Taking a look at that video, you have turmoil, strife, fear, loss, suffering.
A little news montage that we saw is about the financial crisis that was, well, like
10 years ago now.
It's crazy.
Almost a decade ago.
And you could have easily replaced that montage with any number of events and themes.
You could have replaced it with headlines about war or famine, violence, disease, corruption,
disasters, or any other causes of suffering that you see in this world today.
Just think, if you guys watch the news, hopefully, or read the news, think about all the negative
headlines, the negative, the bad news you've read and seen and heard over the last few
months.
And while there are so many themes, what I did like about this video was I think it captures
something that is very relevant to us in Hong Kong.
The idea of financial security and stability.
It's something we all need, right?
Just that opportunity to just live our lives, to have our basic needs and our desires met.
A life of stability and gain, not wild losses that are just like being tossed by an ocean
storm.
But when people experience loss, when they encounter suffering, like the people who went
through the financial crisis, when that lifelong security net is just pulled out from right
beneath your feet, the responses can be devastating.
The effects can be absolutely devastating.
I found that the British Journal of Psychiatry actually published research not long ago showing
that in North America and Europe, at least 10,000 suicides from 2008 to 2010, around the time
of the financial crisis.
10,000 suicides were related to that great recession.
Job loss, debt, foreclosures, family finances just wiped out.
Financial security completely lost.
And on top of that, suicide and death.
And this church, this friends, is the nature of this biblical episode that Melody just read
for us.
And this little passage is short, but it's rich, very rich in content.
We're in the second week of a series called Sinners Jesus Met, as Eric explained at the beginning.
How Jesus comes into the lives of these various people.
And last week, we talked about the woman, the suffering woman, and Simon the Pharisee,
and how God meets the religious, the pious people, the people who think that they've got it all
together.
And today, we're going to look in this episode at how Jesus meets this widow.
This widow who has just lost her only son.
And if you remember from last week, just like Simon the Pharisee, and just like the suffering
woman, this widow that we read about, she was also a sinner.
She was a member of God's people who had constantly failed to fulfill his purposes for them.
If you remember from Deuteronomy, our last series, God had called his people to be this
light, this beacon of hope to reflect his character, to reflect his love, to reflect his blessings.
But they were not able to fulfill that.
And here she was, this widow, her homeland under the rule of this foreign occupying force
called the Romans, and also personally facing the loss of her only son.
And to understand just how devastating and just how terrible this loss was, we really have to kind
of roll back a bit and understand first century culture.
We need to understand the status of women in that culture.
And some of you, I'm sure, have heard and read about this.
In that time, women were very much dependent on the men in their lives to provide.
There were very few openings for women to actually earn a living.
So the obvious role of provider would have fallen to her husband.
But as the text says, she's a widow.
She has no husband anymore.
And then another key person would have then been her son.
But obviously, here we see that her only son has just died.
So think about this.
On top of this kind of decimation of her economic security, she's obviously suffering through the
actual loss of family.
She faces not only sorrow and poverty, but also loneliness.
She also faces the knowledge that her family line has now been cut off.
And the text doesn't tell us in detail, but maybe you can imagine, imagine with me, what could this
woman be thinking and feeling in this moment?
I think if I was her, maybe I'd be feeling, has God abandoned me?
Has God forgotten me?
Maybe she's even feeling a sense of shame that her loved ones, the closest to her, are dying around her.
Maybe she's even feeling a little bit.
Maybe she's feeling a little bit.
Maybe she feels cursed.
She has the stench of death on her life.
So this is the woman.
This is the widow who is in the middle of this big funeral procession.
A crowd that Luke, in writing this, he describes it as large.
Now, in that culture, in that ancient culture, funerals were a really big deal.
It was such a big deal that the study of the Torah, which was God's law, and one of the
most unassailable, most important pursuits in life, even the study of the Torah was kind
of suspended when there was a funeral.
And you had to drop that, and you had to go to the funeral.
In the town of Nain, where this is taking part, where this is taking place, the town of Nain
had probably had around 300 to 500 inhabitants, and pretty much every one of them would have
been expected to go.
It was a big deal.
But also, because of the public nature of this funeral, with all these people, basically the
entire town coming out to the procession, there would have also been this impersonal,
this impersonal nature of it all.
There would have been flute players.
This or this.
Flute players, professional flute players at that time, that would have been part of the
procession.
There would have been professional, mourning women accompanying the procession.
And this was a real profession at that time.
The women would weep and wail loudly, encouraging the people around to lament and weep with them.
And you see these professionals later in chapter 8, if you read on, and there's another situation where
Jairus' daughter is dead, and Jesus says, oh, she's not dead, she's just asleep.
And the mourning women start laughing at him.
And they're like, you're stupid.
And then they go back to mourning.
So obviously, this was a profession.
They weren't personally mourning.
It was their job to mourn.
So they could go from mourning to laughing at Jesus to back to mourning again.
So there was this impersonal nature.
There was work happening there.
There were just people that were obliged to be in the crowds.
And even a poor family at that time was expected to have at least one mourning woman and at least two
flute players, according to the custom.
So if you can visualize this scene with me, this crowd of townspeople and professionals,
you can imagine it was maybe a bit of a spectacle.
Surely not everyone was there because they genuinely wanted to be, often as we would expect in funerals today.
It was really a hodgepodge of people coming out of the town gates of Nain.
Which happened, the town gates was also an official meeting place for the area.
So there may also have been people just there about their business.
A really busy environment, if you can imagine with me.
So it is here, in this chaos, in this busyness, with a large crowd of people around him,
that Jesus intersects with this funeral procession.
The Greek word that Luke uses describing the crowd that is following Jesus
can actually be translated, a great multitude.
And that's the same description for the crowd when Jesus fed the 5,000.
So it is entirely possible that the crowd following Jesus
easily could have been over 1,000 people.
That's a lot of people.
So if you can visualize with me,
there's this funeral procession coming out of the eastern side of Nain,
coming through the gates,
wailing women, flute players, people just following, being there,
coming out of the gates of Nain.
And then coming from the east,
Jesus, from the last stop that he made.
He's coming, he's teaching, he's preaching,
he's seen as this teacher.
There's maybe 1,000 people following him.
He's approaching the gates.
And this is where they intersect.
And I found this kind of pretty cool image,
an artist, perhaps a rendition of what it might have looked at.
And no idea how historically accurate this is, obviously,
but with the colors, just the people,
I hope this helps you just picture,
there would have been a lot of people there.
A lot of people.
And it's in this busy crowd of possibly thousands of people
that Jesus does something profound.
And guys, this is a short passage of Scripture,
but these are details that I think I often overlook,
and we can easily overlook when we just kind of read through
and gloss over quickly.
So let's kind of walk through this step by step.
So I don't know about you,
but when I'm walking around Hong Kong,
I'm usually trying to just avoid hitting people.
I'm just trying to get from point A to point B,
you know, dodge around those annoying people
who have their heads down like this.
And I confess sometimes those people are me.
And then I feel like I'm right,
and people are wrong when they get in my way.
And I'm not really kind of stopping
and thinking about what's going on, you know?
It's a busy, fast-paced world.
I want to get to the place I need to be and not be late.
But here's the first thing that we see when we read the text.
We read that Jesus sees the widow.
Now think about it.
In order for Jesus to really see someone in a crowd of 400,
I mean, this is a crowd of over 100 before me right now,
and I have a hard time seeing some of you guys.
It's easy for you to see me.
I'm kind of sticking out like a sore thumb.
But I really have to focus at some of you guys to really see you.
So Jesus must have been looking intently.
His mind would have had to stop
and think about what he was really looking at.
This procession that was unfolding before his eyes,
it wasn't just like that video montage we just saw.
You know, a bunch of news clips,
a bunch of bad news,
and then you forget about it.
You switch the channel to ETV or something like that
and think about whatever else.
Jesus actually sees the suffering at the center of this crowd.
He sees.
The second thing.
What does Jesus do next?
The text says his heart went out to her.
His heart went out to her.
It's not just his attention going to her,
but it's his love, his care, his concern, his feelings.
A more literal translation is that he felt compassion.
And the Greek word, it carries this sense
that you're actually deeply affected in your bowels.
That deep.
And you're affected in your inner being.
There's sympathy.
There's empathy.
There's compassion.
Jesus feels like he is suffering with the widow.
That's what compassion means.
So he sees.
He has compassion.
And thirdly, it's not just that his heart goes out to her,
but it's clear that he physically goes to her.
He acts.
So that he can now say these very interesting words to her.
Don't cry.
A more formal translation would be,
do not weep.
Interesting.
Now, in that moment,
you'd probably be thinking,
if you were eavesdropping,
Jesus, that's so insensitive.
How can you tell a woman who's just lost her husband
and her only son to not cry?
She has professional criers for crying out loud.
Right?
Jesus.
Come on, man.
Get it together.
I would never do that.
You would chastise your husband if he said that.
You would chastise your wife if she said something like that
at a funeral.
