12-10-2023

Good Morning All,

             Luke 7:12; “As he (Jesus) drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.”

      I have never experienced a real traffic jam.  I am not saddened by this; but I am fascinated by them.  I cannot ever imagine how they ever get untangled from them.  It looks like one big mess and as the bottleneck occurs, more vehicles come in from the rear and just keep it more bottled up.  It looks like it would be a time of great frustration and anger.  It looks like a mess.

    That is what our verse is about, a traffic jam.  We have two large crowds of people, one a funeral procession heading out the gate of the city.  This procession would have had the mother, the only relative, family and friends, and some from the local synagogue.  They would have been heading out to the burial site which was outside the city walls.  It would have been a sad procession.

    On the same road, going through the same gate was a different procession.  This one had Jesus, the disciples, some of the other followers, some from the outlying region who heard Jesus was in the area.  This procession would have been very lively, full of excitement and wonder.  These two very different processions would have met at the gate of the city and a huge traffic jam would have occurred.  The funeral procession, with its wailers and mourners would be packing through the gate to get out and those following Jesus would be talking and singing trying to get in the gate; what a jam.

    The truly amazing part is that the woman, the mother who had just lost her only son, who would have been completely despondent and lost would have met face to face with Jesus as he led his procession into town.  The hopeless met the source of hope.  The sad and downhearted met the great Comforter.  The broken heart met the great Physician.  Jesus looked at her and had compassion.  He raised the boy back to life and gave him back to his mother.

    When you or I are burdened by the battles of this life, it can feel like we are in a funeral procession being marched out of town.  There is so much pain and sadness.  There can seem to be no comfort, nowhere to turn, just no hope.  We are being hustled out because no one wants to deal with us, and the devil is leading the procession to the burial site where he plans to leave you among the dead.

     Blessedly, we are met at the gate by Jesus, who stops the devil’s procession.  He stops the veritable stampede to death and gives us life.  Jesus stops our rush to pain and sadness, to an emptiness that cannot be filled.  He fills us with his Spirit so we can trust in his wonderful promise of salvation, and we can live in hope.

Father, guide us to the gate where Jesus is.  Guide us so that we may know the compassion of our Savior.  Guide us so that we will always be a person of hope.  Help us to be a comfort to those whom we meet at the gate.  Help us to bring them the good news of your grace and mercy.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret