Luke 7:11-16 2024/10/20 Osaka Church
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
At the gate of the town, Nain, Jesus encountered a procession in which the coffin of a young man was being carried to the cemetery. A widowed mother who had lost her only son followed the procession, crying in dismay. The Lord was overcome with pity for the young man and his mother and touched his cold body and commanded him: “Young man, I say to you, get up.”
Then the son got up and “began to speak.”
“I say to you.”… What a powerful word!
I am commanding “you” to get up, and no one else.
These words are actually directed at each and every one of us. However, unless we realize that the Lord is calling me directly by saying “you” and unless those words pierce my heart, “I” will not “get up and begin to speak.”
“I say to you, get up.” These words only reach those who deeply realize that they are living as if dead, lying in a coffin.
Many people know that human beings are fallen. But few people are aware of “their” depravity.
Many people know the misery of human beings. But few people are aware of “their” misery, or cry in pain over their own misery.
Many people know the weakness of human beings, and many know the sinfulness of human beings, but few people lament or groan over “their” own weakness and sinfulness.
Everyone knows that humans must die. But few people know that “they” must die, and that perhaps they are already spiritually dead.
…And so death, which was supposed to have been destroyed as the “final enemy” by the Death and Resurrection of Christ himself, still rages in this world.
Funeral processions leave town again and again towards the cemetery.
They do not know that all of this is for them, who lie dead, and that Christ’s forgiveness on the Cross and his Resurrection are all for “their sake” as they are carried to the grave. That is why the Lord began his mission by calling for “Repentance!” But do not misunderstand. The Lord did not say “reflect on your actions.” Reflection will not save us from sin. Christ’s call to repentance is a call to know that we are only living as if we were dead, to know in our bones that we are completely powerless against a life of sin dominated by death, to be overwhelmed. Nothing can begin anywhere else.
The Holy Apostle Paul also groaned as he said: “I do not know what I am doing, for the good that I want to do I do not do, and the evil that I do not want I do. Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:15, 19, 24).
But finally, Paul cried out in joy:
“Jesus Christ our Lord!”
We too must believe with Paul that only Christ Jesus can raise us from death, and we must make up our minds and reach out to him.
The Lord is standing beside my coffin and calling out to me, saying, “I say to you, Arise.”
Before this call is a rebuke or encouragement, it is above all a “promise” of salvation.