Monday: Women and Jesus’ Healing Ministry
Read Luke 7:11-17, the story about the miracle at Nain. This woman, impoverished and widowed, now faced another trial, the death of her only son. A large crowd of mourners was with her in the funeral procession, expressing public grief and sympathy.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
The loss of her only son coupled with the uncertain future of life alone turned the widow into a picture of absolute sorrow and hopelessness.
But the funeral procession going out of the city met with another procession entering into it. At the head of the outgoing procession was death in a casket; at the head of the incoming procession was life in the majesty of the Creator. As the processions met, Jesus saw the widow, hopeless and full of grief. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said,
(Luke 7:13, NIV). The plea not to cry would have been meaningless had it not come from Jesus, the Lord of life. For behind the command Don’t cry
Don’t cry!
was the power to remove the reason for her crying: Jesus reached forward, touched the coffin, and ordered the young man to arise. The touch was considered a ceremonial defilement (Num. 19:11-13), but to Jesus compassion was more important than ceremonies. Meeting human needs was more urgent than adhering to mere rituals.
The village of Nain not only witnessed a great miracle but also received a marvelous message: in Jesus there is no difference between the emotional pangs of men and those of women. And His presence confronts and confounds the power of death.
Read also Luke 8:41-42, Luke 8:49-56. Jairus was an influential person-a ruler of the synagogue, an officer in charge of the care and services of the synagogue. Each Sabbath he would choose the person who would lead in prayer, Scripture reading, and preaching. He was a person not only of eminence and influence but also of wealth and power. He loved his daughter and did not hesitate to approach Jesus for the healing of his child.
In these stories, it was the power of Jesus’ words that brought a dead son back to his mother and a dead daughter back to her father. Think about how incredible these acts must have been to those who saw it, especially to the parents. What do these accounts tell us about the power of God? What do they tell us about just how limited we are in understanding that power (after all, science at present doesn’t have a clue about how this could happen). Most important, though, what must we do in order to learn to trust in this power, and the goodness of the God who wields it, regardless of our present circumstances?
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Jesus really cares! Luke records that Jesus' heart went out to her, or as other translations say "he had compassion on her", compassion can be understood as co-passion, he felt her passion.
Another way could be to say he had empathy for her.
The definition of empathy is: "Empathy is the capacity to understand what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, ie, the capacity to place oneself in another's shoes."
How wonderful that Jesus understands exactly our situation and how we are feeling and he feels our pain. But he doesn't stop there he does something to make it better!
God will do the work through mortal men and women in the last days. So we are to be baptised of the Holy Spirit to perform signs and wonders in Jesus name. As we remember God's main purpose is to save souls for His eternal kingdom, He will do through us whatever is required to achieve this, be it through physical healing, or by transforming the hearts of people. Because God loves us all, non are excluded from his passion to save and heal the broken hearted.
Amen brother!!
It is so touching, real and loving when Jesus raised a young daughter. I thank God when He will come again to raise our friends.
When the Lord saw the poor widow following her son to the grave, he had compassion on her. Just like us each day we fall short of glory, we are dead, but Jesus always feels compasion over us, only if we believe and have have faith in him. He began to speak when Christ gave spiritual life, he opens the lips in prayer and praise. When dead souls are raised to spiritual life, by Divine power going with the gospel, we must glorify God, and look upon it as a gracious visit to his people.
May we be called to the resurrection of life, not to that of damnation. And the heading of today is saying "Women and Jesus’ Healing Ministry " Looking at the woman we have to understand. The culture of Jews during this time, woman were not considered important, so for her losing the only son, it means linage of the family was over and someone who provides for her was no longer there, so that was difficult for her
What we miss in the story of the woman at Nain is the tremendous cultural differences between the western world of today and how things were in that part of the world 2000 years ago. In most countries today there is usually some sort of welfare system that takes care of a person that can't take care of themselves but that is not how it was in the time of Jesus.
Back then a woman was normally entirely dependent on a male for support. The woman of that time, except in a few cases, was totally involved in domestic duties and was at the mercy of her husband for survival. When her husband died she would get a portion of the estate after her sons got their share first and it was expected that they would support their mother. In this case of a poor widow to lose her only means of future livelihood not to say anything about losing the one thing that gave meaning to her life as a mother was a social and economic disaster. To that woman her world completely collapsed where she had nothing to look forward to. It was the same basic situation that Naomi and Ruth had to face and what got Ruth to seek marriage to Boaz.
In the culture of Israel it was also a provision of God that the nearest of kin would accept responsibility for his brother's wife if he passed away (Deut 25:5-6). It was his job to give her children and to keep the inheritance intact both in name and actuality. In the case of the widow at Nain apparently even this provision was not available to her. So like the man at the pool of Bethesda it was a case of supreme wretchedness that drew Jesus to action to lift one severely marginalized up from the pit of ruin. That is what makes our Lord and God so fantastic, a God who honestly cares.
Jesus undestands our pain For he too feels tha pain that we have but He does not stop there, he does somethng to make us better 1Peter 5.7 Cast all your cares unto Him for He cares
Tyler what an amazing revelation,if this cannot make us to love God more, then I don't know what else.
I think Jesus would have done the same to a man (or an orphan child) for that matter, who was grieving the loss of a loved member of the family.
The lesson I got from this day's lesson is that Jesus CARED FOR ALL (women, men, children), even the very disadvantaged in the society through culture or status.