Communion - the widower

By Hayley Boud

Luke 7-11, “Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”  This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district

 

Here we see Jesus is walking with His disciples when He comes across a funeral procession.  There is a woman who is burying her only son.  She doesn’t have any other children and her husband has already passed away.  While there was a sizeable crowd with her, I’m sure she felt alone.  The woman was crying because she had lost everything.  Her husband, her only child and as you know, in those days the women did not have the right to inherit property so she would also lose her house and means of surviving.  The woman has lost everything.

 

Jesus sees her and feels compassion on her and touching the coffin, he says, “young man, I say to you arise!”  He makes what is dead to come back to life.  Jesus then gives the son back to his mother. 

 

I am sure during the year of 2015, you crossed many difficult situations.  Maybe you lost something precious to you.  Maybe you lost a loved one, your job, your health, a friend but Jesus sees us and has compassion on us and comes next to us.  When we are crying, that is the time for Christ to help.

 

There is a song that I would like to play in the background as we take communion.  It is called “Love Came Down”. The lyrics are so beautiful and so true.  “If the storm of life come and the road ahead gets steep, I will lift my hands in faith and believe, I will remind myself of all that you’ve done, and the life I have because of Your Son.  Love came down and rescued me, love came down and set me free”.

 

Here in the story of the widow, Jesus came to her and rescued her from losing her son, her house, her livelihood and pretty much everything.  Jesus made the son who was dead to be alive.  Jesus did the same for us, we were once dead in our sin but He came and touched us and said, “arise!”  He made us alive spiritually.

 

John 6:54, Jesus makes us “arise” with Him on the last day.  Let’s praise God as we take communion for His salvation (coming down from heaven to earth – just for us), for bringing us from death to life and for His promise to raise us up on the last day. 

 

As we take the bread, let’s remember that Jesus is the bread of life.  As we chew on the bread, let’s think about the life that God has given us, the life He has saved us from and the life we will have with Him for eternity.  As we take the juice, let’s remember that is represents blood and we all know that we can’t live without blood so the blood also represents life.  As you take the juice, taste it and feel it going down your oesophagus and think about Jesus and how He has made us alive and He has compassion on us when we cross difficult situations and rescues us.