Sermon File

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth; for His word is truth. Amen

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (2024)

Our God is a Compassionate God                                                                                                                                                                                      Rev. Toby Byrd

“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.”” (Luke 7:12–13, ESV) 

The Gospel Reading for today is one of my favorites for it speaks of the Compassion of God for His people. Compassion, a word that is mainly lost in our world of self-centeredness and selfishness. Rather than compassion, the world today is driven by a lack of compassion, it is driven by callousness and cold-heartedness, it is driven by the desire to win by any means. Ethics, integrity, honesty, these words are buried as people seek to make themselves better than their neighbor. So is it any wonder that compassion is buried along with those other words. But this is not how God would have us live. Instead, He says, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:17–18, ESV) Such love is shown in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He alone had compassion for the traveler who fell victim to robbers, and he gladly poured out his compassion on this stranger without seeking any recompense in return. Such compassion should be yours. God, because of His great love for you, because of His great compassion for you, shows you what is His great desire for you, and that is that you should love one another. For, as St. Paul warns, “If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:15, ESV) 

As I said earlier, this is one of my favorite passages in Scripture. When speaking of Christ’s compassion for the widow, the Greek word St. Luke uses to describe that compassion is ἐσπλαγχνίσθη (splachnizomai). You have heard me speak of this word in past sermons. It is a word in the Greek which conveys far more than mere emotional feeling. It is a word that speaks of the origin of one’s compassion, locating it deep within the entrails of a person, in a place that is intimate and hidden, today we would say, it is located in the seat of compassion, the heart. Thus, St. Luke contends that Christ’s compassion for this woman is a deep-seated desire that comes from deep within Him. Furthermore, it is a word which describes how every Christian should be. Every Christian should be clothed in this tender compassion, a compassion that is defined and expressed by brotherly love, conveying both what a Christian desires from God and how a Christian should treat others, with compassionate mercy.

St. Luke tells us that Jesus was nearing the town of Nain with many of His disciples and a great crowd followed Him. As they begin to enter the gate of the town, they are met by a funeral procession. Two crowds going in opposite directions, one led by the Prince of Peace, the other by the stench of death.

What a tragic situation. The only son of a widow had suddenly died leaving her alone. Leaving her without a husband or any other son or daughter to care for her. This woman is without security, without any means of support, she is bereft in the world. Although the funeral procession consists of many people, it is likely that she will be ignored because of her neighbor’s lack of compassion. What to do? To whom should she turn? Unbeknownst to her, there is One who has the answer to her dilemma, and suddenly He is standing before her.

Intercepting the funeral procession, our Lord does not hesitate to provide the answer for this tragedy. St. Luke tells us, “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”” (Luke 7:13, ESV) Our Lord pours out His mercy upon her. This is one of the great attributes of Christ; His merciful healings and releasing from bondage those who have fallen prey to the corruption of the world. Indeed, reading from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus proclaimed who He was and what His mission was when He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18–19, ESV) To set at liberty those who are oppressed. At this moment is there anyone more oppressed than this poor widow in Nain who has lost her only son, her only provider in this world?

Compassion is an attribute of Jesus; it is the motive for this great miracle which St. Luke records as our Lord Jesus raises the dead son to life. This act of compassion, this miracle opens our eyes to the messianic reign of God in Christ, it reveals the compassionate nature of God, it testifies to the presence of God for salvation.

The Gospel for today shows us how a grieving mother is transformed into a joyous mother, and how a dead son suddenly becomes a living, breathing son again. Thus, this Gospel Reading is a perfect picture of each of us, for we are revealed in the lives of both the mother and the son.

Like the grieving mother, the unbeliever, burdened by sin, grieves because they find no earthly answer for their sin. Knowing not Christ’s forgiveness, they are filled with fear at having offended Almighty God. Knowing not where to turn for relief or knowing not who can remove their sin from their soul, they sink into deep despondency, facing a gloomy future. Like the widow, who knew not where to turn or who to turn to, their lives are hopelessly captured by grief and uncertainty.

Like the dead son, we are all dead in our sins and trespasses, without a Spirit inspired life in a world of chaos and corruption. The spiritually dead, those without the Holy Spirit, cannot think of Spirit inspired things, they cannot feel Spirit inspired things, and they cannot hope Spirit inspired things. Nor can they think of a Spirit inspired future, for without the Spirit of God there is no future. Like the widow’s son, the spiritually dead lie on the funeral bier of unbelief awaiting eternity in hell.

