“Not Forgotten” (Luke 7:11-17) - 3rd Sunday after Pentecost -

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity?  

The Chinese word for "crisis"(危機) is composed of two Chinese characters, one representing “danger” and the other, “opportunity.” Probably, many of you still remember what happened at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in Charleston, South Carolina, one year ago this June. A young man named Dylann Roof, armed with a handgun, sat through almost an hour of the Wednesday Bible study there, and then he opened fire. Within minutes, nine were dead, including the pastor. At the rally on gun violence, Betty Clark, Emanuel’s new pastor, preached from 2 Chronicles 6. She said, “When tragedy befalls us, the first step is to humble ourselves, pray, and turn from our evil ways… We’ve got to change. We’ve got to put God first, and remember that the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”[1] In this respect, affliction and suffering can be a great opportunity for us to find God, know God, experience God more deeply. C. S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.”[2] Suffering is not just for certain people. We are all sufferers, or we will be. At some point in our lives we experience bereavement, serious illness, relationship problem, financial crisis, or a host of other troubles. Suffering is a universal experience. Suffering does not automatically make us better. But if we face and endure suffering with faith, it can refine us and make us better and stronger. So in Psalm 119:71 the psalmist even confesses in this way: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees!” But how can we walk with God in the very midst of adversity? Today’s passage gives us at least two answers to this question.

God Is with Us

First, we can face and endure the fiery trials because God is with us. In today’s passage Jesus goes to a city called Nain. As he approaches the town gate, Jesus encounters a funeral procession – a woman’s only son is being carried out for burial. And the mother is a widow. In the time of Jesus widows and orphans were the most vulnerable and helpless class. They were in need of care and protection. And now this widow just lost her only son who had been supporting her. Now her last hope is gone. Now she has no support system at all. At the very moment when all other support and hope is gone, Jesus comes. When we feel like this is the end, we see more clearly He is with us. In principle, we always know that Jesus is all we need to get through. But we don’t really know Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we have. When the widow lost everything, when her support, her hope, her joy was gone, then now she sees more clearly the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to her. Jesus is moved with compassion. And he touches the open coffin. He touches her wounded soul and says “Don’t cry” (13). Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.

In the recent interview missionary Kenneth Bae described his time in a North Korean prison camp. Bae was a tourist guide and arrested on charges of carrying an external hard drive filled with files and photos documenting missionary work. He was the longest-serving US prisoner in North Korean history. He was in the concentration camp for more than 2 years. After a year in prison, he began to doubt that he would ever get home. Around that time he got a letter from his mother, saying, “Have faith like Daniel’s three friends!” So since then, his prayer changed from “Send me home, Lord” to “Use me, Lord.” The reporter asked, “What lessons most stand out from your experience?” Bae said, “I want people to know that God is faithful – that we go through difficulties in life, but God never leaves us, never forsakes us. During those years in North Korea, I never felt like I was alone or abandoned, because I could feel people’s prayers and support. God’s power and presence were with me… God didn’t forget me.”[3] And after his release, now he is working for those who are forgotten, especially for North Korean refugees and their children. In Isaiah 43:2 God promises to his people, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” God never promises that he will remove us from the experience of suffering. No, but he does promise that he will be with us, walking beside us in it. And because God is with us, we are able to face pain and suffering.

God Goes before Us

Not only is our God with us in our suffering, but also he goes before us. In today’s passage, Immanuel Jesus weeps with the widow and the people. His heart breaks. His heart overflows with compassion. But that is not the end. He is also able to help the widow, sustain her, and raise her up. He says to the dead man, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (14) In Isaiah 41:10 the Lord God says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Our God is Immanuel. And our God is able! Our God is able to help us get through. In the very midst of suffering we receive an inexplicable peace that surpasses understanding. We receive strength to endure.

One time Dr. King and his wife spent a weekend in India. On the seashore they saw that as the sun appeared to be sinking to the ocean, the moon appeared to be rising from the ocean. When the sun finally passed completely beyond sight, darkness engulfed the earth, but in the east the radiant light of the riding moon shone supreme. Then Dr. King realized that’s what often happens in life. There are times when our spirits are overwhelmed by gloom and despair. But there is another light that shines even in the darkness. Dr. King said, “God has two lights: a light to guide us in the brightness of the day when hopes are fulfilled and circumstances are favorable, and a light to guide us in the darkness of the midnight when we are thwarted and the slumbering giants of gloom and hopelessness rise in our souls.”[4] When the Israelites were in the wilderness, God was always with them in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. Not only that, but also the Bible says, “[The Lord your God] went ahead of you on your journey in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go” (Deut 1:33). In our suffering God is with us, and he goes before us. Our God is able. He is able to help us and guide us.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”

Pastor Donald Grey Barnhouse lost his wife when his daughter was still a child. He was trying to help his little girl, and himself, process the loss of his wife and her mother. Once when they were driving, a huge moving van passed them. As it passed, the shadow of the truck swept over the car. The minister had a thought. He said something like this, “Would you rather be run over by a truck, or by its shadow?” His daughter replied, “By the shadow of course. That can’t hurt us at all.” Pastor Barnhouse replied, “Right. If the truck doesn’t hit you, but only its shadow, then you are fine. Well, it was only the shadow of death that went over your mother. She’s actually alive— more alive than we are. And that’s because two thousand years ago, the real truck of death hit Jesus. And because death crushed Jesus, and we believe in him, now the only thing that can come over us is the shadow of death, and the shadow of death is but my entrance into glory.”[5]

Two thousand years ago Jesus came to help his people. At the end of today’s passage, the people praise God, saying, “God has visited his people today!” (16, NLT). Jesus took up our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was attacked, misunderstood, abused, rejected, afflicted, crushed, and punished for our sins (cf. Isa 53:4-5). On the cross Jesus was suffering for us. He went through the greatest suffering once for all. So now, we don’t have to be punished for our sins. We don’t have to go through the same suffering Jesus had. What we are going through is the shadow. I am not saying it is not real. It is real, but it is the smaller furnace that we can endure. Are you suffering? He is with you. He is able to help you. Let us hear the voice of the Son of God and live, “Don’t cry,” “My daughter, my son, I say to you, get up!”

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[1] Jonathan Hanson, “A Fragile Forgiveness: Portraits of Resilience,” Christianity Today, June 2016, 34-47.

[2] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (Harper, 2001), 94.

[3] Morgan Lee, “Prisoner Pastor,” Christianity Today, June 2016, 48-52.

[4] Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love (Fortress Press, 2010), 85.

[5] Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (Penguin Publishing Group, 2013), Kindle Locations 4986-4993.