seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 7:11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Dr. Luke must have really scratched his head when he heard about the healing in Nain. Nain was a little fishing town about 25 miles from Capernaum. It's known as Nein now. So far, all of his patients were alive, but this son was already on the way to the grave. This patient was dead. Unlike the little girl, who was reported to have just died, this man was on his way to the grave. See, look at verse 14, Jesus touched the bier. A bier is a movable frame on which a coffin or a corpse is placed before burial or cremation or on which it is carried to the grave. His mother was there, she was burying her only son, and she would have no one else to depend on now. Women generally were not self-supporting. Women were generally considered property. Not only had she lost her only son, as a widow with no man to support her, she was burying her livelihood as well. The large crowd was with her now, but not much longer. She would be without her husband, her son, and she would be destitute. She couldn't even sell any land or possessions. They didn't belong to her.
The story doesn't mention that. Jesus was saving her, not just her son, her! Jesus had compassion everyone, especially the widows.
Dr. Luke tells us the dead man sat up and started talking. Can you imagine???? You're in a funeral procession and the guy you are about to bury sits up and starts talking!!! I wonder what he was talking about! I wonder if he was a nonstop talker. I wonder if he talked about dying and how happy he was to see his mother. I wonder if the guy said "phew, that was close! I thought I was really a goner!"
It says Jesus gave him to his mother and then fear seized them all. I guess so! They say there are only two things that are certain in life, death and taxes. Jesus did away with death! I bet it wasn't just the taxes that seized them all in fear! A dead son sat up! That's some scary stuff!! Agreed? How could they bury the dead anymore without worrying their dead would wake up in a pit covered in dirt? OH MY! Maybe Dr. Luke did more study on coma patients. Maybe they just didn't understand coma cases.
Wait, he was on the way to the grave, was he embalmed? Would they embalm him at the grave? Oh man, this story is going to plague me all day! That's scary! I've read some articles on embalming. If this man was embalmed already, Jesus would have had to put the man's heart back in place too. One article I read said that the morticians were known as "physicians". Was Dr. Luke a mortician??? Did it rattle Dr. Luke to hear the dead sat up and started talking?
Dr. Luke wrote this Gospel. Dr. Luke said a dead son sat up and started talking!
