Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, ‘Do not weep.' And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!' The dead man sat up and began to speak. And He gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!' and, ‘God has visited His people!' This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district” (Luke 7:11-17).
The Greek phrase, “And he gave him back to his mother” (v. 15) appears only once in the NT, and once in the Greek OT as well (1 Kings 17:23). And both cases, it just so happens to be in stories about the miraculous resurrection of a widow's dead son by the hands of man of God: Elijah & the Widow from Zarephaht (1 Kings 17:9, 17-24); Yeshua and the Widow from Nain (Luke 7:11-17).
No doubt, these parallels in Luke point to Yeshua's Spirit-endowed power and Messianic identity, but Luke's primary point is to highlight Yeshua's divine compassion for the most helpless and vulnerable of society. In Luke 4:26, Yeshua refers to Elijah's healing of the widow's son, noting that she was actually a Sidonian (Lebanese) Gentile from Zarephath (Luke 4:26). In Luke 7:13, Yeshua is moved to compassion when he sees a helpless Jewish widow weeping over the dead body of her only son.
Friends, God is genuinely moved by the tears of mothers crying for their children, whether these mothers are from Israel or from the neighboring countries. It is good and right for us to stand against evil. In the current context, stand against Hamas terror organization (Psa. 3:7). At the same time, it is also good and right for Yeshua's disciples to weep right now with the mothers of the Middle East and to pray for their comfort and their salvation in Yeshua's precious name.
God is genuinely moved by the tears of mothers crying for their children, whether these mothers are from Israel or from the neighboring countries.
“And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD'” (Luke 4:17-19).
