JESUS AT A FUNERAL
Luke 7:11 17

INTRODUCTION
Funerals are a part of life. Every one of us will find it necessary to bury loved ones some¬ where along the path of
life. The customs relating to funerals have undergone changes in recent years, but they are still a necessity. We
must acknowledge the coming of death by doing something with the body of our loved one.

Jesus attended only one funeral during His life that we know about. While He raised at least three people from the
dead, only one was at the funeral. His friend Lazarus was raised four days after the funeral. He was called forth from
the grave in which he had been buried. The daughter of Jarius was raised from her death bed. She had been dead
only a short time when Jesus entered the room and raised her from the dead. But the incident in our text took place
right in the midst of the funeral process.

The town of Nain was about a day’s journey from Capernaum. Jesus was entering the town with a rather large
company of followers when they encountered the funeral procession. The two companies were moving in opposite
directions. The funeral procession was probably being led by the widowed mother. Her tears would be evident and
her wails could be heard. Some men could be heard. Some men would be carrying the body of the young son on an
open bier. Behind them would probably be some concerned friends and some hired mourners. Even the poorest of
people would hire some mourners to give expression to the grief that they felt. It is doubt¬ful that the funeral
procession realized who they were meeting when they encountered Jesus and His friends.

Only Luke records this incident for us. The things that this incident reveals to us about Jesus at a funeral should be
a source of real comfort to us in our times of grief. The attention of Luke is upon our Lord and the things that He did
that day. Let us consider them in some detail. We cannot know when we might have to go to a funeral so we need to
be prepared.

I. JESUS HAS COMPASSION ON THE GRIEVED
'Now when He came near the gate of the city, Behold, a dead man 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.  And the Lord saw her, He had compassion on
her and said to her, 'Do not weep'.''

A.        He did not grieve over the dead.
Luke is careful to indicate that the attention of the Lord was drawn to the plight of the mother, and not to the plight
of her son. Probably most of the crowd was grieving over what had happened to the young man. Their focus was
upon the dead, but the focus of Jesus was upon the living.

The tears of Jesus mentioned by John on the occasion of the death of Lazarus were for the living. Jesus did not
grieve because Lazarus had died. He did grieve because the two sisters of Lazarus were left brokenhearted. Jesus
did not grieve for the dead because of what He knew about life beyond death.

B.        He does feel the loss of the grieved.
The word compassion means literally to pity, to feel for. The idea in the word is that the heart of Jesus went out to
the woman. It should be remembered that as far as we know this was the first time Jesus had ever seen this woman.
She was just another unknown human being that He met along the path of life. Luke reports that this was her only
son. Those who have experienced the death of a son or daughter will tell you that there is something special about
that loss. I became aware of this rather early in my pastoral ministry. The chairman of my deacons in my first church
had lost a beloved son, his firstborn, in death. He could hardly carry on a conversation without some reference to
that loss. The years never removed that sense of loss from his life.

To add to the plight of this woman, she was a widow. This indicates that this son was her sole support. The son
would be the one who would assume responsibility for the physical and material needs of the woman. She was
losing not only a son; she was losing a living. Jesus understood this and His heart went out to her.

When death comes, you are tempted to feel that no one understands. You are tempted to feel all alone in your
grief. But as Jesus spoke to this grieving woman, she must have known that there was One in the crowd who
understood. He understands when your heart is broken!

II. JESUS HAS MASTERY OVER DEATH
Jesus confronted death. The three times that He encountered death, He brought the person involved back from the
dead. These have to be considered as His mightiest works. There are two things suggested to us here about His
mastery over death.

A.        His mastery is seen in His initiative.
It is of special interest to me that no one asked Jesus to do anything. No one appealed to Him for a miracle of
resurrection. Indeed, with¬out doubt it never occurred to anyone in the crowd that was with the widow or in the
crowd that was with Jesus that such a thing might be a possibility. He took the initiative. The raising of the boy to life
was His idea. This means that it was not a response to any human faith. While many of His miracles are presented
as a response to human faith, this one is apart from any such human faith. No one present had faith to believe that
Jesus could raise this boy from the dead, yet He did.

This is a lesson that we need to learn about our Lord. While He does work in response to faith, He is not limited to
faith. He can do His work as it pleases Him. He is Master and Sovereign. He can break in to demonstrate His power
any time or any place it pleases Him. Same of His works can be explained only by His response to human need.
There is no faith involved!

B.        His mastery is seen in His actions.
"And He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, 'Young men, I say to
you, arise.'" The men were carrying the corpse on some kind of open bier. It may have been a wicker basket. To
touch the bier was to expose oneself to ceremonial defilement. These men who carried the casket would not be
allowed to participate in any worship service until they had gone through the ritual for cleansing. This was a rule that
the Lord had given to them in the Levitical law.

Jesus addressed the young man as the Lord over the realm of the dead. He gave a command to the young man.
"Arise." It was a command for the young man to get up from the bier, the casket. It is not uncommon for people to
speak to the dead at a funeral. I have often been moved by the things that are said over a dead body at a funeral.
But it is uncommon to expect any response from the dead when spoken to. Jesus spoke to this young man, whose
spirit was in the realm of the dead as though He expected a response, and received a response. In response to the
word of Jesus, the "young man who was dead sat up and began to speak." The speaking is noted as a sure sign
that he had indeed been returned to the realm of the living.

Jesus did not go forth breaking up every funeral procession in the land, but He did break up enough so that we
would know that He is the Lord over the realm of the dead. He wanted us to know that when death comes to a loved
one, they have not slipped out into a realm over which He has no authority. He also wanted us to know that when
the hour of our death comes, we too will still be in a realm that is under His control. He is the Master over that
unseen realm. It was a simple matter for Him to call this young man back from that realm, and to place him again in
the realm of the earthly.

III. JESUS REUNITES THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
This seems to be the point of this miracle. Jesus brought this young man back from the realm of the dead for the
sake of the mother. There is a tender scene suggested by the words of this text. "And He presented him to his
mother." Can't you imagine the unbelievable excite¬ment and joy that must have been a part of that moment! I am
not sure whether the boy was excited about being back or not, but I am sure that it was more than this mother's
heart could take in. One moment she was on her way to the tomb with her dead son, the next moment she is walking
home with him at her side. Who would have ever thought it!

Is this not a parable to things to come? Can we not trust our dead loved ones into the hands of the living Lord with
the assurance that He has the power to reunite us again in His own time and place? Indeed, this is the very truth
that Paul used to bring comfort to the grieving Christians in Thessalonica. They were fearful that they had lost their
loved ones forever, but Paul writes the words of comfort about the return of Christ, the raising of the dead, and the
transformation of the living, and the reunion of a whole company in His presence to be together forever. He is surely
the great Reuniter of the living and the dead.

CONCLUSION
Are you looking for someone you can trust? Are you searching for a Lord for your life? Let me encourage you to
consider Jesus of Nazareth who was at His best at a funeral. When the words of others had failed, His word did what
was needed. When there was no faith, He was still Lord. When no one asked for His help, He helped anyway. He is
the one who cares about your grief, the One who is Lord over life and death, and the One who can subdue all
things unto Himself. He should be accepted as the Lord of your life.