Mothers’ Day

Mothers’ Day

Whether we celebrate our mothers, the mothers we’re married to, or our mother’s mother, Mothers’ Day is a special day for us all,.   There was another very special day for one mother depicted in Luke 7:11-17.

Luke 7:11-17 (ESV)
¹¹  Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹²  As he 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. ¹³  And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴  Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵  And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶  Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷  And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

In examining this passage, let me start with the widow’s situation.  In the Jewish world at the time of Christ, no longer having a husband and then losing your only son meant losing your family income.  It meant certain poverty and desperation. 

A widow was provided for in Jewish culture in a very few ways.  She would be invited to the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths (Deut. 16:9-17).  She could glean in the fields after the harvest though that was difficult for older and infirm women (Deut. 24:19-22; Ruth 2).  They would also be given a portion of the three-year tithe of produce mentioned in Deut. 26:12-15.  All these benefits were shared with dozens of other people in need.  Many widows had to resort to begging. Best case scenario, a widow might find a household in need of a servant and sell herself as an indentured servant, also not a good life but a way to keep her family from starving.

Widows were at the low end of the economic scale in Jewish culture, yet Jesus used a widow as an example of giving (Mark 12:42-43), a widow is compared to the elect in Luke 18:1-8.  1 Timothy chapter 5 tells us of how widows are to behave in the church and how the church is to behave toward them.  Young widows were to rely on their family or their own work for support.  Older Christian widows were to be cared for by the church.

James 1:26,27 tells us to visit the orphan and widow in their affliction.  So widows were not exactly to be envied in Jesus’ time.  So, Jesus saved this widow of Nain from all of that.

First, Jesus had compassion on her and her situation.  She had not just lost her beloved son, but she had lost hope.

Jesus touched the litter which carried the dead widow’s son and commanded him to rise even though He wasn’t supposed to touch the dead (Num. 19:11).  But, Jesus had a habit of touching people he wasn’t supposed to touch.  He touched a leper in Mark 1:40-42.  Except for other lepers, that was the first human touch the leper had felt in years.  That’s the way Jesus is.  His love overcomes the Law or His personal safety.

Back in Luke 7, Jesus reached into paradise where this dead man’s soul now resided and called him back to reenter his body.  What incredible power.  The man sat up and began to speak praises to God the Father and to Jesus.  That’s the reaction we should all have to our Lord.  Jesus then gave him to his mother and went on His way.

Can you imagine the scene?  What a glorious mother’s day!