He Said What??? (Jesus in Nain)

Originally posted May 2009

Just so everyone knows...I don't know enough about the Bible and Church to be original. Most of what I write about is something I have heard. I just phrase it in my own personal words and then mention things that I see and feel when I read.

In Luke there are some chapters that talk about Jesus traveling to Nain with a large crowd in tow. He had not asked them to follow...they had chosen to do so because of the great things they had heard and even witnessed. They felt drawn to him!!

Now to put it in perspective...these people were not taking vacation days...they were leaving their own farms and businesses. This was HUGE!! Can you imagine feeling so compelled to follow something or someone that you literally get up from your desk/couch/car/etc RIGHT NOW and follow? Crazy!

Anyway...I can imagine this large crowd as they approach Nain. They're excited! They're inspired! They are looking at the world like they have never seen it before!!

Coming out of the gates of Nain was another large crowd. These people were a part of a funeral. A recent widow had now lost her only son and they were all walking out of Nain in the funeral procession.
Take a minute and think of the scene unfolding from up in the air. On one side you have this funeral...I picture people all dressed in black, crying and sad. Pondering life’s short cycle and trying to come to grips with the sadness around them everywhere.

On the other side...this inspired group of people. I picture them singing, telling jokes and stories. Looking at life and all the amazing possibilities that await each of them. I picture them as uplifting to each other!

Now...I'm no scholar, but the symbolism here is amazing. On the one side is a crowd without Jesus. On the other is a group with Jesus. Picturing the difference in the two is cool in my mind and I think it says a great deal about how effected our own lives are by the strength of our walk with God. Think of how you have felt at the times you were closest to Him...maybe at 12 years old or even 25...I'll bet you that you can draw some comparisons...

Anyway - the rest of the story is cool to me just from a life perspective...

So Jesus walks up to this grieving mother and says "Do not cry." Now...imagine you are in the funeral group and this stranger walks up and says this...We'd be like "He said what???" right before one of us stepped up and asked him to leave. I mean...that's right up there with "Yo! What we having to eat after this funeral...I am starving!"

He then approaches the casket and touches the box saying "Young man. I say to you Get Up!"

Well that's just about the icing on the cake there! I can just see most of my boys starting to charge to the front of the line to bounce this joker right out. I mean first He's gonna talk to the widow about not crying THEN He is actually going to lay His hands....lay His hands!...on the casket!!?? I don't think so!! This cat has to go!

Knock!! Knock!!! Knock!!!!!! from the casket and everyone stops in their tracks. The pallbearers probably dropped the box right then and there. *cough* "Umm...can someone let me outta this box? Helloooo!"

Luke goes on to tell how the funeral crowd immediately rejoiced and praised Jesus. In one command, the two very different sides were combined into one. They believed!!

Now...in this story, some of us are in the crowd with Jesus (we believe...but more importantly we act on our belief with mind, body, and spirit!).

Some of us are in the funeral (we believe, but have let other things come between us and God...death in a family...abuse...breakup...sadness..sickness...unemployment...etc).

And some of you are like I was...you are the guy in the casket (dead and gone...having given up hope or never experienced it in the first place).

Now if you had to choose which group to hang with, which would it be? I mean...If we set up tables labeled "Awesome Feeling", "Gloomy Feeling", and "Dead" which would you choose?

Ok...I know there are some sickos that would choose dead, but by in large, we all would be in the Awesome Feeling line I would think!! Well...get in line crazy!!

PS - How do you think the young man that was brought back went on the live his life? I do not know, but I imagine he went ballistic for God!! I've come CLOSE to dying (which is a LONG way from actually dying I would think) and it changed me for the better!!

Have an awesome day!!