Critical Questions
Luke 7:11-17 (RSV)
11 Soon afterward he went to a city called Na'in, and
his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As
he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man
who had died was being carried out, the only son of
his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd
from the city was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw
her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not
weep." 14 And he came and touched the bier, and the
bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to
you, arise." 15 And the dead man sat up, and began to
speak. And he gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized
them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great
prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his
people!" 17 And this report concerning him spread
through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding
country.
Last week we looked at this passage and asked the
question “Which crowd are you in?” Are you in the
crowd that follows death, or are you in the crowd that
follows the Christ who gives life? The crowd that you
are in depends on some critical questions. The first
critical question is WHO IS JESUS? This passage shows
us that he is MUCH MORE THAN JUST A GREAT PROPHET.
The Jews knew that only God had the power to raise the
dead. Since Jesus raised this man to life they knew
that God was visiting his people. They knew that
prophesy had been fulfilled (Dt. 18:15-19; Isa. 9:6-7;
Lk. 1:67-79). They experienced a God of compassion.
(v.13)
JESUS IS THE WORD MADE FLESH
They experienced first hand the life-giving power of
the Word; the Word that became flesh and was dwelling
among them. (John 1:14) It was the power of the Word
that raised the young man from death to life, and this
was the same Word (Jesus) that was used to create the
world (Jn 1:1). God is showing man through the
raising of the dead man that the Christ who authored
all of creation has come to redeem his people.
These critical questions and a closer examination of
Luke 7 help us to see that Christ needs to be the
center of our lives. He is the son of God, the
redeemer of the world, and the only way through the
judgment of the King at the city gate.
Just as Jesus goes to the dead man and touches him and
uses the Word to restore him to life, God comes to us
in the form of Jesus and touches our lives which are
dead to sin with the Word made flesh’s sacrifice on
the cross. Just as Jesus had compassion on the dead
man, God has compassion on us.
William Hiskey
DCE, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bowling Green, KY
Updated: 07/16/03
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