Luke 7:11-17 Bible Study Text and Questions
Luke 7:11-17 Meditation Part 4
This raising of the young man from the dead is an anticipation of the resurrection of Christ, and of our resurrection in him, here and now, not just after death. If he is alive, if he is risen then so are we for we are in him and he is in us.
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved —and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6)
Let us abandon not only the procession of death let us also distinguish ourselves from the crowd to become true disciples enjoying the life of Christ himself, let us arise and march forward.
What the crowds saw that day was a powerful manifestation of the identity of Christ, through whom God visited his people. It was such a sublime, awesome revelation in action that the people were ‘seized by fear’. This does not mean they were scared; on the contrary, this would have been incompatible with their glorifying God. Some versions have ‘awe’ instead of ‘fear’. When we speak of the fear of God there are two meanings. One meaning is, in fact, what we would normally call being ‘afraid’. This is the negative emotion appropriate to unbelievers who should literally fear the judgement of the Lord. The second meaning is a sentiment of awe, wonder, respect, unworthiness, something similar to what we would feel in the presence of an important person, such as a head of state. In 1 John we read:
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:17, 18)
Fear, in the sense of being afraid, is incompatible with the love of God in us, incompatible with agape in us. Why is this so? ‘because as he is so also are we in this world’. We could spend hours reflecting on these words alone ‘as he is so also are we in this world’. Again the choice facing us is either to accept Christ and possess his very own love and be free of fear and confident in the day of judgement or not to accept him and remain in fear having no confidence. The choice is between death and life, between fear and confidence, between rising up in response to the call or continuing to be oppressed in the chains of death and fear. No wonder there is so much despair in the world, so much destruction, frustration and suicide. Many have lost hope, lost all sense of direction and truth. So much death within! Much around us seems to be fake, unreal, unconvincing and deceptive.
The crowd in this text are seized with holy fear, with awe, with wonder, they are overwhelmed by what has happened and precisely because the actions of Jesus fill them with awe, they glorify God in words and deeds. The very ground of their being, their spirit is overwhelmed, the very foundations of their being are shaken by this divine revelation that gripped them, that gave them hope and new life. This was the burial that was not to be, the burial that was cancelled because death was overcome by the power of God who had visited his people after about 400 years of silence; from the time of the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi.
In Jesus we have the final and definitive revelation of God; here we have the perfect image of the invisible God. This does not just belong to the past. The presence of God is still sweeping throughout the whole of humanity. We who were created in the very image and likeness of God, we, in whom Christ is alive, we who are the temple of the Holy Spirit are channels of his awesome and powerful presence. Christ in us is still operating in the world, through our words and deeds. Christ himself establishes the very principle on which this becomes operative: “the Father who dwells in me does his works (John 14:10)”. The same principle is still valid. It is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that does the works the Father has called us to do (Eph. 2:10). So let us arise and spread the word of Christ’s saving presence
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ... I am with you always. (Matthew 28:18-20)
As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. (John 20:21)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
The crowd recognised in Jesus a great prophet and saw that through him God has visited his people. Luke sees what the crowd does not (v.13), that Jesus is Lord. The title ‘Lord’ was reserved for Yahweh alone.
His fame spread throughout the whole region. If someone has a genuine encounter with the Lord he cannot help but speak out. “The mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart” (Luke 6:45)
After all, the believer has the logos, the Word within and the very nature of the Word is to speak, to reveal the ways and thoughts of God so that others can have the same encounter. Nothing should hold us back. Nothing! Do we honestly think that the widow’s only son kept quiet about what happened to him? Did the widow keep quiet? Did the crowd? His fame spread throughout the region, thanks to those who spread the Word.
After having experienced the power of the presence of Christ the procession of death changes direction and joins the procession of life marching towards the land of the living, the land of beauty, the pleasant land, the Promised Land. A complete conversion. Jesus is inviting us today to arise and unite with the procession of life, to change direction and march in the direction of life in the company of Jesus as disciples, not as part of a crowd.
We are to bring people to Christ, bring them out of the procession of death into the procession of life, yes but our mission does not end there; we must also help them to progress from being spectators to being disciples so that they, too, may experience the secrets of the Kingdom and the abundance of peace, joy and love in the Holy Spirit. Not in our strength but in the strength of he who is working powerfully with us, in us and through us. We do this by forming prayer communities united in peace, love and power for others, power of loving service. Let us all arise in the power of the Holy Spirit to make disciples.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20, 21)
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Luke 7:11-17 Text and Questions
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