Joy at a Funeral | Luke 7:11-17

Jesus says, the hairs of our head are numbered. All of them. We are known and loved and we’re understood, and that’s where I want to camp out today on the understood part, because God gets us welcome to the Bible for busy people. I’m Erica, and I love being on this joy journey with you. Last time you and I explore joy at a wedding. Today we’re going to a funeral, but don’t be sad. Spoiler alert, Jesus shows up and it literally turns into a celebration of life service.

So, join me in Luke chapter seven, beginning in verse 11.

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Transcription:

God knows everything. He knows the deepest secrets of the universe. He sees things that the James Webb telescope will never be able to catch, but I think the most wonderful thing is that he knows our hearts. He knows our deepest desires and what we care for, what we care about. Jesus says, the hairs of our head are numbered. All of them. We are known and loved and we’re understood, and that’s where I want to camp out today on the understood part, because God gets us welcome to the Bible for busy people. I’m Erica, and I love being on this joy journey with you. Last time you and I explore joy at a wedding. Today we’re going to a funeral, but don’t be sad. Spoiler alert, Jesus shows up and it literally turns into a celebration of life service. So, join me in Luke chapter seven, beginning in verse 11.

Soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son and a large crowd from the village was with her when the Lord saw her. This is our takeaway verse 13, when the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. Don’t cry, he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. Young man, he said, I tell you, get up. Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. I have chills right now. Great fear swept the crowd and they praised God saying, almighty prophet has risen among us and God has visited his people today. Quick note here. It wasn’t a shaking in your sandals kind of fear that the people felt in this case, the people had a reverential awe of the Lord who was right there with them doing a miracle.

All right, let’s pick up the story. We have one more verse, verse 17, and the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside. I bet it did. What an awesome story. Awesome. In the true sense of the word, I’m filled with awe. Now, here we go again. The word joy cannot be found in Luke’s account today, but it’s a picture to me of the promise. In Psalm 1 26, weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Can you see the story unfolds in your mind’s eye? The weeping mother, the crowds of mourners dressed in black, the Lord taking all of it in, and then the miracle happens. The dead boy lives and the tears of joy begin to flow. Imagine the joy she

Experienced in that moment. Jesus was overflowing with compassion for the mother of the boy. He was moved by her grief and her loneliness, and he acted on her behalf. Jesus understands your grief and my grief. The prophet Isaiah says, he’s acquainted with grief and the Lord has compassion on you and I. His heart goes out to us. The Lord is good to all. It says in Psalm 1 45, he has compassion on all he has made. To me, this is caused for joy. We have a God who understands us, who knows us inside and out, who catches our tears in his bottle, as it says in Psalm 56. Is there anything more sweet or more tender than that? The Lord loves you. He has compassion on you. Sit with those words today. Let them bless you. He has compassion on you. You are not forgotten and you are loved.

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