Death and resurrection

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!"

The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth" (1 Kings 17:17-24).

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Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 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. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

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." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country (Luke 7:11-17).

Imagine that you married the love of your life, and the two of you have been blessed with a son. For a time, the future for you and your family looks bright. But then tragedy strikes; before you can have any more children, your partner unexpectedly dies. Now it falls on your shoulders to keep the wolves from the door. But there is no work to be had; soon your meager savings are exhausted and each day becomes a struggle to put food on the table.

Life is tough, but at least you have your boy. Then, tragedy strikes again; death claims your only child. Everything looks hopeless; you have no family left, no money coming in, nothing to look forward to, to get you out of bed in the morning.

This was the situation for two women in today’s Scripture readings. In the Old Testament lesson, it was a widow living in the Phoenician city of Zarephath; in the Gospel lesson, it was a widow living in the Galilean town of Nain. In both cases, these women were widows; in both cases, they only had one child who died young.

Of course, these were emotional tragedies—first losing your husband, then losing your only child. But there was an economic impact as well; in those days, women did not work outside the home. When these wives lost their husbands, they also lost their means of economic survival. There were no jobs for women. There was no government support. Typically, widows were cared for by their grown children; with their sons dead, the widows of Zarephath and Nain could only look forward to bitter days of loneliness and begging for handouts.

But in these two cases, black despair was replaced with the brightness of joy. In Zarephath, God’s prophet Elijah asked the Lord to restore the widow’s son to life, and the boy breathed once more. 900 years later, Jesus interrupted a funeral procession at Nain and restored the dead youth to life. In both cases, the God who gives life and breath to every living thing brought new life and hope to families ravaged by the touch of death.

That’s wonderful for those two widows, you might think, but is there a little voice in the back of your head that is grumbling? Is some part of you wondering why God didn’t raise from the dead your mom, your brother, your best friend? You’ve been to lots of funerals; why doesn’t Jesus interrupt them with the gift of new life like He did in Nain? Do you sometimes feel a little bitter that God let someone die before you were ready to say goodbye?

Why doesn’t God raise more people from the dead? Some might try to answer this question with an ecological response. Our world already has billions of people living on it; if every person who ever lived was restored to life, how would we feed them all? Of course, such a foolish answer suggests that while God has the power to raise people from the dead, He does not have the power to feed them!

Why doesn’t God raise more people from the dead? Some might suggest that Jesus only raises people who are very special to Him, like Lazarus. Perhaps the widows in Zarephath and Nain were very strong believers, and God rewarded their faith with new life for their children. But such thinking runs counter to what the Bible teaches. God loves everyone and treats them kindly, regardless of how strong or weak their faith is; in Romans chapter two Paul writes, God does not show favoritism. God even shows kindness to unbelievers, as Jesus tells us: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:44-45). Even a casual reading of the Bible shows that faithful believers are sometimes rich, other times poor; some are political leaders while others are slaves. Being a “good Christian” does not earn you blessings from heaven. Having good things happen in your life does not prove that God loves you better than someone else.

When God performs miracles, they are always for the purpose of drawing people to Him in faith. When the widow of Zarephath got her son back, notice her response: Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth. When Jesus made the funeral at Nain unnecessary, look at how the community responded: 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." In both cases, the resurrection of the dead resulted in faith—faith that drew people closer to God, and opened their ears to what the Lord had to say.

God performs miracles to get our attention and bring us closer to Him by building trust. Raising the dead is the most dramatic miracle of all. So when God chose to display His power in this way to bring people to faith, who did He choose to get the blessing? He chose those who had lost hope. The widows of Zarephath and Nain were desperately in need of help; although God could have raised anyone from the dead, out of caring love He chose to display His power in the lives of these two women. Our Lord made sure that they had something to get out of bed for come the next morning.

But as wonderful as this resurrection was for the widowed mothers, what do you suppose life was like for their boys? These young men had been in paradise! They had been freed from sin; they had experienced perfect joy standing in the presence of God. Then, suddenly, they were back on earth. They were back in a world of poverty, discrimination, fear, and conflict. They were back in a world of sickness, disability, and encroaching death. Indeed, they would one day have to face death a second time!

You would have to think that these young men had mixed feelings about being brought back to life. On the one hand, they would be overjoyed to be hugged by mom; they would be pleased to help and support her as she grew older. But how they must have missed heaven. Paul understood these mixed feelings. At one point Jesus allowed Paul a glimpse of heaven; in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 Paul says that he heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. The result of this experience tore at Paul’s heart; he wrote these words in Philippians: to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

God sent two young men back to care for their mothers because their mothers needed them. Those boys had seen paradise and could assure their mothers and their friends that God and His heaven are both real and wonderful. But these two raisings also reveal a somber truth—funerals are not about the person who died, funerals are about the grief of those who still live.

I remember my grandmother’s funeral. I was a teenager at the time, and I remember talking with a group of cousins after the service. One of them said, “What are we going to do without her?” At the time, the question made me a little angry, although I didn’t show it. I thought, “why are you saying this? Grandma is in heaven! She’s happy!” I thought my cousin was being selfish, that she wanted Grandma back on earth to make her feel better.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that “what are we going to do without her?” is a natural response to the pain of separation. God did not intend for us to die; Adam and Eve were created to live forever. It was sin that made death necessary; without death, we could never escape the sin that constantly tries to drive a wedge between God and us. We know in our heart of hearts that death is wrong and unnatural, so of course it grieves us. And death forces unwanted changes into our lives. Death takes away people we depend on for love and support; this leaves us confused and worried about the future. When death comes into our lives, we want answers and reassurance.

God has raised a few people from the dead to get our attention. People who have no time for God’s words are often willing to listen when death is staring them in the face. To see someone rise from the dead gets our attention in a way that nothing else can. Everyone needs to know that death is the result of sin, something the widow of Zarephath understood; when her son died she told Elijah, Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son? Thankfully, Jesus has ended sin’s power to kill us; on the cross, God’s Son offered His life in exchange for our death. He suffered in our place, then rose from death to prove His absolute mastery over the grave. We want reassurance that death is not the end, and in Christ we have that reassurance. Because He lives, the death we experience is only a temporary thing; there is no need to despair.

Why doesn’t God raise more people from the dead? We are not like the widows of Zarephath and Nain. They had no hope; we have family, friends, Social Security, food stamps, and other forms of support. Our world is filled to bursting with sin; it would be selfish to ask God to send a loved one back from paradise to rejoin us in suffering the effects of sin. We don’t need the dead returned; we are still connected to them through Christ. We also have the promise that when we die, we who believe will be reunited with all the saints who have gone before us, enjoying for the first time an existence that is free from the taint of sin.

When death enters our lives, we can face it with peace in our hearts. Throughout the Bible, God has given proof that He can and will take care of us in every need. Through all sorts of miracles, our Lord has demonstrated His commitment to our welfare; His miracles prove that He has the power to see us through anything—even the death of a loved one. In Jesus, we have something that the world cannot give; we have the gift that He promised us in the 14th chapter of John: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.