When Jesus Comes to Town ~ Luke 7:11-17 ~ Third Sunday after Pentecost

Earlier this week, an atheists’ group announced that they will be erecting a “monument to atheism” in front of a Florida courthouse—in response to a Ten Commandments’ monument erected not long ago.

The monument will display secularist quotes from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.  It will even quote the Bible: specifically the punishments prescribed for breaking certain commandments—on two stone tablets, no less…

Now I couldn’t help but feel a sense of outrage that someone would mock the fundamental beliefs of three of the world’s major religions—but my feelings quickly turned to grief and sadness that someone would go to the trouble and the expense to erect a monument to unbelief…

How tragic it is for someone to believe that there is no life after death…  That life, in fact, may have no real purpose other than the purpose we attempt to give it…  That sorrow and evil may in fact have the last word…  How tragic to believe that we are all alone, with no higher power to reach out to for strength and healing…

Where would we really be without Jesus?

This is a good question for us to consider as we read about an unnamed widow from the town of Nain, who is in the midst of what must be the worst day of her life.  Already, she has lost her husband—and losing a husband in those days meant more than just losing a life partner…  She lost her only real means of keeping a roof over her head, food on her place, and clothes on her back…

And if that wasn’t awful enough, she’s now lost her son.  There’s no one left in the family to take care of her.  Not to mention that there is no loss more painful than the loss of a child…

In those days, people thought they could speak for God.  For a woman to lose both her husband and her child, people would assume that she’s being cursed by God.   She must’ve been some awful person for God to permit such a thing to happen…

She is all alone, in just about every sense of the word.  Her only hope of survival is that her kin and community will look after and care for her…

It’s then that Jesus enters the town of Nain, and immediately he goes straight towards the grieving widow.  We know what happens next…  And yet there’s more to this story than just the miracle…  Jesus’ presence as well as his act were signs that God has taken personal concern with the widow—and the people of her community.  When any child of God suffers need or want, Jesus will always be there—and he will always have the last word.

That’s what happened when Jesus came to Nain…  Well, today, Jesus has come to Leechburg—and he isn’t just passing through…

He’s here in this place, receiving our prayers and giving us his body and blood.  But he’s outside our doors, with those who need him most.  He is ministering the healing and life-giving mercies of God, just as he did for the widow and her son that day in Nain.  He’s comforting, he’s strengthening, he’s restoring—and his work will not be done until every woman, man, and child knows him as Lord and Savior. 

Yet no one will know Jesus, unless we take the initiative, go out and meet our neighbors; get our hands dirty, and do whatever is in our ability to care for them according to their needs.  We are the signs of Jesus’ presence in the world.

How quick we are to we look upon the pain of our neighbors and the plight of our community, and throw up our hands in surrender, fully believing that there’s nothing we can do to make a difference—because God doesn’t seem to be doing anything…  Why should we surrender evils and the injustices and the hurts that ravage people’s lives when Jesus is in town, on the ground, with us and with our neighbors? 

No Christian should go through their week, tossed about by stress and the pressures of daily life when Jesus gives us the gift of our church to be built up on faith and strength. 

None of our neighbors should be alone when we as the Body of Christ can befriend them…

No one should suffer want when we have gifts to care for them…

No one should suffer unbelief when we can bear witness to the presence of our Savior, on the ground, with us even in the messes of life…

Jesus has come to Leechburg.  And West Leechburg, Hyde Park, Vandergrift, and Apollo, Lower Burrell and New Kensington, Saltsburg and Clarksburg, and all the places we call home.  And he’s present in your homes, walking with you in daily life.  Our lives are Jesus’ mission field.  Our communities are Jesus’ dwelling place…

Today, you are invited to show this community, this world—that God has indeed come to the help of his people.  You can start right now…

Think of someone—a friend or a family member, a neighbor or co-worker; someone who’s going through a tough time, like the widow at Nain…  Come forward today and light a candle for that person.  Whisper their name in prayer.  And then go and care for that person.  You don’t have to do anything heroic; just visit them; listen to them; be with them…  Do whatever you can do to help them bear their burden…

Light a candle for yourself if you are at the end of your ropes; broken and weary and not sure how you’re even going to make it through the week…

Do this because Jesus is here to care for you.  With a little faith and hope, he’ll do great things.  People will glorify God because of you.