Vol. 3 No. 3 – 1-21-2018
Young man, I say unto, Arise! –Luke 7:11-17
When we come to the end of life, these words can be melancholic: funeral, coffin, mortician, and cemetery/crematory.
We live is a generation that refuses to acknowledge the word “death.” We no longer say the word. Rather we say “passing,” sometimes “demise” of a loved one, or perhaps a loved one has “succumbed.” They have moved on to their “final reward,” and God needed another butterfly in His garden.
Not so long ago I spoke with a funeral director that has a client who purchased a custom casket. The piece of “furniture” had several custom drawers in place to hold the man’s coin collection, his stocks and bonds, and a large assortment of custom jewelry. The man is positioned to take his “stuff” with him. He really does not know about the reality of death.
In all this, there is a longing for a key to the mysteries of death; the unseen world arises, largely from humanity’s uncertainty as to whether death is a terminus or a junction.
Jesus and his disciples spent the day hiking about 18 miles to the little hillside village of Nain, nestled on a plateau on the northern slopes of the Hill of Moreh, near Mt. Tabor. As they arrived a funeral procession was slowly moving out to the rock tombs.
The group with Jesus was headed into town; the other group leaving the town. One group had the expression of joy and excitement; the other group was sat upon and depressed about death. The one group was headed by Jesus; the other group was headed by the bier of a dead young man and accompanied by the religious man of the town.
The group with the dead boy hired professional mourners, complete with flutes and cymbals; uttering in a kind of frenzy, their shrill cries of grief. It was perhaps a 10-minute march with the woman and husband that “lost” their son, his body borne upon a plank.
For the mom, it was a double whammy!
It is not by chance that the two groups came to meet one another; Jesus was right on schedule; by divine appointment He stops the funeral. He asks the sorrowing woman to stop weeping, and then says something that takes everyone present aback. Young man, come back to life again!
Immediately, the lad sits up, grabs the edge of the pallet, and the grave clothes are removed. He is once again united with his mother.
Jesus speaks to a dead corpse, and at once it becomes a living being. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the heart, the lungs, the brain, the senses again resume their work and discharge their duties. This is not a surprise for Jesus.
There are those who will say this is a fable, impossible. With God, nothing is impossible. He is the giver and creator of life.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. –Hebrews 13:8
How many of us are lying dead on a wood pallet and need the presence of Jesus to get things started up again.
Do not wait until they get ready to seal the tomb; place you in a casket and bury you; or take you to the crematory. It maybe will be an unexpected reality that things are set in stone for your eternity.
Do not wait until it is too late!