But guys,
Jesus isn't just some schmuck
who's kind of throwing out some empty platitudes,
some nice words of comfort
so that he can feel like he's done his duty
and move on.
Obviously not.
Just one chapter ago,
he told his disciples this.
He said,
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
And Jesus can say that word of comfort to the woman
because he knows that he is literally
about to demonstrate that.
So fourthly,
what does Jesus do?
He actually goes up to the bier.
He acts.
And the bier is basically an open coffin.
So the body would have been completely visible.
So that's actually accurate in that sense.
An open coffin,
and he touches it.
He touches it.
And this was another inappropriate thing
that's a really inappropriate thing to do
because it would have broken
all the Jewish ceremonial purity laws.
You know,
you were not supposed to be touching dead bodies.
But if you read the New Testament,
when you read the Gospels,
you'll see over and over again
that Jesus,
when it comes to actual human suffering,
actual human need,
when those things are at stake,
he didn't worry about ceremonial matters.
And so he commands the man
to return to life.
He says,
get up.
And he demonstrates his authority,
his power over death.
Now at this point,
if I were Jesus,
I think this would have been
a great kind of end of the movie
or end of a great scene.
and just drop the mic
and you'd be like,
that's right.
And you just walk out, right?
That's how I would do it
if I was a Hollywood actor.
That would have been kind of cool, right?
That would have left the spotlight,
the limelight,
the glory to Jesus.
But there's one last thing
that Jesus does.
Number five,
he gives the son
back to the mother.
Interesting.
Because I'm pretty sure
the son and the mother
would have found each other.
I'm pretty sure
she would have been,
she would have realized
that she wasn't dead anymore.
Because the text actually says
he started talking.
Why does Jesus do that?
I think the thing
that is amazing
is that the most important thing
in this whole interaction
is not that Jesus
did this miracle,
as amazing as that
in and of itself is.
The most important thing
is that Jesus saw the widow.
He felt compassion
for the widow.
He went to the widow.
He spoke,
he comforted the widow.
And he returned the son
to the widow.
And in this entire movement,
this pattern,
this action,
the center of Jesus' attention
is who?
The widow.
The sufferer.
And this is the principle
that comes out so clearly
when we meditate
and we look at Jesus' action.
That those who suffer
are at the center,
the center of Jesus' attention.
So how are each and every one of us
suffering today?
How do we bring this
to our world,
to our lives today?
Indeed,
some of you
may have suffered
great loss.
Deaths of loved ones.
Loss of financial security,
just like the widow.
I'm sure some of you
and people close to you
have gone through that.
Others of you
may have never faced
this kind of suffering,
like just completely similar
or analogous to the widow.
But if you consider
all the various dimensions
and facets
of the widow's suffering
and the widow's experience,
I think we can all relate
in some way.
We can all see
how her experience
reflects and touches
our lives in some way.
I think we all suffer
loneliness in some way.
we all face
the uncertainty
when things happen
in our lives
and whether we'll be able
to fulfill our potential,
whether we'll be able
to make it,
to make a living,
to survive,
to thrive,
to flourish.
We all wrestle
with our ultimate
significance
and maybe
sometimes
we even wonder,
perhaps like the widow did,
God,
have you forgotten me?
God, you seem far away.
And when catastrophe hits,
like it did for the widow,
these questions and doubts
are often just amplified.
But even in the day-to-day,
in the mundane,
I believe we all face
suffering and sorrow
in its various forms.
We're either directly suffering
or we know somebody
close to us,
a loved one
who is going through it
and you are just
grieving with them.
Or you realize,
even if you're not suffering
in the moment right now,
that any moment
in this broken,
imperfect,
sinful,
financial crisis-prone world,
that at any time
disaster can strike,
health,
accidents,
financial crises,
could hit at any time.
And when we look
at the widow's suffering,
when we kind of think
about her mental
and emotional state,
there's something
really interesting
we can learn from.
You see,
in modern times,
we often think about
life and death
as kind of a binary state.
I mean,
it's pretty obvious,
you know,
generally,
that you're either alive
or you're dead.
But in Hebrew culture,
in that Jewish culture,
there was actually
this third in-between state,
a state between life
and death.
In this state,
a person was considered
half dead.
Half dead.
Not in a physical sense,
not in the sense
that the widow
had been beaten
half dead,
but because she had
suffered such
a catastrophic,
life-altering loss
that she had entered
into this state
of living death.
That was her mindset.
And interesting, right?
Because in the New Testament,
we read that
we are dead
in the sins
in which we walk.
We are dead
in the sins
in which we walk
following the course
of this world.
You see,
our sin and separation,
the writers
of the New Testament
say,
our sin and separation
from God
actually put us
in a state
of living death.
