Day 29

Luke 7:11–17 (NIV)

¹¹ Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹² As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” ¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. ¹⁶ They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷ This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

What does it say about Jesus that he can bring someone back to life? What does it show us?

What does the emotion of Jesus say about him?

Helpful Information

Interrupting a funeral was a blatant breach of Jewish law and custom; touching the bier exposed Jesus to a day’s uncleanness (Num 19:21–22); touching the corpse exposed him to a week’s uncleanness (cf. Num 5:2–3; 19:11–20). But in Jesus’ case, the influence goes in the other direction.

7:11–12. People customarily dropped whatever they were doing and joined in a funeral procession when it passed by. For a widow’s only son to die before she did was considered extremely tragic; it also left her dependent on public charity for support unless she had other relatives of means.

7:13. According to custom the bereaved mother would walk in front of the bier, so Jesus would meet her first.

7:14. By touching even the bier, a stretcher on which the body was borne (Jewish custom did not use a closed coffin), Jesus would contract corpse-uncleanness, the severest form of ritual impurity in Judaism. Only those closest to the deceased were expected to expose themselves to this impurity. The young man had not been dead long, because it was necessary to wash, anoint, wrap, mourn over and then bury the body as quickly as possible to avoid the stench of decomposition. Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

Notes

vs 11 - disciples probably more than the 12,

crowd- always following him now, the question becomes why do they? Is it his teaching or his miracles?

vs 12-14 Interesting way of putting the encounter. Jesus sees the funeral and he approaches,. He doesn't wait to be asked like with the healings we have seen so far. He approaches, Actually touches the funeral pallet (which makes him unclean) to stop the death procession and commands the dead young man to rise.

vs 13 It is out of compassion that Jesus reaches out and conquers death in this case and in the case of all who believe.

Don't Cry- is almost a command. Reminds me of Rev 21:4, there is no need to cry

The idea being expressed is Jesus meets death with compassion and conquers it. He stops death and brings life! The greatest miracle of all is to defeat death. Jesus takes something UNCLEAN and makes it CLEAN!

Bringing someone back to life has happened before with Elijah (1 Kings 17:22) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:35) thus we see the crowd reaction to now put Jesus with one of the great prophets. They believe God has come to help them but they still do not get that God is right in front of them.

vs 16 the word Awe is the same word as fear, the people while praising God are shocked and wonder what this means. God has come to help, but how?

vs 17 news spreads- a very obvious statement. Jesus does something like this people are going to know.

Interesting that Jesus no longer asking people to be quiet about what He has done , Why?

• · Too late people already have heard hence you have the large crowds
• · Has been able to tell people his message and therefore the miracle secret isn't needed
• · It is time for Jesus to carry the movement further and challenge the Jews to ask, Who is He?