When God Visits: Luke 7:11-17 - 5th Sunday after Epiphany

People often ask me, “do you believe in angels?”. My answer is I’ve seen them. 

Several years ago, I received a call that Nancy, one of Nancys who’d been living in a nearby personal care home, had taken a turn for the worst and wasn’t expected to live through the night. 

She and her sister lived out of state and could not get there right away.

When I arrived at her room, there was a young woman sitting in a folding chair next to hear bed. She was reading aloud from the paperback novel that Nancy had been reading before losing consciousness. 

I introduced myself, and she introduced herself as a hospice volunteer. She didn’t know Nancy, but thought she would enjoy hearing the rest of her book read aloud. I was so touched by her willingness to give her time in this way, and I was even more impressed when she told me that she worked full time as a dietician at a nearby hospital and was raising two young boys with her husband. Not exactly someone who has a lot of free time on her hands. 

Her mother died of cancer six months prior, and a volunteer sat with her in her final moments of life. This inspired her to do the very same for others, while helping her to cope with her own grief.

I went on to talk about Nancy, who was a beloved member of our congregation. I thought it was important that she knew about the person she was serving. 

As I sat there, I knew I was in the presence of an angel, even though she was a real person.  She was heaven sent. 

She is a shining example of the compassion we see in Jesus Christ when he and his disciples visit the small town of Nain. When they arrive, the entire town is accompanying a widow, whose only son had died. His body was being carried out on a bier. 

Click here to read the Scripture text

The suffering of this widow surpassed that of Job (in my opinion), because she had lost her husband (her means of support), and now her only son. She was fortunate to have practically the entire town mourning with her. But that didn’t change the fact that she would eventually return to an empty home, bearing indescribable grief, facing a bleak and uncertain future. These are the kinds of tragedies that shatter souls. 

But then, Jesus comes along and raises him from the dead. The entire town erupts in fear and amazement. The people shout, “a great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

This is the best possible ending to this tragic, heartbreaking story.  By the way, this is one of only three occasions in all the Gospels when Jesus raises someone from the dead. Incidentally, all three children. And while we have seen God miraculously delivering people from certain death on a few occasions, most tragedies don’t end like this. 

In fact, one of the biggest misunderstandings of the Christian faith is that God will reward your faith and obedience by sparing you from suffering and death. That you, too, can get from Jesus what everyone in the Gospels gets from Jesus. 

Sometimes, you will. Yet, there’s something more that Jesus gives all of us when we’re in need, and that is his presence. If, for whatever reason, you are not spared from your suffering, you will not suffer it alone. And Jesus will work signs and wonders, often in ways you never expected, which will prove to you he’s there.

I didn’t want Nancy to die any more than her family did. But God sent an angel to visit her in death, and the angel’s wounded soul was healed.  Losing my dad last year was the most painful thing to ever happen in my life. But Jesus visited him at his deathbed, and my dad told my mom and my sister that Jesus assured him that we would be okay. Whenever I hear his words in my mind (and my dad was never one to tell a lie), my pain is eased, and my faith is inspired.

Jesus never sat sits the sidelines when people suffer. Jesus takes on their pain, their suffering, their rejection, and their shame. He becomes one of them. And that makes all the difference.

From Christ we learn that compassion goes way beyond feelings and consoling words. You are giving yourself over to another person, so that your life and your presence may sustain them in their anguish. 

I’m sure it wasn’t easy for the hospice volunteer to sit beside dying strangers, but that’s what makes compassion so powerful, because it’s not easy to give it. It takes courage to be close to someone in their pain; to see the agony on their faces; to hear their cries; to smell their poverty or their sickness. 

Human compassion is one of the most uncomfortable things you will ever do. But if you have the faith to step out of your comfort zone, you will find Divine grace takes over where human flesh meets its limits. That is when miracles happen. That is when transformation happens. 

Compassion is what will keep this country and this world from descending into chaos. Compassion is what gives us hope in the face of the uncertainty. Compassion is what makes the Church into the Body of Christ. For we are not just a building. We are not just an institution. We are the presence of God in the world. Compassion is what makes the invisible God becomes visible. You are here so that others may see Jesus in you.