The Kingdom of Life vs.
the Kingdom of Death
Proper 5 C / St. Luke 7:11-17
9 June 2013 – Redeemer
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.” (Luke 7:13-14)
Picture an epic battle scene. Coming down into the valley from one side is the Kingdom of Light. They are arrayed in bright clothing. Their marching is smart and full of good cheer. The crowd of soldiers is filled with banter and eagerness. At their head marches their King, high and mighty, in total control and confidence.
From the other direction come the forces of darkness. They are a filthy and dirty lot. They drag their feet. They don’t talk, they grunt and groan. There is no cheer in the ranks. It seems as if they are chained together in a common and uncomfortable cause. They are ugly and vicious. Their leader is unseen for he doesn’t lead. He stands behind them and whips and prods them into action. He is not concerned for their lives but for his own.
I am not talking about some mythic battle in literature or on the big screen. This isn’t some made-up mythological story of good vs. evil – this is the revelation of life as recorded by Saint Luke in today’s Gospel reading. It’s the story of Jesus coming to town. It is the story of Jesus coming to you.
Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. They went with Him because He was brought life and light into the world. Jesus was coming from Capernaum, where he saved a Centurion’s servant from sickness and certain death.
Is it any wonder He is being followed by great crowds? Look at the great crowds that flock to the health plaza and the hospital in hopes of life, but as I’ve told you before, ultimately the hospital has a 100% failure rate – everyone dies eventually. Jesus stopped the death of that servant when no one else could. Williams – Dingmann funeral home was already building the casket, but Jesus put the construction on hold. And so the crowd followed. Let’s follow Jesus. Let’s see where His light shines, where goodness wins over evil and where life destroys death and sin and the powers of darkness are run off with their tail between their legs. Let’s join Him and march into the next battle and victory with Him.
It wasn’t a long walk until the next battle. That’s how it is in life. Evil is just around the corner. Sin is lurking. The devil is prowling around. One minute your marriage can be fine and then you’re shouting at each other. One week you’re praising God that you haven’t seen the doctor in a year and the next week you’re undergoing test after test after test. One day you seem to be fighting the good fight and waging war against your sin and the next day you’ve welcomed that sin back into your life like a long lost friend. You leave church with joy and hope and before you make it home your children are fighting, you’re worried about the bills, and your husband has already messed up.
It wasn’t a long walk until the next battle – from Capernaum to Nain. And there the King of Kings and Lord of Life clashed with death. See how different the crowd of death is from the crowd of life. There was no cheer. There was no hope. The only uniting force was the chains of death and the pull of the cemetery. They weren’t talking to each other they were crying out in anguish. It was a funeral procession and it was one of the worst funeral processions you could imagine. A man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Like the beat of a drum during a death march – a young man dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
This death couldn’t be worse. Have you ever tried to comfort yourself with that line, “Well, it could be worse.” This woman couldn’t say that. Her only son died. Her husband was already died. In the culture of Jesus’ day women did not work outside the home – they received what they needed solely from their husband. He worked. She received and a son-less widow had no one to receive from. It couldn’t be worse. This death chained her to a life of want and suffering and loneliness. The crowd was mourning, but the devil and his demons were rejoicing. This is exactly the place they wanted this woman. This is exactly the place they want you – in the darkness, filled with despair, weeping uncontrollably, feeling the full weight of sin and death and knowing that it couldn’t get worse and it will never get better.
And then Jesus says “stop.” Don’t try this at home. You are not Jesus. You cannot stop sin and death and suffering. If someone in your family is suffering, broken, and in tears, don’t say, “Stop it.” If you run into a funeral procession and you know the family is suffering greatly don’t put your hand on the casket and say “Get up.” You will accomplish nothing but embarrass yourself. You have no power to undo sin. You are as powerless as the woman who is crying and as dead as her son in the casket. You need Jesus as much as they do and thankfully, as the crowds declare – Jesus has come. “God has visited His people.”
When Jesus says, “Do not weep!” He is really saying to the woman, “Stop it! Stop your crying.” Jesus can say that because His Word can actually stop tears. He has come into this world to put an end to mourning and suffering and pain, to wipe away the tears from every eye. Jesus has the power to command the forces of evil and death to “stop it!” and guess what? They listen. They have no choice for Jesus alone can and does defeat them.
Then Jesus does the unthinkable. He touches the bier, the coffin, the burial platform and everything stops. The Old Testament commanded that you don’t touch a dead person. Death is evil, death is the result of sin, contact with sin leaves you unclean for seven days. You only touched death if you had to, but not Jesus. Jesus wants to touch death and instead of the dirt of death making Him unclean He cleans the dead man and raises him up. Death doesn’t have its way with Jesus. Jesus has His way with death – He kills death by taking away our sins. Jesus does away with death for that woman, for her son, for you, and for everyone by bearing our sins on the cross. In this text He was at Nain for that woman. In Jerusalem He was on the cross for you and for your salvation.
“Young man, I say to you, arise.” Once again. Don’t try this at home. You’re not Jesus. You cannot undo death, but Jesus can and He does for you and for that woman. His Word has the power to undo death because He will undo sin. His Word has the power to give life because He will pay for the sin of the world and remove its curse and uncleanness. Just as He can make tears stop He can make dead people rise because He is the only Savior from sin. He makes sinners righteous and the blind to see and the lame to run and the mourning to rejoice and He does this by way of His cross and death for sinners.
Finally Jesus gives the boy back to his mother. This is life in the Kingdom of God. Can you imagine how delighted that boy was to be alive again? And not for himself, but for his mother. Such is life in Jesus. The powers of evil wrap us up in ourselves. We are driven along grunting and groaning and grumbling, not talking to anyone because we can only see ourselves. Trudging on from defeat to defeat. But once the Lord has brought us into life, once He has set us free from our sin we see other people again and anew. We see parents to honor and serve and children to nuture and raise. We see the hungry to feed and the weak to strengthen. We walk along with a bounce in our steps and life in our eyes and God’s praise on our lips because we are forgiven. We are alive in Christ. Death and darkness are fleeing away. The devil is in retreat. Our sin is forgiven. We have been brought out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His marvelous light in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
8 June 2013 anno Domini