Flashback Episode — Giving God the Glory: Luke 7:11-17

Up to this point in Jesus’ ministry, we have seen Him heal those who were sick, those who were disabled, and those who were possessed by evil spirits. However, as we come to the miracle we will focus in on in this episode, Jesus enters a completely new area for miracle working, and this all begins with Jesus feeling sorry for a widow who needed help.

Let’s read our passage to discover what happened. Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 7, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 11, Luke tells us that:

¹¹ Some time later, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹² He approached the town gate. Just then, a dead person was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother. She was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her. So he said, “Don’t cry.”

Let’s pause reading here for a moment, because what Jesus feels and what He does appear to conflict with each other. In about the same breath, Luke tells us Jesus felt sorry for the widow, and He tells her to not cry. Crying when one has experienced loss is about the most natural thing that we can do.

However, I believe Jesus wants to teach us something about God and about loss that we don’t often think of. Regardless of what Jesus is about to do in this passage, the perspective Jesus has is one that focuses on eternity. While Jesus is about to raise the dead boy back to life, even if Jesus had not done so, we can trust and know that when we believe in Jesus, we are guaranteed a future life at the resurrection. Death in this life is not the end, even if death in this life feels like a huge loss.

After telling the widow to stop crying, Jesus then does the truly amazing miracle. While Jesus had healed people of any and every sort of illness or disability, what comes next takes His ministry to a new level. Continuing in verse 14:

¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the coffin. Those carrying it stood still. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶ The people were all filled with wonder and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷ This news about Jesus spread all through Judea and the whole country.

In our passage, not only does Jesus raise this young man back to life, we discover in this miracle a revelation that those present make that is truly profound.

While one might begin to put the focus on Jesus as the source of this resurrection miracle, the crowd present has a slightly different response. On realizing what had just taken place, Luke describes the people present as being “filled with wonder” and praising God. In this miracle, God received the glory and the credit, not Jesus. Luke quotes the people present saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us. God has come to help his people.”

Those present for this miracle describe Jesus as a prophet, which is another way of saying a messenger for God, and they even push past this idea by saying that God has come to help His people. In a subtle way, these people give Jesus honor by recognizing God working in His life. These people recognized that with the arrival of Jesus, God had come to help His people.

This truth extends much further than these first-century Jews realized. Jesus’ arrival in history marked God coming into History to save all His people. God’s people in the context of our discussion include both those who were faithful, loving Jews, as well as God’s people who were not Jewish.

With the arrival of Jesus, we now have a picture of God that we can place our faith on. Prior to this, the sacrifice of an innocent animal as a sin offering foreshadowed what Jesus would do. Those who lived before the cross looked forward to the sacrifice God would make on their behalf through the sacrifice of the lamb. Even if the first-century Jewish culture had misinterpreted the Messiah’s role for His first coming, they had kept the sacrifices intact, and through all the legalism present in that era, we still can see the theme that something else would take the punishment for our sins.

I don’t believe these witnesses of Jesus’ first resurrection miracle could have responded the way they did without the Holy Spirit’s help. Since this was the first time a resurrection miracle had happened in Jesus’ ministry, it is rational for us not to see anything about faith in Jesus displayed through this event. However, faith in Jesus isn’t the only source of Jesus’ miracles.

In this passage, we can see Jesus raise this dead boy to life not just for the benefit of his widowed mother, but that through this event, God would receive the glory. In a similar way, I wonder if we would see more miracles in our lives if we intentionally pushed for the glory to go to God and not to ourselves. While it is easy to take credit for our part in something amazing, God should be the recipient of the majority of our praise, if not all of it.

Jesus healed people as a way to show people God’s love for us, and Jesus healed people in miraculous ways that changed peoples’ lives for the better. In our own lives, we should live seeking to give God the glory and to show people God’s love through how we live, act, and help others. Christians should not be known for their political pursuits, but for their prayerful, personal love for others.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, be sure to keep seeking God first in your life and be sure to give Him the credit and the glory for the things He has blessed you with. God has blessed all of us in so many more ways than we even can realize, and it isn’t too much to stop and acknowledge the blessings we recognize. Also, intentionally show your thanks to God by loving others. God loved the worst member’s of humanity, and as His followers, we are called to do the same.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn more about God and to personally grow closer to Him each and every day. While a pastor or podcaster can give you ideas to think about, filter everything through the truth you find in God’s word and let Him take and transform not only your heart, but your life as well.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!