The only son of his widowed mother wavered on the brink of life and death. The breath of life, which God graciously bestows upon all men, was being taken away from him with each feeble gasp. Death loomed darkly over him. Finally, the last gurgling breath from his lips he exhaled and the end of his life had come. The widowed mother knew death well as her husband was taken from her.

In the town of Zarephath she cried out in frustration to Elijah the man of God, “You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” Elijah took the dead man and carried him in his arms.

The loss of loved ones hurts us. As this widow was completely alone at the death of her son, so we may also feel alone and completely abandoned by God when death takes those whom we love. These painful emotions are best expressed by the words of the sons of Korah in Psalm 88: “… My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength. Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou has afflicted me with all thy waves … Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me?”

In a town called Nain, the only-begotten son of his widowed mother had already died. This widow wailed in anguish. The pallbearers carried the man outside the gates of the city. This widowed mother knew death well as her husband was taken from her and now her son as well. A mourning multitude followed her from the town. They may have been consoling and comforting her. Even if one has a multitude of family members and friends around, the loss of a loved one is real and we are seemingly alone.

Every parent who loses a child can resonate with the widow of Nain and the widow of Zarephath. The death of a child is unnatural and tragic. When a son or daughter dies, a father and mother feel especially the shattering and crushing power of the dominion of death.

A parent wishes more than anything that they could take the place of their child who dies. They may say, “God, please take me instead.” And yet a parent can never take that place. Jesus knew this feeling, except He was not powerless. “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep … I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

And Christ takes the place of every child, every father, and every mother and joyfully gives His life as a ransom for all. He had compassion when he saw the widow at Nain. He has compassion on you, even tasting the pangs of death for you.

Jesus had compassion on the widow: “Do not weep.” Our Lord then did a miraculous thing: He touched the coffin and the man arose and began to speak. Our Savior touched the coffin and He touched death itself. The touch of Jesus removes death and gives life. Take the baptism of Jesus for example. When Jesus was baptized, His purity and righteousness saturated the waters of the Jordan River. The murky sinfulness of these waters was placed upon Jesus. Now in all waters combined with God’s Word, Our Lord takes away sinfulness and gives righteousness, even as He touches death, but gives life. Do not weep, O baptized of the Lord for death is not your conqueror.

When you are troubled by your sins, find comfort in the account of the widow at Nain. It was there that our Lord overcame death, but also became a Lord over sin. For the wages of sin is death, and sin is the sting of death. Therefore, cling to Jesus Christ. With Him you find the forgiveness of all your sins, victory over all the enemies of your soul, as well as life and salvation.

A widowed mother was joined by a crowd in a town called Jerusalem. As they went outside the gates of the city they drew near to a hill called Golgotha. Mary’s Son carried his own wooden coffin on His beaten shoulders. He would die on that hill. This Son, a Man who had died was being carried to a tomb; He was the Only-Begotten Son of God. And this Dead Man got up after 3 days and began to speak to and through His Apostles, commissioning them to forgive sins, to baptize, to preside over His Supper and to preach and teach. And so the report about Jesus spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding countryside, to Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the ends of world.

This report about Jesus, the Heavenly Father’s Son, was spread to the whole earth. Our Lord Himself said in John’s Gospel, “For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”

The Father and the Son give life to the same persons: for the Father does all things through the Son. King David tells us in Ps. 68, “He that is our God is the God of salvation, and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.” Dearly Beloved, let no one doubt that the dead are raised. Everyone in Nain had eyes to see the widow’s dead son rise up to life and speak. Yet, it is a far greater miracle to raise to life one who will live forever, than to raise someone who must die again. You live and believe in Christ, and the second death will have no power over you.

If at a few tears of one widow of Nain, Christ had such great compassion and mercy that He came to meet her on the way, to dry the tears of grief falling from her eyes, to strike again at death, to bring back to life her son, to change weeping into joy, to change a sorrowful burial into a festival of resurrected life, to give back a living son to his mother one already lying in the coffin of death, what will He not do for you all who shed tears in this life, but whom Christ has died for, and made you, redeemed you, and called you by name?

For one day, you too, your body they will carry, encased in a casket. There may be a multitude there as with the widow of Nain or a few in number as with the widow at Zarephath. The Lord will touch your casket, and you will be resurrected. And Christ will declare to you “I say to you arise.” You will be set together with all the Redeemed on Jesus right hand and hear His most joyful voice saying, ‘Come, You blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’

The Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.