“Do Not Weep”
Luke
7:11-17
June 10, 2007
11-17
Soon afterwards he went to a town called
Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached
the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his
mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd
from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said
to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward
and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said,
“Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead
man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave
him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified
God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among
us!” and “God has looked favorably on his
people!” This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the
surrounding country.
What a lesson for today. There is great
message in this story for everyone. In a Bible Study, we would immediately
go to the fact that Jesus healed the young son of the grieving mother.
That is natural. That is something to celebrate. That is joyful news.
There is another message in this story. It is a message
that can speak to everyone everyday. It is a message that we need to place
in our hearts, souls and minds so that as we go through this marvelous
journey of life we will know where the lesson is at when we need it.
I cannot speak for everyone here today but I can speak
for myself. Make sure that you put this message in a safe place and in a
place that you will not forget.
Sometimes during the year, I give Cathy Voorhees a hard
time about something that has disappeared from my desk. I will have just
laid it down on the desk and turned around to answer the telephone. I
spend a few minutes on the phone and then I probably did something at the
computer and eventually remember that I was about to do something before I
talked to a person on the phone. I turn around to pick up the item that I
was about to do something with and it has disappeared into thin air. It is
gone. It has grown legs and jumped off of my desk and walked out of the
office. It is nowhere to be found. At that point, I call out to Cathy and
asked her “what did you do with it?”
I know Cathy did not do anything with the item. I
know it is on my desk. I just cannot find it when I want it. Usually, an
hour or so later when I am doing something else that items that grew legs
and then left the office comes back and places itself on my desk in the
same exact spot that I put earlier in the day.
I am urging all of us to take this powerful
lesson and place it in our hearts, souls and minds so that we will not
misplace or forget where we put it once we receive it.
Do I have you wondering “what miracle” is Johnny
talking about this morning? Are you sitting on the edge of you seat
waiting for the revelation of this miracle? If you are not, you ought to
be! This is a miracle that weaves throughout the New Testament. It is a
miracle like no other miracle. It is a miracle of hope and promise. It is
a miracle of joy and love.
Luke revealed the miracle when he wrote: “When the Lord
saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.” The first miracle that took
place that day was that Jesus of Nazareth felt compassion for the woman
who was on the pathway of grief that day.
Webster explains compassion this way: “sympathetic
consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”
That sounds clinical to me. The compassion of Christ is
much more than a “sympathetic consciousness. “ The compassion of Christ is
fueled by the awesome love of God the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer. It
is the love that motivated God to have great passion on His created
children. It is the love that drove God into sending His only begotten Son
into the world to offer to everyone the opportunity to know God’s divine
love and forgiving power. Jesus saw a person who needed his help when he
encountered the grieving mother along the pathway. Yes, He did see a
person who was in great distress. She was filled with great grief and pain
at the lost of her child. God’s awesome love moved Jesus to go to the
woman and offer her hope.
There are times in our lives when everything does not
go our way. There are times in our lives when it feels like life has
thrown us a curve ball that no one could have ever hit. There are times in
our lives when we feel like we cannot take another step. There are times
when we just feel like giving up and not moving forward. There are times
when the events of life grow heavy and seem to weigh us down. It is during
those times that we need to remind ourselves to visit our safes and open
up the door and receive the compassion and power of Christ into our lives.
In our United Methodist Hymnal is a hymn that points to
this truth. It was written by Horatio G. Spafford, a successful Chicago
lawyer who lost most of his wealth in the financial crisis of 1873. Due to
the events of the time, he sent his wife and four daughters on a trip to
France. On their way, their ship was struck by another, and sank. There
were 225 passengers on their ship and only 87 of them survived.
Mrs. Spafford was among the survivors, but the four
daughters perished. As soon as she reached land, she telegraphed to her
husband: "Saved alone. Children lost. What shall I do?"
Mr. Spafford left for France to be with his wife and
to bring her back home to Chicago. In the midst of his grief, he wrote
this powerful hymn near the scene of the accident. It was his only hymn
but it is one with a powerful message. It is a hymn that helped me to walk
through a dark valley in my life when my brother died. It is a hymn of
hope and compassion. Mr. Spafford wrote It is
Well With My Soul. Listen to his words of hope and compassion.
