Jesus Restores Lives

by the Rev. Dr. Paul S. Nancarrow

This sermon is based on Luke 7:11-17. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon.

If I were to write a caption for the picture presented in our Gospel story today, it would be “Jesus restores lives in Nain.” And I would use the plural – lives – because, as I read the story, Jesus restores more than one life on his visit to this village.

Most obviously, of course, Jesus restores the life of the young man who had been ill. Luke never tells us what had made this young man ill, what had brought him to the point of death; we never find out the full context of this story. What Luke does tell us is that as Jesus and his disciples and the crowd are approaching the village, they meet another crowd coming out toward them, a funeral procession, carrying a man who had clearly died before his time, because Jesus sees his mother is walking beside the bier, and no parent should outlive their child. Even without the backstory, these details are are enough to arouse Jesus’ compassion, and he steps up and touches the bier; and he speaks to the body, which of course at that point cannot hear him, cannot hear anything; and he says “Young man, I say to you, rise!”; and the young man stirs, and breathes, and his eyes open, and he sits up, and he begins to speak; and, I imagine, Jesus helps him step up off the bier and stand on his own two feet, and Jesus gives him to his mother. Even though to all external appearances this young man was separated from his mother and his friends and his village and the whole world of light and life, separated from everything by the great gulf of death, Jesus reaches across that distance, Jesus overcomes that separation, and Jesus brings him back, Jesus reconnects him to the circles of relationship and activity and love that make him thrive, Jesus restores his life.

That’s the obvious part of the story. Less obvious, but just as important, is the fact that, when Jesus restores the young man’s life, he restores the life of his mother as well. Luke makes quite a point of telling us that the mother is a widow, and that the young man is her only son – and that means that he is her only connection to the resources that could make for a good and happy life for her. In the culture of Jesus’ time, a woman on her own had very little legal or social standing. In the culture of Jesus’ time, a woman was identified by her relationship to some man: she was some father’s daughter, or some husband’s wife, or some son’s mother; and, with very rare exceptions, the only connections a woman had to property or wealth or a place to live or a means to get by came through her relationship to some man. A woman who lost her husband and was a widow would be expected to move in with one of her sons, become part of the son’s household, and be taken care of that way. But a widow who had only one son, and who lost that son, would have nowhere to go, no household to be part of, no place, no status, no name. The mother’s plight here may be less obvious than the young man’s – after all, she is still standing, she is still breathing, she is still in the world – but in a very real sense, her livelihood, her life, is threatened also by her son’s death, her connections to the circles of relationship and activity and love that give her life are all coming apart and being lost as well.

And the way Luke tells the story, it is the widow’s loss of life that arouses Jesus’ compassion. It is her disconnection from the circles of livelihood and life that moves Jesus to intervene. When Jesus restores life to the young man, he does it, in every sense that matters, to restore life to his mother as well. The real life that is restored in this story is the life that is shared, the life of relationship, that which connects in living the man, and the mother, and their friends, and their acquaintances, and the funeral procession, and the crowd, and eventually the entire town of Nain. Their lives are all restored, their lives are all renewed, to one degree or another, because this young man lives in their circles of relationship and activity and love once again.

In fact, I think one of the most important things this story has to teach us is that life, the life that Jesus restores, the life that matters, is more than just biology, more than just the orderly functioning of a bodily organism. Life in its largest sense is a matter of relationship: what gives biological functioning its meaning, its purpose, its depth, its texture, its significance, its satisfaction, its joy, is the relationships we share in and through and by means of our bodily presence. It’s a biological fact that right now I am breathing; but what gives my breathing significance is that I am using my breath to speak, to share ideas, hopefully to inspire insights, to create a relationship through which the Word of God might come to be recognized among us. After this service we will have a picnic, we will eat food together; and while the food will be fuel for the biology of our bodies, it will be the conversation, the conviviality, the fun of picnicking, that will really be the life of the occasion. When Jesus says he comes that we may have life, and may have it more abundantly, it’s not just biology he’s talking about, but the rich life of relationship that connects us and sustains us and nourishes us and helps us grow into the compassionate, creative, loving people God wants us to be.

That is the kind of life Jesus restores in the Gospel story, for the young man and his mother and everyone. And that is the kind of life Jesus promises to restore in us, as well. It is the promise of this Gospel story that we will be restored, we will be renewed, we will come more alive, as we connect ever more deeply in circles of relationship and activity and love that cause us to thrive.

And Jesus is working among us to create those circles of life-restoring relationships all the time. Here at Trinity, within our parish life together, one of those circles is kept and sustained by Trinity Cares. Trinity Cares is a team of laypersons in our parish who have committed themselves to the ministry of pastoral care, of being there for, and reaching out to, members of our congregation who are going through an illness, or experiencing a loss, or celebrating a birth, or feeling lonely, or needing an encouragement. Members of the Trinity Cares team are there to write a card, or bring a meal, or make a phone call, or come for a visit, or offer a ride – just generally to be a friend in the Spirit who rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep, who creates a connection in Christ that can raise spirits and reveal compassion and restore life. If you or someone you know could benefit from the ministry of Trinity Cares, you can contact Muffie Newell or myself, amd we can put you in touch with the team. The pastoral ministry offered by Trinity Cares is a great complement to the pastoral ministry offered by Trinity’s priest and deacons, and is just one way our parish grows and deepens our connections in circles of relationship and activity and love that restore our lives.

And the connections we make to sustain circles of relationship and activity and love that restore lives extend far beyond just our congregation. One fact about our parish life that I’m not sure is widely known beyond the Vestry is that each year Trinity Church makes grants to a variety of agencies and nonprofits in our town and in our state, agencies and nonprofits that offer services and ministries we want to be involved in but we can't do just as Trinity Church on our own. Every year we set aside twenty thousand dollars of our parish budget to give away; every year, through your pledges, through your support of Trinity, you are making connections in circles of life-restoring relationships at SACRA, and the Valley Mission, and the Augusta Free Clinic, and the Valley Children's Center, and Jackson Feild School, and Boy’s Home, and the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, and many others too. That’s another way our parish life together helps us build connections to circles of relationship and activity and love that restore lives.

Jesus came to the town of Nain, and restored among its people the relationships that gave life. May Jesus come to us, and give us grace to restore relationships that give life in our world too. Amen.