K. The widow of Nain’s son (7:11–17)
K. The widow of Nain’s son (7:11–17)
This story of raising from the dead is peculiar to Luke, though elsewhere there are other raisings, those of Jairus’s daughter and of Lazarus. Luke stresses the compassion of Jesus as well as his power. He probably includes the story at this point as a preparation for the reply to John’s messengers.
11. Soon afterward connects the narrative loosely with the preceding. Nain is mentioned here only in the Bible. It is generally held that the site was the modern Nein, about 6 miles south-east of Nazareth on the slopes of the Little Hermon and a day’s journey from Capernaum. For city see on 1:26. The great crowd that went with Jesus shows how popular he was at this period of his ministry. As he moved from town to town people attached themselves to him and went along.
12. Jesus’ arrival at Nain coincided with the departure of a funeral procession. Luke puts the meeting near the gate of the city, a place which would normally have its quota of citizens, for it was the regular meeting-place. The dead man was the only son of his mother and she was a widow, which made for a poignant situation. The woman was now all alone in the world. Without a male protector and provider she must have been in difficulties. There were few openings for a woman to earn her living in the first century. To add to the hardship and the sense of loneliness and sorrow there was the knowledge that the family line had ended. The large crowd from the city that accompanied her shows that her plight was widely appreciated and that there was a depth of sympathy for her. Luke does not mention professional mourners, but they would have been there: ‘Even the poorest in Israel should hire not less than two flutes and one wailing woman’ (Ketuboth 4:4).
13–15. For the first time in narrative Luke calls Jesus the Lord (a title he uses frequently in non-Marcan contexts; Matthew and Mark do not use it in this way; John uses it occasionally). It has undoubted fitness in this scene in which Jesus will show himself to be Lord over death itself. Nobody asked Jesus to do anything. Moved with compassion, he took action on his own initiative. First he addressed the weeping widow and told her to dry her tears. She would have been walking in front of the bier,12 so that Jesus would have encountered her first. Then he approached the bier on which the body lay, wrapped in a shroud. The word soros often means a ‘coffin’, but MM show that it was also used for a bier. While the Jews sometimes used coffins (Shabbath 23:4; Moed Katan 1:6), it was their practice to use the open bier (e.g. Josephus, Antiquities xvii.197; Vita 323). Clearly this is presupposed here. Jesus’ touching it meant pollution according to the ceremonial laws, but where human need was in question he never worried about ceremonial trifles. When he touched the bier the bearers stood still. No word was spoken to them, but plainly they saw that something unusual was happening. Jesus proceeded to address the corpse with the words, Young man, I say to you, arise. At the word of power the dead man sat up. There is nothing elaborate. Jesus simply spoke the word and the miracle took place. Luke adds that the dead man began to speak, clear evidence of his return to life. Nothing that he said is recorded, as is the case also in the two other examples of resurrections. Jesus’ concern for the widow comes out in the detail that he gave the young man to his mother (as Elijah did in a similar situation, 1 Kgs 17:23).
16–17. Those who saw this reacted as in the presence of God. Fear, which must be understood as awe, took hold of them. They glorified God, interestingly not Jesus. They recognized the hand of God in what had happened and gave praise where it was due. But they did salute Jesus, calling him a great prophet. This is an inadequate view of Jesus, but it probably represented the highest title the townsmen could give anyone. It may have been called forth by the reflection that Jesus had just done what two great prophets did in days of old (1 Kgs 17:17ff.; 2 Kgs 4:18ff.). The people further exclaimed, God has visited his people! This expression is not uncommon in the Old Testament, where it often denotes blessing, as here (e.g. Ruth 1:6; 1 Sam. 2:21), though sometimes also judgment. The inevitable result of all this was a further increase in the fame of Jesus as the news spread far and wide. Judea is probably used here in the wider sense of Palestine in general, while the mention of the surrounding country shows that Jesus’ fame was very widespread indeed.