mind with the tenderness of your presence, right here with me, as you continue to be ‘Immanuel,’ ready to help, ready to save.
-
Reflect:
What circumstance in your own experience right now needs Jesus’ fresh touch of life?
-
Photo by Danie Franco on Unsplash
Comentários