"Don't Cry" Series

May 12, 2002 Luke 7:11-17

¡§Don¡¦t cry.¡¨

INTRODUCTION

Some of you are familiar with the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. Well, on one Mother’s Day, Calvin is pictured standing by his mother’s bed. "Hey, Mom! Wake up. I made you a Mother’s Day card." "My, how sweet of you." she says. "I did it all by myself. Go ahead & read it."

She begins to read:

"I was going to buy a card with hearts of pink & red.

But then I thought I’d rather spend the money on me instead.

It’s awfully hard to buy things when one’s allowance is so small.

So I guess you’re pretty lucky I got you anything at all.

Happy Mother’s Day. There, I¡¦ve said it. Now I’m done.

So how about getting out of bed & fixing breakfast for your son."

Signed, "Calvin."

Today, we celebrate Mother¡¦s Day. The experiences that you go through as a mother provoke a lot of laughter.

A 15 yr. old boy came bounding into the house and found his mom in bed. He asked if she was sick or something. He was truly concerned! Mom replied that, as a matter of fact, she didn¡¦t feel too well. The son replied, ¡§Well, don¡¦t worry about dinner, I¡¦ll be happy to carry you down to the stove¡¨

One day, a little girl is sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly notices that her mother has several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" she asks. Her mother replies, "Well, every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thinks about this awhile, then asks, "So how come ALL of Grandma¡¦s hairs are white?"

Little children can come up with some very interesting ideas. Listen to what some children wrote to their mothers for Mother¡¦s Day.

Robert wrote: "I got you a turtle for Mother¡¦s Day. I hope you like the turtle better than the snake I got you last year."

Little Diane wrote: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother¡¦s Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn¡¦t looking."

And how about this one from Carol? "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mother¡¦s Day!"

You can probably identify with those funny experiences that other mothers have had, and you have a lot that you could share with all of us. But just as wonderful as the funny times and the laughter have been, being a mother also provokes a lot of sorrow and tears ¡V tears over hurts that your children have had to endure at the hands of a sinful world, tears over bad decisions that your children have made and the painful consequences that come with them, and tears over separation from your children because of a broken relationship.

Some of you who are sitting here this morning may be crying on the inside because of a situation with your children. To you, Jesus would say the same thing that he said to the mother that He encountered at the city of Nain. He would say to you, ¡§Don¡¦t cry like there is no hope. I can work a miracle. I can take a hopeless, dead situation and bring life.¡¨

As we look at the miracle that happened for a family who lived almost 2000 years ago, I want you to understand this: the same God who worked a miracle back then can work a miracle in your life and in the life of your children. There is no hopeless situation when Jesus is present.

1. The situation was divided. (vs. 11-12)

„X One crowd was following life. (vs. 11)

If you look back at the beginning of this chapter, you¡¦ll find that there was a reason that a crowd was following Jesus. Jesus had performed a miracle for the servant of a Roman centurion. The servant had been near the point of death, and Jesus healed the servant with nothing more than a word. He didn¡¦t even have to go to where the servant was and lay hands on him. Obviously, a miracle like this was a cause for rejoicing and excitement. They wanted to be around Jesus. They wanted to see what was going to happen next. It seemed that everywhere that Jesus went, nothing ever stayed the same. He brought joy and life because He was life. Remember what He said in Jn. 14:6: ¡§I am the way, the truth, and the life.¡¨ He wasn¡¦t just talking about eternal life. He was also talking about living life to the full. He was talking about all the things that come along with life ¡V joy and hope and dreams and laughter - kind of like all those things that a mother brings to her family in the darkest of times. And because Jesus was the source of all these things, a crowd was following Him. And they were having a great time as they celebrated Jesus and what He had done. Being with Jesus was like being at a party. They were praising God and singing, and everyone was trying to get close to Jesus so that they could hear what He had to say. They were noisy and boisterous, but suddenly their noise stopped as they came upon another crowd.