Do not these conditions describe you before Jesus entered your life? Like the grieving mother and the dead son, you were without hope, without a future. Unbeknownst to you, you were being carried in a funeral procession by other lost souls. Being carried to oblivion by others of the living dead, a soul in need of compassion, a soul in need of rescue.

The grieving mother became a joyous mother, filled with hope, just as you became a joyous soul as Jesus rescued you from your poverty, pouring out His compassion upon you, blessing you with the richness of the kingdom of God, forgiving you all your sins. Furthermore, like the dead son, you were brought to life in Christ as He came to you, pouring out His compassion upon you, raising you from the spiritually dead, removing your grief and your deadness, saying to you, “Do not weep.” and “I say to you, arise.” (Luke 7:13, 14, ESV)

Filled with joy and awe at what Christ has done for you, you can say with David, “O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.” “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,” (Psalm 30:3, 11, ESV) 

The Lord Jesus has done it all. Out of His compassion for you, He has given you new life. What is remarkable about this Gospel Reading is that there is no mention of faith, illustrating clearly that when the Lord comes to you, pouring out His compassion upon you, it is not because you already believe, it is not dependent on your faith. It is dependent solely on His compassion, His mercy, His power, on His love for you.

Out of His love, He grants you rebirth in the waters of Baptism. Before you were ever a thought in your father’s heart, our Lord Jesus poured out His compassion on you as He offered up Himself as a ransom for your soul, offering payment in full for your sins, those sins that separated you from His Father, those sins that left you lying in the morgue of the spiritually dead, awaiting an eternity of suffering. There on that accursed tree, our Lord Jesus poured out His mercy upon the world, asking, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34, ESV) 

The Gospel for today shows us our Lord’s compassion, what greater compassion is there than to be forgiven all your sins? What greater compassion is there than to have been justified before God because of the vicarious satisfaction, the substitutionary death of His beloved Son upon the Altar of the Cross for your sins? He purchased your forgiveness! He gave you full pardon for your sins, for those horrible acts you committed that offended God. What greater compassion could God in Christ have? None.

But this is God’s desire, to have compassion on all, to forgive all your sins. This is why He sent His only begotten Son into this world, to be the instrument of His compassion. Throughout His ministry, our Lord Jesus, who was anointed to proclaim the Good News, to bring liberty to those captured by the chains of sin, to give sight to those blinded by the temptations of the world, to give relief to those oppressed by their sins, fulfilled His ministry, gladly and willingly pouring out His Father’s compassion upon all. But the greatest compassionate act our Lord Jesus did was to pour out His life’s blood for your forgiveness. To sacrifice Himself that you could be reconciled with His heavenly Father, that you could be declared righteous in His Father’s sight. His death brought you life, life eternal in His Father’s mansion.

The son of the widow died. His death brought her great sorrow and uncertainty. Death is no respecter of persons, and this fact fills the ungodly with fear and hopelessness. But nothing can change it, and when death enters the home of the ungodly, they are not prepared for its devastation. But when death enters the home of the godly, the Prince of Life enters the home of believers to overcome the prince of death, sin. Our Lord is the conqueror of death. He comes to comfort and to overcome the sadness at the bier of His saints. Out of His compassion, He cries out, “Weep Not.” His word of promise changes sorrow to joy; tears to laughter; mortality to immortality’ death into life. Then He says, “Arise.”

Whether the time between “Weep Not” and “Arise” is but a few seconds or years, the day is coming when the bodies of our loved ones in Christ will hear and obey His voice. The grave may take our loved one’s body, but a day will come when that grave, will give up their body at the command of Christ. The Last Day will come when Christ returns to this earth to resurrect all who are believers in His atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins, and they will be changed.

The Spirit of God tells us through St. Paul, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” And “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:22, 51–52, ESV) 

Christ our Compassionate Savior does not wait for you, instead He comes to you, intercepting your parade of death, bringing you, life. By His word you were healed, by His word you were raised from the living dead to the living in Christ, and by His word you will be raised from the grave to life immortal. How wonderful that our God, is a Compassionate God which is manifested in the Compassion of His Son. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

May the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.