Last week we heard the wonderful story of God's promise to a poor widow in Zarephath (which, as you recall, is somewhere near Pinckneyville). This poor woman and her son were going to die but the Lord promised through Elijah that her flour and oil would not run out. She trusted in the Lord and cared for the prophet and there was enough for her and her son, too. Then today's Old Testament reading. The widow's son dies! All that, she says, just so her boy could die and God could rub her sins in her face! What else to explain it? She knows she is nothing and deserves nothing. But for a moment she had the blessing and favor of God: oil and flour that would not run out. Then the Lord takes her son. Do you think of God that way? Are you convinced that whatever bad happens in your life is just the Lord's way of getting back at you for something? People live like that! They think God is out to get them and whatever goes wrong must be because they're being punished for their sins. In the Gospel we have another widow burying her only son. What must she have thought? What did she suppose God was doing in her life to take away her husband and then her son and leave her a dirt poor beggar in society? What must she have thought as she goes weeping along with the few people carrying her son out to the cemetery and suddenly they get interrupted by a big noisy crowd tagging along after Jesus? What a collision of happiness and sorrow, of joy and misery, of life and death! But Jesus isn't there to remind her of her sins. Death does that job. He doesn't come to Lord it over this poor widow. He comes to save her son from death. He comes to save her from death. He comes to save us from death.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I hear it all the time: “Death is just part of life.” “Death is the natural way of things.” “Death is inevitable.” “Death is good.” Listen to me today, dear Christians: Death is NOT good. It is NOT natural. It is NOT beautiful and peaceful and nice. Death is awful. It is terrible. It is a tearing apart of soul and body. Death is the consequence of sin. It is the Lord's judgment upon man who disobeyed Him. When man didn't want to live by God's Word, the alternative was death. And from the moment of conception our bodies are already passing away. Death hurts. It takes away those we love. It causes tears and suffering. Death is bad news. Think about this poor widow in Nain. Death had stolen her husband. Then Death came and took her son. Death has taken all those who could care for and provide for her. Death has made her alone. Even though she is still alive, Death has ruined her and besides that, someday she'll die too. Don't ever let anyone tell you that Death is some kind of good or natural thing. It's not. Death is the wages of sin. It is the enemy of life. It is our enemy. And we can't run from it. That's why Jesus comes. To take on death.
When Jesus sees this poor woman who has been knocked down to nothing by death, He has compassion on her. He is moved in his very guts to help her. Why? Because the Bible says that they were carrying out her only-begotten Son. And Jesus knows about being an only-begotten Son. And Jesus knows that as the only-begotten Son of God, it's His job to come and save sinners from Death. To rescue them from this enemy they can't defeat on their own. When He sees the dead only-begotten son of this poor woman, He does what He came to do: He raises the boy to life because God in His mercy has determined that only HIS only-begotten Son will die for sins. There is a story in the Old Testament about a man name Uzzah. Uzzah was walking along next to the ark of the covenant and the oxen stumbled that were carrying the cart with the Ark on it. Uzzah reached out and grabbed the Ark to keep it from tipping. And the Lord struck Him dead right there! Because the Ark meant death and God's wrath. But look at this story in St. Luke's Gospel: Jesus walks right up and touches the box, the coffin. He steps right up and places His hand on Death. And Death runs away and the young man wakes up! That's why Jesus came, to take on Death. To fight our enemy. To beat our enemy. Jesus goes and takes our sins upon Himself to make sure that He can die. Our sins kill Him. The cross kills Him. He gives up His last breath to lure Death and Death runs up and takes Jesus. But on the Third Day, what happened to Death? Jesus is alive! He has paid the price for our sins and has taken Death down. When Jesus goes up to that poor woman's boy and touches his coffin, Death has to run. Just so on Easter, Death has to run because the Lord of Life has paid for our sins and therefore has overcome the penalty and curse of sins, that is, Death.
Do you know what this means? It means Jesus has turned Death into sleep. Death, which before Jesus seemed so awful and final, is turned into a nap! When you die, Christian, you're going to sleep for a little bit. But not for too long before you hear the voice of Jesus waking you up on the Last Day. Don't fear death now. It's just a nap. A little sleep. A rest until our Lord comes again and gives us life and raises us from our graves. The world hates Death. It fears Death. Death scares it. Because the world doesn't know anything but to be afraid of Death. The world knows that Death will come after it and it can't do anything about it. We can't do anything about it either, but we know that Jesus has done something about it. He's taken it on full blast and sent it whimpering away, unable to nab us and keep us forever. And Christians, the proof of this is that the Lord has already brought you back from the dead. Just as the young man of Nain was wakened from his little nap in the coffin, so Jesus has lifted you up from death. “Young man, I say, Get up!” And the young man was alive. Words of Jesus did that to you, too. “I baptize you.” You came to life. “I forgive you all your sins.” You are alive.. “The body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.” You are alive. Just as this young man was given back to his mother, so you have been given to your Mother, the church. Presented to her on the day you were brought to the font, there is rejoicing that you are back from the dead! And all of these life giving gifts that Jesus gives us prepare us for that day when we will die. So that we don't die as the heathen, screaming in terror and fear over our sins but falling asleep gently in Jesus who will one day wake us. Laugh at Death, dear Christian. Scorn it. Mock it. You can! Your Lord has defeated it. When Death comes near, you just remember your baptism and declare, “Nap time!”
Why does the Lord raise the widow's son through Elijah? Why does Jesus take time out of his travel to wake up this young man and hand him back to his mother? Because widows back then were really poor. Without a husband to provide for them or a son to care for them, they were nothing but poor beggars. So when the Lord restores these boys to life, it is to love and serve and care for their Moms. Now the Lord has wakened you from Death; you have been given back to your Mother, the Church. So know this: when the Lord raises you from the death of sin in Holy Baptism, and as He continually wakens you and gives you life in the Holy Sacraments, know that it is for the good of those around you. Don't be one who is brought back from the dead to serve yourself! Be there for those around you. Live so that your parents or your children or your family and friends and even enemies can rejoice because you are alive and no longer dead in your sins. Bring to them whatever compassion and service and good works they need. Most of all, teach them that Death is nothing in Jesus but just a little sleep.
Death hates Jesus because Jesus has robbed Death of its power. So Death will come after you. But you are baptized into Christ. You are absolved. You are fed with the body and blood of Jesus which died and rose. Death has no claim on you. Jesus has taken on Death and won. For you, His disciples, Death also must yield. Oh, unless Jesus comes back sooner, you will fall asleep and be laid in the ground. But that's just a nap. You will close your eyes and open them to the shout of the trumpet and the glorious gathering of God's people to the wedding feast. And as a mother on that day received her child back, so our heavenly mother, New Jerusalem, will rejoice to receive us forever and ever. On that day in Nain, Life and Death collided. Life won. On that Good Friday, Life and Death collided. Life won on Easter. At the font and the altar Jesus' life meets with your Death and you are snatched away from that enemy every time. When you depart the altar full of Jesus body and blood today, I'll tell you, “Depart in peace.” Which is really just like saying, “Sleep tight. Jesus has you covered.” Amen.