He felt compassion for her

Luke 7:11-16 NASB

Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd.  Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.  When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, "Do not weep."  And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!"  The dead man sat up and began to speak. And  Jesus  gave him back to his mother.  Fear gripped them all, and they  began  glorifying God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and, "God has visited His people!"

My thoughts -

I love verse 13:

"When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, 'Do not weep.'"

This woman has lost everything. She is a widow. She had one son. And she is burying him. We serve a God who sees this loss and has compassion.

In a patriarchal society this woman's worth was found in her men. And they are gone. There is the human cost. She is grieving. But there is a financial cost for her being alone as well. She has no means for support. Jesus sees this horrible situation and he has compassion.

Jesus doesn't just have kind words. He doesn't just comfort the woman. He restores her son to her. He fixes the situation. His compassion is not found just in his words but in his actions.

For whom did Jesus raise this woman's son from the dead? Surely it wasn't for the man. I don't understand all of the logistics involved in life, death, resurrection, and eternity. But I know that this dead man was experiencing what we all will. And Jesus interrupted that to restore him to his mother. Because Jesus felt compassion for her.

Death wasn't the tragedy here. We don't weep for the dead. Life alone was the tragedy. To live without your lived ones is the tragedy. To be without support is the tragedy. To face every day with no hope, no help, and no love. She had lost everything. That was the tragedy. So Jesus felt compassion for her and restored her son to her.

Jesus could not prevent this tragedy. God does not keep horrible things from happening. This is a fact of life. We can say that He can. We can say that He should. But we can't honestly say that He does. Bad things happen every day.

But we serve a God that has compassion. God may not prevent the bad things from happening. God may not prevent tragedies. But God restores. God redeems. God works through the awful things that happen and has compassion as heals us. God takes our messes and God fixes them.

I don't know why God works in this way. I wish I did. I wish I had all the answers. But I love that when God came near, when God dwelled among us in Jesus, he had compassion for this widow. He wept at his friend's tomb. He mourned for his city and his people. He had compassion.

Jesus raised this man from the dead. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He healed countless people. He rebuked demons. He rebuked religious authorities that persecuted others. He performed miracles and produced signs and wonders. But the most amazing thing was compassion.

God loves us so much. I can't answer the existential questions. I don't know why we're here. I don't know why the world is the way that it is. I don't know why bad things happen. I don't know why God is distant. I don't know what happens when we die. I don't understand the logistics of eternity.

But I know that God loves us. Horrible things happen. A woman loses everything she has in the world. God didn't prevent it. I don't know if God even could. But Jesus had compassion. And Jesus restored her. Jesus redeemed this horrible situation.