Trinity 16 – 2026

Dear People loved by God in Christ,

How important is it for us to have hope? It depends on what we are hoping for. We may hope to do well on a test or with work, but we aren’t always as ready as we think. That hope is in something uncertain. Biblical hope is different. It is a confidence in God’s promised blessings won by Christ. With that hope we can face whatever challenges or disappointments life may bring. Jesus, the Lord, gives living hope!

First, hope flows from Jesus’ compassion. We don’t know much about the woman from Nain. Jesus met her leading a funeral procession out of town to a cemetery. He could see that she was sad along with many people from the town. It is a hard thing to lose a child to death. In her case, he was her only child. I’m sure that she would have given her life if she could have saved him. What would her life be like as a childless widow? A typical Jewish woman considered having children as one of the greatest blessings from God. That hope was gone.

At Jesus’ time, there was no government help for widows in need. In a farming community, her son would have provided food and income to care for his widowed mother. Also, he would have protected her. In her view, all that she valued in life was lost. She would need to beg, seeking charity. She had to wonder, how could God have let her down. How could she have hope again?

God was not to blame for this tragedy. Our world now is not how God first made it. At creation, it was perfect with no effects of sin or death. But sin entered the world by our first parents, and it spread like a virus. Sin causes problems within the best of families. No matter how great people’s love is for each other, sin separates people through death. The Bible states that death will come on all people “because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). The worst consequence of sin is that people are separated from God. Unless that is changed, that separation will last forever.

Could the widow’s trouble happen to us? We pray that the Lord would give us our daily bread and that he would deliver us and those we love from evil. Death doesn’t respect persons: old or young, good or bad. It snatched the widow’s son. Thankfully Jesus showed compassion for the widow. He raised her son to life and restored him to his mother. But someday, they would be separated again by death. Jesus, in his compassion for all the world would provide a permanent solution for death. And what he did gives us a living hope that will not disappoint us.

In the Old Testament, Jeremiah was sent to Jerusalem to warn people of coming judgment because they rejected God. The people ignored him. In time, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the city and the temple. Many people died and others were taken into exile. Jeremiah witnessed all that death and destruction. Yet, he did not lose hope in God. He wrote in Lamentations: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord

never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness…. For the Lord will not cast off forever, for, though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love” (Lamentations 3:21-23, 31-32).

Second, our Savior is the only reason for our hope. It states in our verses, “When the Lord saw [the widow], he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” (v.13). We’ve probably had people tell us not to cry about something that hurts us or makes us sad. But their words can’t take away the pain. Only Jesus can do that. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak…” (v.14-15).

Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord of life. With a few words, he gave the young man life. Did this benefit the man? If he was a believer, his soul was already in heaven. Jesus called him back to this sinful earth. I wouldn’t call it a move up for the young man that he returned here. Jesus’ compassion for the widow was that committed. He basically moved heaven and earth to help her!

Does Jesus have that same kind of compassion for us? Christ was willing to leave heaven to become one of us in this sinful world. He was tempted and hurt in many ways. Yet, he did not sin. Death could not claim him as a victim as it did the young man. Jesus gave up his innocent life as a sacrifice to pay for all the sins of the world. Whoever believes in him as their Savior from sin and death will not perish. Isaiah wrote about Jesus, “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this … is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:7-9).

Jesus proved his power over death by rising from the dead. Since he overcame the power of death, he certainly has power to help us in life! Our verse states, “[Jesus] gave him to his mother” (v.15). In his compassion, he gave her great hope through her son. Jesus made it a high calling for the young man to care for his mother. God did the same for us. He gave us his Son, risen from death, to give us hope no matter what our situations in life may be. The Bible states, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

The crowd was amazed by Jesus’ miracle. It states, “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited his people!’” (v.16). Israel had not seen a prophet for 400 years. They certainly praised God for sending Jesus. But they did not praise Jesus as their God and Savior. We hope that later at Pentecost they believed.

By the power of God’s word, we have believed in him as our Savior. We are certain of eternal life. We know that death was not the end for Jesus, so death will not be the end for us who believe in him. Our compassionate Savior has a goal for us in mind: that we and those who we love who are in Christ, will leave this sinful world to experience the joy and love of God in heaven. We will never be separated again. Jesus gives us this living hope that will not fail. Amen.