#DailyDevotion Jesus Does For One Widow What He Wants You To Do
Luke 7:11-16 11Soon after this, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd went with Him. 12As He came near the gate of the town, a dead man was carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, He felt sorry for her. “Don’t cry,” He told her. 14He went up to the open coffin and touched it, and the men who were carrying it stood still. “Young man,” He said, “I tell you, wake up.” 15The dead man sat up and started to talk. And Jesus gave him to his mother.
The LORD has a special place in his heart for widows, orphans, the poor, the foreigner, and priests. We see this throughout the Old Testament prophets. In this lesson today, the LORD Jesus Christ sees a funeral procession in Nain for a young man and he sees the man’s mother who is a widow. Luke writes, “He felt sorry for her.” Jesus felt sorrow for her deep down in his gut. Jesus goes up to the widow, tells her not to cry. He then goes up to the dead young man and tells him, “Wake up.” upon doing so, the dead young man does just that. He sits up and starts to talk and Jesus gives him back to his mother.
Unfortunately, a widow without grown children to watch over them were targets for people who wished to take advantage over them. This one at least had a grown son but he was now gone. Jesus’ own mother was a widow so I think we can see how he would feel for her in just that alone. Why did Jesus only help this poor widow? Why didn’t he help all the other widows who needed help? Why did he give this widow her son back and not other widows? We don’t know the answer to that exactly. Luke doesn’t tell us. Jesus didn’t tell us here either.
While widows were often targets to be taken advantage of, the LORD Jesus in the Old Testament did make provision for them and numerous commands concerning them. He gave widows the people of Israel to take care of them. The priests, the elders, judges and the people as a whole to make sure they got justice, they were provided for and the like. The LORD works through means usually. Even today, the LORD expects you to make sure widows and orphans, and others who depend on the LORD to take care of them. It’s why he gives you more than your need for the day. Even in the New Testament, we see Paul taking up a good portion of 1 Tim. 5 discussing the care of widows. If they have family, their family should take care of them. If they are over 60 and have been pious, working hard all their lives, and have no family the Church should provide for them.
Here though, Jesus, the LORD, provides directly for her by raising her son from the dead. Here he shows his glory and his power over life and death. Jesus raises this dead man to show us who he is. He is the LORD, the God of Israel in the flesh. He has entered our world to bring about the kingdom of God in our midst and to cause us to hear and read this to put our faith in him. Faith, not only that he can raise the dead but that he will raise all the dead on the Last Day as foretold in Daniel 7. Everyone who believes in him will be raised to eternal life and everyone who doesn’t believe in him will be raised to eternal perdition. Give thanks to God you know this, can put your faith in Jesus and be raised to eternal life on that day.
Heavenly Father, continually give us faith to believe in your Son Jesus Christ, who raises the dead, to tell us to wake up on the Last Day and receive eternal life from his hand. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.