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Don’t cry

Luke 7:11-17

Key Verse 13

When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

Introduction

Some scientists believe that only humans shed tears in response to emotional states, while others disagree. As we studied earlier, the author Luke gives a special position to women throughout the book. This story is shown only in Luke’s gospel among synoptic gospels. The key verse indicates that Jesus’ heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” May the Lord help us to learn of Jesus’ compassionate heart towards her. May we also learn how to serve sorrowful people like her in our generation.

Read verses 11 - 13. What happens when Jesus went to Nain? (11, 12) What do you think about the difference between a crowd with Jesus and a crowd with a widow? How sad might a widow have been due to her deceased son? How does Jesus feel for her and what does he say to her? (13) Why do you think Jesus says, “Don’t cry?”

1-1, Read verses 11 - 13.

11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

1-2, What happens when Jesus went to Nain? (11, 12)

“Soon afterward” indicates that Jesus traveled to Nain after he had helped the Centurion in Capernaum. Nain is located about 20 miles south of Capernaum.

Jesus’ companions and a large crowd had seen the power and authority of Jesus’ words in helping the servant of the centurion.

1-3, What do you think about the difference between a crowd with Jesus and a crowd with a widow?

There are two processions: Jesus’ disciples, and a large crowd went along with Jesus. It was a procession that paraded the joy of true humanity and the joy of heaven stirred up by the faith of a stranger, the centurion. However there was another procession. It was a funeral procession. Beginning with the widowed woman, all were swallowed up by the power of death and became sorrowful and fatalistic. This is a human tragedy without the Risen Jesus.

1-4, How sad might a widow have been due to her deceased son?

Her son was brought up without a father. He must have been a good child to his mom. In fact he meant the whole world to her. One day he was either sick or injured and died. Nothing is more sorrowful than this funeral procession for this mother for her only son.

1-5, How does Jesus feel for her and what does he say to her? (13)

When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

This means that Jesus felt her pain and sorrow. Our God is merciful and compassionate. He knows our hearts and feels our pain and sorrow too.

There is a saying, “ A tear is a woman’s potent weapon.”

According to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on crying, women cry on average between 30 and 64 times a year, and men cry on average between 6 and 17 times per year. Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes, and women cry for about six minutes. Crying turns into sobbing for women in 65% of cases, compared to just 6% for men. - from wikipedia

However, Jesus was not merely sorry for her out of sympathy for the tears of a widowed woman. Rather he was sorry when he saw a pitiful widow crying over her only son’s death.

Jesus was even more sorrowful when he saw that the woman was overcome by the power of death. Jesus was seized with great pity for the widowed woman and for the sorrowful procession.

We also see how Jesus felt about death and why Jesus wept in the Bible.

**John 11:32-35 **

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept.

“Weeping” (the word used for Mary and the Jews) is a loud wailing, while “wept”(the word to describe Jesus’ expression of grief) is a quiet weeping. Jesus is greatly moved, but not out of control. Jesus is not unfeeling(apathetic), but with strong feeling. He prepares to strike a blow against death, the enemy of both God and man. Jesus is a passionate enemy of death.

Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and even troubled. Jesus is angry and troubled at the ravages of the great enemy of man: death. He simply couldn’t tolerate and as the King of kings and the Lord of lords he won’t settle for this weird domination of death much longer.

John 11:35 is the shortest verse, but one of the most suggestive verse in the entire Bible. What a powerful expression of our Lord Jesus Christ! The great wrath against death is demonstrated into tears of love, of sympathy, and of deep emotion.

**Isaiah 25:8**

He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

**Hosea 13:14a**

“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?”

**Luke 19:41**

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it”

1-6, Why do you think Jesus says, “Don’t cry”?

Jesus’ compassion went out to the widow and he said, “Don’t cry.” No one would dare say anything to the widow because no word could comfort her. It was better not to say anything but just mourn with her. This might be what a caring neighbor could do at best.

But Jesus said, “Don’t cry.” This does not mean that she should stop crying in spite of her sorrow, but that Jesus would solve her source of sorrow and pain. How?

Jesus wants to help her believe in the Son of Man. To Jesus, she has no reason to cry. She cries because she does not know the Son of Man and she has no faith in Jesus who is the resurrection and the life.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” - John 11:25-26

Read verses 14 - 15. How does Jesus raise a dead young man? (14) What can we learn from Jesus who says, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” What happens to the dead man? (15a) What do you think of Jesus who gives him back to her?

2-1, Read verses 14 - 15.

14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

2-2, How does Jesus raise a dead young man? (14)

Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still.

First of all Jesus stopped the funeral procession. Then he went up and touched the coffin, where the dead body was - it was the source of sorrow and pain.

Likewise, Jesus wants to stop the process of sorrow and touch the source of our pain. May God also help us to stop and let Jesus touch the source of our pain and sorrow.

2-3, What can we learn from Jesus who says, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”

Jesus said the dead body, “Young man, I say to you get up!” The dead body is cold because there is no blood and life in him. To a human being, there is no more hope for the dead body to get up and walk again.

But to Jesus, it was different. He could call the dead body a ‘young man’ again. He commanded the dead body as if it were alive - but sleeping, saying, “get up.”

Who is Jesus that he commands even the dead to get up? Jesus is the Lord of

creation. He is the author of life.

“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” - Colossians 1:16

Therefore, Jesus can give life again to the dead. He can call the dead, “get up.”

** See Ezekiel 37:1-14 ** The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

2-4, What happens to the dead man? (15a)

At the command of Jesus, the dead body began to have new flesh and blood. The young man broke the coffin and came out.

2-5, What do you think of Jesus who gives him back to her?

Jesus does not call this young man to follow Him, but gives him back to his mother, the widow. In this way how happy must she have been to have her only son back from the dead! Who knows, perhaps later this young man may be a disciple of Jesus to serve the kingdom purpose with her thanks and prayer.

Read verses 16 and 17. How do people praise God? (16) How far does the news about Jesus spread? (17)

3-1, Read verses 16 and 17.

16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

3-2, How do people praise God? (16)

“A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”

**See 1 Corinthians 15:54b-58**

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

3-3, How far does the news about Jesus spread? (17)

This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

In Conclusion

Praise Jesus whose heart is full of compassion. Do you have anything or anyone that make you sorrowful? Do you feel like the dead young man? Do you feel hopeless and helpless, making you sorrowful? May God open your heart so that Jesus can stop that thought process and let Jesus’ words touch the very source of sorrow. May we listen to his voice, “Young man, I tell you get up,” and we may serve young campus students to get up from their shadow of death and come to our compassionate Savior and the power of His words. Amen.

One word: Young man, I tell you get up!