Pentecost 3 Sermon: Interruption Interrupted

Preached on Luke 7:11-17
The Third Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 5C
5 June AD 2016

Title: Interruption Interrupted (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Imagine the audacity: Deep in grief, you sit in a funeral car, following your dearest loved one to the cemetery. Suddenly, a man blocks the road, halting the procession. He strides to the back of the hearse, flings open the door, and demands that the dead one get up and out of the coffin.

Now imagine your astonishment when the “dear departed” isn’t departed anymore! Death’s interruption is itself interrupted. Sorrow without depth immediately becomes joy without bounds. Life refills not only the one who was dead but also the loved ones whose own lives seemed so empty scant moments before.

The prophets Elijah and Elisha foreshadowed the greatest Prophet. Through the Lord, they called grieving mothers’ sons back to life. Jesus went beyond this, calling this widow’s son and his dear friend Lazarus back from death before completely interrupting death by dying Himself and then returning to life.

Likely, the previous interruptions were temporary. The sons of the widows of Zarephath and Nain, the Shunamite’s son and Lazarus — each probably lived for a time before death once again claimed them. But when Jesus returned from the grave, He effected a permanent interruption of death and of the sin that brings it into our lives.

We know that even if we die, no matter the time that passes afterwards, we remain alive in Christ and will be called forth in glorified resurrection bodies to live forevermore. The valley of the shadow of death transformed into the eternally sunlight land of life. The pit of the grave replaced by the mountain of the Lord’s glory. The burial shroud swallowed up by the Lord of Life.

Text: Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. Luke 7:11-17

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Interruption Interrupted.

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 30; 1 Kings 17:17-24; Galatians 1:11-24