They lift up the miracle that Christ shared with that grieving mother.
Verse 1 When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrow like sea billow roll; Whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Verse 4 And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall
be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound,
And the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soull.
Refrain: It is well, it is well with my soul, It is
well, it is well with my soul.
In the midst of his great grief and pain, Mr.
Spafford knew in his heart of hearts the compassion and love of Jesus of
Nazareth. Even at the scene of that tragic accident, he knew and
experienced fully the compassion of Christ.
The miracle that is offered to everyone here this
morning and to everyone in the world is the compassion of Christ. Jesus of
Nazareth looked upon and looks upon everyone with the love and compassion
of God the Father. His heart reaches out to each individual and attempts
to lift him or her up and carry him or her over those rough seas in life.
Jesus is standing at the doors of our hearts. He is doing more than just
standing. He is knocking on the door to our hearts and inviting us to come
out and join him. He is extending his hand out to us in an effort to take
our hands and walk with us everyday.
The beauty of this miracle is that it is not just
a miracle for “tough times.” It is an everyday miracle where we can claim
the compassion of Christ to be in our lives every morning, every afternoon
and every evening. It is a gift of compassion that is being offered to us
by God. It is a compassion that is motivated by the awesome love of God.
It is a miracle that we can claim everyday.
It also is a miracle that we are to carry out into the
world. It is not something that we keep to ourselves. It is something that
we share with every person that we meet along life’s pathway. There are
folks who are still working in dark mines. Today, we call them ten or
fifteen story buildings. Today, we call them offices with no windows.
Today, we call them offices within offices where people are walking all
over each other. Whatever mine we are working in – below or above the
ground – there are people who need to experience and know the compassion
of Christ. We have been touched by this powerful miracle of Christ. It is
now our responsibilities as followers of Jesus to discover ways for others
to be touched by His redeeming and compassionate hand.
There is a story about a little fellow who lived in a
poor section of his town. This young boy loved the Lord. One day some of
the other kids were teasing him about his faith. One of them said to him,
"If God loves you, why doesn't he take care of you? Why doesn't God tell
someone to bring you shoes and a warm coat and better food?" The little
lad thought for a moment then with tears starting in his eyes, said, "I
guess He does tell somebody, but somebody forgets."
God's plan is to care through His followers. That
caring comes from the compassion that Jesus felt for that grieving mother
when he saw her on her journey. That compassion is filled and fueled by
God’s love and power. It caused Jesus to stop doing what he was going to
do and it directed him to the mother and at that point he offered her
God’s power.
Today, as we receive the compassion of Christ into our
lives, we are directed by the love of God to walk out of this place and go
into the world and share the Compassion of Christ with others.
How can we do it? We can do it by sitting with someone
who is lonely. We can do it by taking meals to someone who is hungry. We
can do it by visiting with someone who is sick. We can do it by building a
home for someone who is homeless. We can do it any many ways. God has
given every one a special talent to share His love and compassion for
others. It is now time for all who profess a faith in Jesus of Nazareth to
discover that talent and go into the world and offer the compassion of
Christ to others.
We have received a marvelous miracle. It is now time to
give it away! A man went to see his pastor one time and said, "I don't
know what's wrong with my life, but that first Christian joy I knew has
passed by. I still live a moral life. I go to church. But how can I
recover the lost radiance of my faith?" His pastor said, "this is what you
should do: go to the store and buy a big basketful of groceries and go to
an address of a poor family I will give you. Then when you have given your
gift, you sit down with them to find out what they need. Let them know
that you are interested in them and that you are their friend. Then lead
them in the Lord's Prayer before you leave, and the radiance will come
back."
Luke said it best when he wrote: “When the Lord saw
her, he had compassion for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.” The followers of Christ are the recipients of that
compassion. We have felt his arms around our beings. We have been
comforted with his words: “Do not weep!”
Now, let us go into the world and share His compassion
and love with others. If there are some here this morning who have never
experienced his compassion then please open up your heart and soul to him
and receive the miracle today and go forth with the miracle into His
world.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