When I'm walking
in my sin,
I'm basically a zombie.
I'm like the walking dead.
We are physically alive.
I'm alive,
but spiritually dead
and destined
for eternal death.
So when we think
about suffering,
when we kind of
take a step back
and we actually
look at our lives
on an eternal scale,
the suffering
is just as clear
and maybe even more.
God's Word says
that each
and every one of us
has this sense
of eternity in us.
It's the sense
that you have
deep, deep down
that there is something,
there is something
more to life
than wealth
and status
and comfort
and relationship
and anything else
that we think
will make us happy.
It's that reality
that all of those things
will go to the grave
with us
when we die.
And there must be
something more.
God's Word says
that we were created
to worship God
with our entire lives
and for all of eternity.
But when we chose
to worship ourselves
instead,
when we turned away
from God,
selfishness,
sin,
and death
entered into our lives,
entered into this world.
So God's Word says
that our separation
from God
is the ultimate
suffering
because we can
no longer
fulfill
the purpose
of worshiping God.
That's why
from Deuteronomy,
the last series,
all the way
to now
in Jesus' time,
the people of God
could not
do it.
They were suffering
the inability
to live
according to the way
they were created.
And instead,
they were seeking
and worshiping
things that would
never satisfy
their souls.
They had rejected
God,
the only one
who can satisfy.
So whether it's
sort of present
immediate suffering
or suffering
on an eternal scale,
I want to ask
you guys right now,
and I want us
to take a moment,
think about
what your suffering
personally looks like
right now.
Whether it's
physical
or mental,
emotional,
spiritual,
what does it
look like?
Is it a sickness
or some condition
that just won't
go away?
Is it anxiety
and worry?
Is it the fact
that some days
you just don't feel
like anyone
really knows
and understands
you?
Not even your
spouse
or family member.
They feel distant
and you feel
alone.
Is it a feeling
of emptiness
and discontentment?
Is it just
a sense
in your gut
that something's
not quite right
in life?
Or is it just
the fact
that in some way
everything you
do
and achieve
in this life
will fade away?
And it all
just seems
pointless sometimes?
That's one
that really gets
me.
You know,
when I'm tired,
when I'm busy,
when I'm stressed,
there's just
that voice
in my head
that's just like,
what is the point?
Why even bother?
other?
So be honest
with yourself
right now.
What is your
suffering
today?
What is your
suffering?
What is your
suffering?
In a busy
and crowded
place like
Hong Kong,
our suffering
can seem
pretty insignificant,
right?
Just like
those massive
crowds that
converged
at Nain,
Hong Kong
is a busy
place.
There's people
everywhere,
for better
or for worse.
There's so many
people who are
just going about
their own lives
around us,
each with their
own busyness
and their own
personal agendas.
The widow
was one of
400 residents
of Nain.
you are one
of seven
million
residents
of Hong Kong.
Jesus saw
the widow
so clearly
in her
suffering.
But do you
know,
do you really
know that
God also
sees every
single one
of us
in our
suffering?
no matter
how great
or small
you think
your suffering
is,
he sees,
he sees.
See,
the amazing
thing about
the widow
of Nain,
about this
episode,
is that
Jesus sees
every one
of us
in the same
way that
he sees
the widow.
The
movement,
the pattern
that we
saw with
Jesus and
the widow
is exactly
the same
for us.
And let me
show you
how.
The Bible,
God's word
says he
tells us,
he tells us
that God
knows the
number of
hairs on
your head
right now.
And if you
don't have
that much
hair on
your head
right now,
he knows
other intricate
details of
your,
of your
life.
That's just
an image.
He knows.
His word
says that he
searches the
depths of
your heart.
Isn't that
incredible?
Every hair
on your
head right
now.
And like
this story,
it's not
that he,
just that he
sees and
he knows,
but he has
compassion
for us.
When Jesus
looked at
the people,
he yearned,
he said he
yearned,
he gathered,
he wanted
to gather
them like
a mother
hen,
gathering his
brood of
little chicks.
Isn't that
a beautiful
picture of
how God
loves us?
He wants
to take
care of
us.
He sees
us.
He has
compassion
for us.
But like
the story,
it does
not stop
there,
because God
also took
action.
In the same
way that he
met the
widow where
she was,
Jesus meets
us exactly
where we
are.
And if you
could appreciate
just how
controversial
and how
culturally
inappropriate
it was for
Jesus to
touch that
coffin,
that open
coffin at
Nain,
think about
this.
