Luke 7:11-17
Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain
11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” 17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
What happens when a holy God touches an unclean man?
And what happens to a holy God when he is touched by an unclean man? How we choose to answer may depend very much what we believe holy means. And it may depend on what unclean means. But most of all, how we think about holiness, uncleanness and what happens when they touch must be informed by Jesus answer to that question. In the Gospel story of the widow of Nain, we find an answer. We see holiness in action.
What is holiness?
When our human ancestors first saw lightning fall from heaven and set a tree on fire, their minds were also ignited with ideas of God and holiness and the dangerous, destructive power of holiness. When our spiritual ancestors, the newly liberated Hebrews first gathered at Mount Sinai, they thought of holiness as not only powerful, but radioactive and infectious. Holiness had touched the mountain and if an animal touched the mountain, it needed to be killed … from a distance (Exodus 19:12-13). Holiness was deadly. Laws were established to boundary holiness. DO NOT TOUCH!
When the priesthood was given special provisions for handling holiness, keeping these regulations was associated with stewarding the Holy and with being holy. When the religious establishment meticulously kept these laws, they eventually saw themselves as holy. Holiness was law-keeping. Or conversely, holiness was avoiding law-breaking. Holiness was not sinning (however you defined it). Holiness focused on sin avoidance inevitably became moralistic and puritanical. Christianity’s holiness movements could measure one’s sanctification by what you didn’t do. Holiness virtually became synonymous with self-righteous practice and rendering moral judgments.
The holiness of Jesus
In Christ God recalibrates our sense of the Holy. “Be holy as I am holy” is unveiled as “be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful.” In Luke 6:32-42, the holy mercy of God is marked by refraining from judgments, indiscriminate grace and hospitality, radical forgiveness and enemy love. If you want to be holy as God is holy, be merciful as your Father is merciful.
But Christ not only teaches us holy mercy. In the story of the widow of Nain, he shows us holy mercy. In this story, we see the holy power and holy mercy of God revealed in Christ as life-giving compassion. Holy God sees this poor widow, already grieving the loss of her husband and now, her only beloved son. And holiness reaches out to touch them. This is the holiness that came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit, and became man. This is the holiness of God revealed in the humanity of Jesus Christ. This is the holiness that sees our hurt, our misery, our grief. This is holiness rooted in mercies of God, that cause him to come down and be with us. When we think of the word Holy, we must think of the mercies of God.
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