Seeing Life (blog)

Jesus and the crowd following him contrast so sharply with the funeral procession they meet at the gate of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), that when I read this story I can't help but picture the scene in my mind.Is the subject of this picture life or death?The "large crowd" of mourners catch my eye first as they make their way out of the village carrying a coffin.  They lumber along, heavily burdened.  Their faces are drawn and pale, distorted with grief.  Cast in dark shadows, this group is despairing.The widow stands out in the crowd.With her back to the village, she looks ahead to the cemetery, to the lonely tomb where they will lay the body of her only son.  What will life be like for her now?  Who will care for her?Is this the end of her story?The crowd following Jesus is also "large", but in every other way this group differs from the mourners.  As they make their way to the village, they are hopeful, joyful - gleeful even.  Their excitement, their dynamic energy, fills this part of the picture with warmth and brightness.  I'm seeing a freedom of movement and a forward momentum here that are understandably lacking in the procession of mourners.Jesus stands out in this other crowd.  He is leading them forward, even as they surround and press in on him.How did I miss seeing Jesus first, miss all of the light and exuberance?  Why was the darkness of the young man's untimely death and his mother's misfortune so quick to catch and hold my attention?Death, and the pain and suffering that go along with it, are immediately real and familiar to me.  I can picture my own face in that processional crowd and think of loved ones that I've lost.  Death will overtake me, and all of us, one day, and it's hard to look past that.  My fear and dread of death keep me from seeing anything else.I can't help but picture the widow turning her head to look back at the village and seeing only what she has lost.But when I force my own eyes away from her and focus them instead on Jesus, I see that his gaze is fixed forward.  Though the road beyond Nain will bring him to pain and suffering, to death on the Cross and to his own tomb, Jesus sees past them to his glorious Resurrection and the promise of new life for all people!Jesus sees beyond death to life."For the joy set before him he endured the Cross..." (Hebrews 12:2)That joy was set before him by God, who "so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)The joy (in our salvation) set before Jesus, was sure and secure.I love that the road to his Resurrection brought Jesus through Nain, because in reading the widow's story we get to experience and share in that joy.  We see how God's grace came to bear in the widow's life."When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry'.  Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still.  He said, 'Young man, I say to you, get up!'  The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother."  (Luke 7:13-15)What a beautiful picture!Can you see it, there at the gate of Nain, how the two crowds merge and become one in the hope of renewed life?  Jesus demonstrates his power to not only see, but to reach beyond the grave!  And because of him, they can now see past it too.  As the light of life enters into the darkness of death and overcomes it, all of the distinctions between the two groups at Nain disappear and, "filled with awe", they rejoice together in the hope that Jesus has given them."...God has come to help his people," they said (Luke 7:16).Jesus is "God with us" (Matthew 1:23).  We are no longer alone in our pain and suffering.  Our stories do not end with death.  Jesus helps us to see past it, when we look to him.  Only he can help us look past death and see life.God loves us!  So much that he gave up His only Son so that we can be saved from our sin that leads to eternal death.  Jesus died on the Cross in our place and rose again to life so that, just as he gave the widow her son back, he could give us back to our Father in Heaven, forever.I have this awesome picture in my mind of SHLC as part of that swelling crowd, led by Jesus, with dynamic energy and forward momentum.  Making our way out into our communities with hope and joy and...life...we are caring for people, and helping them to see past whatever they are struggling and suffering with, and sharing with them all of the ways that we see Jesus with us in our own lives.It's a really beautiful picture.