So,
As part of my position as a Pastor, I do a lot of funerals. In some ways they are a whole lot easier than weddings, because while the emotions are real and raw, they usually aren’t wild, which they can be at a wedding.
I attended a wedding rehearsal year’s ago, when a bride said to me and her husband to be, “I’ll be right back” and suddenly went off to do something. When she came back, she apologized and said, “my parents are divorced and both brought their new partners today, and they were fighting.
So, I went down there and went all bride-zilla on them and told them to suck it up and play niece or all four of them could go home!”
Ok!
And not that I haven’t been the officiant where a few funerals have ended with parts of the family fighting and yelling, but I have never ever been to a funeral where the deceased sat up and began to talk.
Never! Ever! Strange faith!
In this story about the widow of Nain and her deceased son we see Jesus take faith to a whole new level!
Jesus sees the funeral procession and he sees the widow’s pain and he is obviously moved, and so he commands the boy to get up, acting just like Elijah and Elisha did, and shows that the faith that sustains him is light years beyond our own.
He is not afraid of the dead boy. He is not afraid of death at all. He acts as if raising people from the dead is no big deal, part of the package that comes with believing in the power of a powerful God!
Do you?
And believing in the power of a powerful God he acts!
It is one of the three times in the New Testament that Jesus declares by his actions that he is Lord over death. And then at Pentecost he passes that power over to the church, to the disciples, to us. Whoa!
So, when you are confronted with death, what do you do?
Unfortunately, in the last few weeks we have all been confronted with death, especially on the national scene. 110,000 people have died of COVIC-19 in the United States, many in our area.
And we have watched the death of George Floyd roil the troubled waters of racism, waters that have never been peaceful because we have not yet begun to solve the problems that confront people of color.
As an uncle of five nieces and nephews of color, I know that racism lives at all times and raises its ugly head especially when there is an honest effort to point it out and try to eliminate it.
It ought to send every believer to their knees, as an act of repentance and as preparation for a commission by Jesus to go and change things.
But we are weak, and unsure, and faced with our fear, we instead turn away.
But Jesus instead of running from death, walked up to it and told it to begone!
He said, “Young man, get up!”
When faced with death, do we accept it as a natural part of life and mourn the loss but then go on our merry way unconcerned? Or do we find ourselves stymied, lost, stuck, struggling to deal with the implications of the loss, not really knowing what to do or how?
Do we find ourselves emotionally broken, overwhelmed with grief, unable to offer much in the way of help and comfort? Or are we like Jesus, in tune with the widow’s crushing loss, but ready, willing, and able to step up and step in, to make a difference!
Is your faith that kind of strange faith that upon seeing death, understands not only the loss, but the possibilities of life?
We are resurrection people!
Now, I am not suggesting that we go around trying our best to resurrect everyone we go to a funeral for! The reality is some folks have gone home just because it is time.
But as people of the resurrection, every time we see death or it’s crushing power creeping around, we need to remember that the people of God have been given resurrection power…
That we do not have to leave people in misery and grief…
That we can bring help, and hope, and love…
And even healing presence into all kinds of situations and to all kinds of people who are suffering!
Even those with COVID-19 and those who care for them.
Even those who are being crushed to death by racism, and those who love them.
We can do all that Jesus did by giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, love to the loveless, time and energy and intelligence and love in overwhelming amounts, so that those who suffer…
So, they never, ever, suffer alone…
Because, that is exactly what Jesus would do!
If only the church had the power to raise the dead…
Think of the things we could do!
In Jesus presence, tears are wiped away…
And the church is called to be a community that wipes away tears!
And he replaces them with rejoicing…
And the church is called to be a community that is jubilant, people of resurrection power…
Go, in the power of Christ. Amen.
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