God Has Come to Help His People

Are we ready for change?

Luke 7:11-17 | Acts 10:1-8

Acts 10 really is one of the most pivotal chapters in the Bible. It changes a lot. It shifts the perspective of God’s people in ways perhaps still not fully realized. God begins with Peter, as the leader of the Church. As we read today and tomorrow, we’ll see how much Peter struggles with it and then, by the work of the spirit, accepts it. Do we have ears to hear?

Jesus’ raising of the widow of Nain’s son might be his least known resurrection. It’s a meaningful little story in which it seems most clear that Jesus raised the man out of nothing more and nothing less than a deep compassion for his mother. Sometimes we draw lines within a particular strategy Jesus must be using when looking at a healing or miracle. But here, his only strategy seems to be compassion.

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Luke 7:11-17

A little later Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a great crowd traveled with him. As he approached the city gate, a dead man was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When he saw her, the Lord had compassion for her and said, “Don’t cry.” He stepped forward and touched the stretcher on which the dead man was being carried. Those carrying him stood still. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, get up.” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Awestruck, everyone praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding region.

Acts 10:1-8

There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion in the Italian Company. He and his whole household were pious, Gentile God-worshippers. He gave generously to those in need among the Jewish people and prayed to God constantly. One day at nearly three o’clock in the afternoon, he clearly saw an angel from God in a vision. The angel came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

Startled, he stared at the angel and replied, “What is it, Lord?”

The angel said, “Your prayers and your compassionate acts are like a memorial offering to God. Send messengers to Joppa at once and summon a certain Simon, the one known as Peter. He is a guest of Simon the tanner, whose house is near the seacoast.” When the angel who was speaking to him had gone, Cornelius summoned two of his household servants along with a pious soldier from his personal staff. He explained everything to them, then sent them to Joppa.

Prayer

God,

Keep me confident, but do not let me be closed up to the new work of your spirit. You’ve likely noticed we humans like to feel as if things are in control.

“Don’t change a thing, please.”

But you are a God of spirit, moving as you please, here and there and everywhere. Like the wind. (Jesus told us that.)

So help me, God: Make me a sail, something that exists and can be seen and felt, but capable of being filled and moved this way or that by your spirit

… and in Christ,
Amen.