“Do not weep” (Deuteronomy 6-9, Luke 7)

The death of anyone is hard, but when it’s your child, it is perhaps the hardest of all. And when it’s your only son, and you’re a widow it would surely be overwhelming. It’s hardly the sort of thing you could call “light and momentary”.

Jesus meets a woman in exactly this situation in today’s reading (Luke 7:11). Sometimes people avoid those going through hard times, perhaps they fear they won’t know what to say. But not Jesus, He seems to deliberately move towards those in pain. Why else would Jesus be going to this little town of Nain? He has come to interrupt a funeral. They are on the way down for the burial, when Jesus stands in the way.

At first glance He seems insensitive, how can he say “do not weep” at a funeral! Surely this is exactly the time for weeping. Well, it’s not that He lacked empathy, for we are told “He had compassion on her”. In fact, He had deliberately travelled to meet her at this point. He says “Do not weep” because He is about to remove the source of her weeping.

Jesus touches the coffin, and commands the dead man back to life. What happens? Dr Luke tells us “the dead man sat up and began to speak”! What joy! When it seemed that He was gone forever.

But we might find ourselves thinking, “but He didn’t do that for me when I lost my loved one…”

Well as we think about that question for a minute, notice first that it’s not because He lacks compassion. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. The psalmist tells us that God has kept a record of his tears (Psalm 56:8).

Looking at the compassionate and gracious character of Jesus is a great help when we are suffering. To know that He won’t let us be tempted beyond what we can bear and that His grace is sufficient for us is a great help.

But it’s also helpful to see in this account of the widow’s son a foretaste of what Jesus will do for all His people. When Jesus walked this earth, He gave us a foretaste of how good His kingdom will be. Here we see that in His kingdom there will be no more death, no more tears, and joyful reunions (Revelation 21). When Jesus Christ returns, He will swallow up death forever and raise all those who belong to Him to eternal life in the new heaven and new earth.

Until that day, we will suffer bereavements, but we can know His compassion for us even as we suffer, and know that there is a future of eternal glory that will outweigh all the suffering now. One day He will say to His people “do not weep” – the pain is over! Amen, come Lord Jesus!