THE COMPASSION OF JESUS
This brief story is full of drama. We can imagine Jesus approaching the village of Nain with his disciples and crowd of followers coming face-to-face with the crowd of mourners as they made their way out of town for the burial. Luke describes both groups as “large crowds” – not only large, but also noisy with the wailing of the mourners. In the villages of Galilee funerals were communal affairs. Jesus was well known in the region. Nain was located just six miles south south east of Nazareth and 25 miles from Capernaum to the north. So the crowd from Nain would know immediately who was heading up the approaching crowd. This is the only mention of the town in all four Gospels. We wonder whether Jesus went to this place with a purpose, in obedience to his Father’s leading. His arrival was perfectly timed.

The corpse was carried on a plank, with the body covered by a sheet. The dead person had probably died that same day, as burials normally took place within 24 hours, before the body began to decompose. Luke’s brief account does not reveal how Jesus knew that the dead person was “the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.” Whether he inquired or whether he asked one of the mourners, as soon as he was made aware of the situation, his heart went out to the widow and he said to her, “Don’t cry.”
Time and time again we are reminded of Jesus’ compassion towards the needy, whether individuals or crowds. He identifies with people in their suffering, and immediately takes charge of the situation. He stretches out his hand to the pallet on which the dead boy is laying. This action causes those carrying it to stop. For anyone to touch the pallet on which a dead person lay was to bring ceremonial defilement upon them, and that defilement would spread to any with whom they in turn came into physical contact. Jesus sets aside such consideration not only on this occasion but when he touched lepers to heal them.
Luke in his opening words links this incident with a previous one in which a centurion’s son was healed through the faith of the centurion. On this occasion Jesus healed at a distance without physical contact. But on that occasion he was healing a sick person, not raising the dead as here in Nain. At Jesus word of command, ”Young man, I say to you, get up!” he immediately sits up, begins to talk, and Jesus hands him back to his mother. I wonder what the young man had to say?
Similarly our ministry flows from compassion ¬– not simply out of our human sympathy – but from the love of Jesus himself that flows through us. The combination of Holy Spirit inspired faith and love make for a powerful healing force.

WHY SO FEW INSTANCES?
Yet this inspiring story also brings some problems. In all of our congregations we know of heart-rending occasions when families faced with the death of a child despite their prayers and the faith community around them as their child suffered through the final stages of a terminal illness has not brought deliverance. The grim medical prognosis ran its course.
In our day we speak of the miracles of modern medicine and are grateful to the spectacular advances made in the successful treatment of once fatal diseases. Yet modern medicine has its limitations, as we are all aware. We are left wondering, why did Jesus intervene in the case of the widow of Nain, even though there is no mention of her faith or of faith being exercised by others on her behalf? Why were our prayers not answered?
But this is not just an issue that we face. It was also one that many people in Galilee in the time of Jesus must have had to address. In all four Gospels there are only three or four recorded instances of a person being raised from the dead. And there must have been many chronically sick persons that Jesus did not seek out to heal. Without the benefits of modern medicine and surgical interventions, sickness was prevalent. With life expectation so much shorter than today, there must have been many children and young people facing an early death. If miracles occur, why are they so unfair?

THE RESPONSE OF THE CROWD
Neither in this incident, not on any other occasion, when Jesus performed a healing miracles is there the slightest hint that miracles are unfair. Although, on the occasion when Mary and Martha send an urgent message to Jesus to minister to the ailing Lazarus they are made at him for failing to arrive until after his death. The overwhelming evidence is of the crowds rejoicing at what had just transpired. On this occasion the crowds were filled with awe and praised God that a “great prophet” had appeared among them.
They were excited that God’s favor had been so significantly displayed in their midst, which raised their hopes for an even greater deliverance. “God has come to help his people,” they cried, which is an echo of the hope inspired by the prophets of old.
Galilee represented a network of close-knit societies through which news spread rapidly. Indeed it spilled further south spreading throughout Judea. The good news of Jesus sent by God to inaugurate the long promised reign of God was too good for anyone to keep to themselves. The spectacular miracle in Nain provided a powerful, motivational sign pointing to that future.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EVENT
But it was a sign, an anticipation of that fulfillment. First century followers of Jesus had to learn to live with the tension of the “now” and the “not yet” of Christ’s reign on earth, just as we have to learn today. Every person that Jesus raised from the dead and every person that Jesus healed ultimately died. They died either from a subsequent illness or worn out by old age. For none of them was their miracle a final solution.
In fact divine healing whether as recorded in Scripture or in our experience, is not primarily God’s answer to medical problems, but rather a pointer to something else. It is not just about me or us, but also about God’s purposes outworked through Jesus Christ and the Spirit whom he has sent.