How much more could one take? She was already a widow and the mother of only one child, a son. Now he, too, had died. Now she was alone. Now grief raged through her very soul. In the casket lay her boy. No! In the casket lay her very life. The future was in that casket. Hope was in that casket. Joy was in that casket.

In the midst of the procession to the graveyard Jesus happened by. He saw the casket, He saw the crowd, He saw the widow. Something moved Him deeply, so deeply that He did what no one in that culture would ever do on purpose. He reached out and touched the casket, making him ceremonially unclean. Then He spoke to the dead, "Young man, I say to you, get up" (Luke 7:14, NIV). Suddenly a funeral became a resurrection and Jesus gave this young man back to his mother.

Don't think for a moment that in this life Jesus always gives the dead back to the living. He simply doesn't. Yet, He does seem always to find a way to embrace death with the life of God. He is not beyond bringing the life of God into brokenness, grief and pain. Time after time Jesus has found a way to so touch situations and people that they
are, "filled with awe" (Luke 7:16).

What impresses you more, the fact that Jesus can work miracles or that Jesus' compassion toward people is such that His heart goes out to them (Luke 7:13)? Can you embrace a God who can draw near the hurting and involved Himself in their lives?

We are the people of Jesus and we are called to be like Him. So, let's be on the lookout for those who hurt. Let's seek to be aware of conditions and situations that tear at the very fiber of life.

Let's dare to let our hearts go out to others. May Jesus come near our world in us.