58 – Raising a Widow’s Son, Luke 7:11-17

Luke 7:11 Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, [a]accompanied by a large crowd. 12 Now as He approached the gate of the city, [b]a dead man was being carried out, the [c]only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “[d]Do not weep.” 14 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!” 15 The [e]dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has [f]visited His people!” 17 This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

Footnotes

a. Luke 7:11 Lit and

b. Luke 7:12 Lit one who had died

c. Luke 7:12 Or only begotten

d. Luke 7:13 Or Stop weeping

e. Luke 7:15 Or corpse

f. Luke 7:16 Or cared for

Commentary

Nain was a town in southwest Galilee, and the name means “pleasant” or “delightful.” The people had a lovely view of the Plain of Esdraelon, and there was a spring which helped them grow groves of olives and figs. Although it is now a small village, it was likely much larger at the time Jesus passed through (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 1789).

This event that takes place in Nain is the first of three recorded times when Jesus raises someone from the dead, and before this instance, it had been about 800 years since God’s people had seen someone raised from the dead. “The last case was wrought by Elisha the prophet (II Kgs 4:14-37)” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1274). Luke’s inclusion of this case is consistent with his focus on Jesus’s treatment of and compassion for women.

This mercy Jesus extended to the widow must have been keenly felt by onlookers. Widows had a hard lot in Biblical times, particularly if they had no children to care for them. Their basic needs were provided by the church if they had no means, but they were often destitute. For this woman to lose her only son was not only grievous to her heart, but also to her future.

The footnote for letter ‘c’, offering an alternative translation of “only begotten,” recalled John 3:16 for me and made me realize the similarity of this woman to Jesus’s own mother. Jesus died and was risen at a time when Joseph had already passed away and Mary was a widow. Although Jesus had at least one brother in James, He commended Mary’s care to John, as if Mary had no family to care for her. (This is purely my own conjecture, but since James did not believe in Jesus’s messiahship until after Jesus’s death, James may have distanced himself from his family members who accepted Jesus as Lord. Therefore, he may have been an unlikely candidate to care for Mary properly at the time of Jesus’s death.) Jesus, ever focused on His mission, could have seen His mother in this poor woman and felt His own mother’s future grief in the widow’s tears. No wonder He was moved to a special compassion for her!

See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2020/05/15/jesus-confirms-his-purpose-to-john-the-baptist/

Scripture References

Verse 11

Luke 7:10 And when the messengers returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.

Verse 13

Luke 7:19 So John called two of his disciples and sent them to ask the Lord, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”

Luke 10:1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to visit.

Luke 11:1 One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:39 “Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

Luke 12:42 And the Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their portion at the proper time?

Luke 13:15 “You hypocrites!” the Lord replied, “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Luke 17:6 And the Lord answered, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge.

Luke 19:8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”

Luke 22:61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”

Luke 24:3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

Luke 24:34 and saying, “The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon!”

John 4:1 When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware that He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John

John 6:23 However, some boats from Tiberias arrived near the place they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

John 11:2 (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, would later anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)

John 11:3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”

Verse 14

1 Kings 17:22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.

Mark 5:41 Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”

Verse 16

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

Matthew 9:8 When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Matthew 21:11 The crowds replied, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Luke 5:26 Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Luke 7:39 When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him–for she is a sinner!”

John 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I see that You are a prophet.

Verse 17

Matthew 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

Matthew 9:26 And the news about this spread throughout that region.

Matthew 9:31 But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout the land.

Luke 4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread throughout the surrounding region.

Commentary

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.