Second Sunday after Pentecost

"The Word is true"

Luke 7: 11-17

Luke 7:11-17 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!" And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Technology has made our lives of communicating very easy. People do not have to wait for mail or otherwise known as snail mail. Just get on the computer type a quick letter and send it through the Internet, which can be known as e-mail or electronic mail. Send a quick e-mail and the recipient can receive it in mere seconds. That is how fast people can communicate today. Just imagine what it would be like to send a letter or receiving an email about Jesus and what kind of miracles He had performed. I have written a letter so that I can read it to you today. Even though this letter is not real imagine that it is real because the accounts in the letter did happen as we heard from our Gospel lesson today.

Hello cousin, I hope you are feeling better. I have an amazing thing to tell you. It happened just today as I was walking into Nain. As I walking through the city gate, I saw people carrying out the body of a man on a bier. I think it was a funeral procession because of how the people looked. This man must of have been well known because there was a considerable crowd following him to the burial site outside the city. I heard somebody whispering near me and pointing out who the mother was. I heard that his mother was a widow and that he was the her only son.

Upon hearing that she was a widow and that her only son has just past away, it was kind of hard to imagine how she was going to support herself and take care of herself now. There is now nobody there for her. She was weeping and it seems that she would never stop due to her lost. As they were leading the body to the cemetery, this one man with people following him were coming through the gate to enter into the city when the precession was about to exit the city. Now it was strange but it seems this one man was important. He had his own crowd following him. There were 12 men beside him.

He did not even have to ask what was going on because he went straight to the mother. It was as if he knew who she was but I have never seen this person before. While I was trying to figure out who this man was there was something about him. He actually looked like he cared for this widow. There was a sense of compassion on his face. I was close enough to hear him say to the widow " Do not weep". Now cousin, I was astonished when I heard that. How was the mother not supposed to weep? Her only son had just died.

Then this man goes to the bier where the body of the man is and stops the people carrying the body. I thought he was going to pay his respect to the man but instead says "Young man, I say to you rise." It did not seem long but in an instance, the man just sat up and then began to speak as if he was not dead at all. This man helped him off the bier and brought him to his mother. It was amazing. I could not believe what I just saw. Then I heard people shouting in the background "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!" After that, this man and his followers started to enter the city with a crowd of people following him. I got close enough to hear his followers call him Jesus. From that point on, I started to follow him and started to listen to the man in which even death was no match for him. That is it for now cousin.

How real this letter might have been during Jesus’ time. Any person could have written this letter and sent it to a person in their family about the accounts of Jesus. The only way information was passed was by either writing a letter or telling somebody the story. That was how information was passed along from one person to another. The Bible made up of books and letters was a way to tell somebody about events that happened. Of course, there are people today who say that these accounts were not real. That people made this up and the Bible is not real. On the other hand, questions are brought up like "did it really happen 2000 years ago and how do you know if was real?" Questions like these attempt to put doubt into the people. Questions like these try to make people think that it did not happen like that. This so called Jesus could not raise the dead. That it was not possible because science has proven that once you’re dead, you are dead. Questions arise about Jesus that he never was even raised from the dead. There was no resurrection because it is impossible.

Sin and the devil love to ask those kinds of questions and put doubts into our minds. They try to use human wisdom of today to make God’s wisdom look wrong. The bible is wrong and the times have change. Some people say that they believe in Christ and yet do not preach from the Bible. That the Bible is an outdated book or it was good book to read. People who say these things do not believe. They do not believe in God’s word. Sin and the devil use these people to tell false things about God.

Sin and the devil will say anything to make God look wrong. Well it is not outdated or wrong, it is the Truth. Hear what Saint Paul says about the gospel and the word from 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you receive and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received, I passed on you as of first importance that Christ died for your sins according to the Scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time. Most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles and last of all, he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

By Paul’s account and those who have seen Jesus, God’s word is true. That Jesus did die on a cross on a certain Friday and rose on a certain Easter morning. Jesus did not just appear to some people, he appeared to over 500 people to let them witness that he was alive and that not even death can stop him. Without scripture, we would never know why God sent Jesus. We would never know that God sent Jesus because He loves us. That Christ died on the cross to bear all of our sins so that God can forgive us of our sins. How can the bible be false or outdated with words like forgiveness and love? The bible proclaims our salvation through Christ. He died on the cross and rose again according to the scriptures. We read and believe that today in the same scriptures that Paul believed in.

God has given us one of the greatest gifts in the world and that is scripture. People might say have you ever seen God personally or has he done something for you. Well the answer is Yes, He has done something for us. He sent His Son to die on the cross for us. We can believe that God has done something for us and will continue do something for us through His son Jesus through our readings of the Gospel. While reading, the bible the Holy Spirit helps us to believe in God’s word increasingly. While we read, the Holy Spirit nourishes our faith.

The Holy Spirit not only nourishes our faith but also uses us to get God’s word out to the people. The Holy Spirit had worked through Luke to write his Gospel account. Luke was an excellent writer and a great historian. He used the gifts that God gave to him to write an account of Jesus to Theophilus. While preparing his book, Luke researched the accounts from people.

Luke went out and searched for every detail. He found out who was there and interviewed that person. He did not just get one account from one person but from as many people as he could get. While the Holy Spirit used Luke to write our gospel lesson, we can read that Jesus had compassion. However, I think Luke meant that Jesus showed compassion. To see compassion for a widow who has lost her husband and now has lost her son. This act of compassion shows us and other reader that God cares for His children. That he cares for his people more then anything. What other god cares for his people more then ours. Our God ask for nothing but to believe in Him. Our God loves us so much that He does the work for us because He knows that we cannot do it ourselves. That is why God continues to send the Holy Spirit to us. For if we were to do it ourselves to proclaim God’s word we would be like sheep lost and confused.

Do not worry but trust in the Lord. He will not leave you at all. He does not want you to be confused but to have faith in him. To believe that nothing will ever get in the way of you and Him. That he wants us all to be with him in the Kingdom of Heaven. The account of our Gospel lesson also shows us that not even death can stop God. God has the power over all things. We can assume that this man probably passed away again later in his life. Yet we know and believe that once he did pass away he was with God in Heaven. Because when our heavenly Father calls us, we will receive eternal life. Why do we receive eternal life? We receive eternal life because Jesus has promised us. How do we know? We know from scripture from John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

People will try to tell you that the Bible is false and that the resurrection did not happen. What God has told you is true. That Christ died for you. In times of worry and doubt, drop everything pick up your Bible and read God’s word. Pray upon God’s word. Even Paul had people telling him and other people that the resurrection did not occur and the time between him and the resurrection was less than 50 years. Hear what Paul told them "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raise, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Nevertheless, Saint Paul states "but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive but each in his own turns, Christ, the first fruits, then, when he comes, those who belong to him." There is nothing more that needs to be said because Christ has indeed been raised. We are the ones as Paul states that belong to him. We will always belong to him today tomorrow and with him in Paradise. In Jesus Name. Amen