How crazy,
how scandalous
is it for
the God,
the transcendent
God of the
universe,
to come to
us in
human form
in the
person of
Jesus Christ?
Would you
do that
if you
were God?
That's
scandalous.
That's
crazy.
And the
people in
in that
story who
witnessed
that
miracle,
they
declared,
God has
come to
help us.
And that
is certainly
true because
they thought
Jesus was a
great prophet
that was
speaking and
acting on
behalf of
God.
But even
then they
didn't realize
the full
truth that
Jesus wasn't
just a great
teacher.
He was God
himself,
visiting his
people,
dwelling with
them,
and walking
alongside them.
them.
You see,
at some
point in
every one
of our
lives,
we ask a
question like
this.
I've asked
it myself.
I'm sure
you've asked
it in some
shape or
form.
You ask,
if God
loves us,
and God
is really
God,
then why
doesn't he
do something
about all
the suffering
in the
world?
Why doesn't
he do
something
about my
suffering?
And I've
thought about
that question,
and I try to
think about the
times that I
was really
suffering.
I try to put
myself in the
shoes of the
suffering,
and this is
what I
realized.
The origin
of suffering
is freedom
and free
will.
It's the
choices that I
have made
and the
choices that
others have
made.
it's the
collective
choices of
all humanity
throughout
history.
Just think
about that
video and
how that
came about.
And as
difficult as
it is in
the moment,
I know that
if I'm
really honest
with myself,
it is that
freedom, that
free will that
makes me
human.
I don't want
to be a
robot.
I don't want
the entire
world to be
robots that
aren't capable
of choosing.
Because robots
cannot love.
Robots don't
really know
what is good.
They cannot
comprehend that.
And if I'm
being honest
with myself,
in those
times of
suffering,
I don't
want to
become a
robot.
I don't
want the
world to
become robots.
I want
someone to
come and
grieve with
me.
tell me that
they know
how I
feel because
they've been
through it.
I want
someone to
tell me it's
going to be
okay because
they have
survived.
And that's
exactly what
God does
in the face
of our
suffering.
He became
human and
suffered with
us.
He faced
all the
trials and
temptations we
face.
He suffered
everything we
can suffer.
Homelessness
and poverty,
the death of
loved ones,
rejection and
abandonment,
abuse.
Jesus even
faced His
own death
on that
cross.
He experienced
our separation
from God the
Father as He
suffered the
punishment for
all of
humanity's
sin.
So in all
of our
suffering today,
God says
this.
He says,
my child,
I'm suffering
with you.
I've gone
through everything
you're going
through.
I can actually
tell you don't
cry because
everything's
going to be
okay.
I know that.
Jesus saw
you.
He had
compassion for
you.
He came to
you and He
performed the
greatest miracle
for you.
you see,
the widow's
son was
resurrected,
but eventually
He would
have died
again,
right?
But on the
third day
after Jesus
faced His
own death,
He returned
to life
to overcome
all your
suffering.
He resurrected
to this new
eternal body
and returned
to heaven.
He shows you
that not only
does He
understand
your suffering,
but He
turns your
mourning into
laughter.
Your suffering
doesn't just
end in death,
but it ends
in eternal
life,
in a resurrection
body,
in a new
heaven,
in a new
earth that God
is creating
for us that
is perfect.
And like the
widow receiving
her son back,
you just need
to receive
this miracle
by believing
and trusting
in what Jesus
did through
His life,
His death,
and His
resurrection.
Guys,
suffering is
something I
don't take
lightly,
but if there
was someone
who followed
Jesus and
understood
suffering,
it was the
Apostle Paul.
Just read about
his life in the
New Testament.
It was crazy.
It was horrendous.
But writing to
the church in
Rome, he said,
I consider that
our present
sufferings are
not worth
comparing,
not worth
comparing with
the glory that
will be revealed
in us.
The Widow of
Nain is a
story of a
widow in a
state of living
death, walking
on a journey to
the burial site
of her own
son.
When Jesus,
coming the
other way,
stops the
procession and
intervenes, and
He brings her
entire world to
life again.
that's the
image of
Nain.
That's the
image for us
today.
And the
profound image
is that Jesus
offers that
resurrection,
that life, in
the midst of our
suffering today.
So how will you
respond to that?
How will you
respond to that?
I want to
invite the band
to come back
up right now,
but just take a
minute now,
personally.
I invite you,
just close your
eyes and maybe
even bow your
heads, and
just think.
I'm not going to
pray out loud,
just think in
your own
hearts.
What is the
suffering that
you see in
your own
life?
And how does
Jesus Christ
meet you,
just like He
did for the
widow of
Nain?
Amen.