One sweltering afternoon, on the dirty streets of a dangerous section of New Orleans, a man approached a woman with some papers in his hand. He asked Helen if she would agree to write letters to a man on death row at Angola prison. Helen agreed, rather absent-mindedly. She was used to people asking her for favors. She had lived in the rough part of town for three years, serving in a mission center where her Catholic order had sent her. It was nothing out of the ordinary for a nun to be asked to help people in trouble.
So that night Helen wrote the letter and, without realizing it, began a relationship, which emerged into an emotional attachment. From there it became a concern and then a passion for the sons of Louisiana’s mothers awaiting execution. Sister Helen Prejean has become an advocate for life, humanity, and justice.
You may not agree with all of her views, but I think you will have to agree that the title of her book is very provocative. “Dead Man Walking” “Dead Man Walking” is Sister Helen’s way of seeing the more than fifty men whom she has served as spiritual advisor before they are sent to their deaths. “Dead Man Walking” is her provocative description of what she sees as she looks into their eyes, she tries to listen to their hearts, and she speaks to them of Christ. In their despair, they are alive in body, walking, but they are dead in spirit. They are fatally wounded in their hearts, all but destroyed as human beings. “Dead Man Walking.” It’s a haunting and terrible image. Someone can be physically alive and yet spiritually and emotionally dead.
But somehow we as a society have been creating that. We are making people into “dead men walking.” It’s not just criminals. You will know what I mean if you have ever seen a once vibrant child become a teenager and withdraw completely from real relationships; he just disappears into a locked room, listening to music, surfing the Internet, or just plain brooding. It feels like a dead man walking.
Or if you have ever confronted a young adult, sold out to controlled substances or to alcohol or to sexual behavior. No longer able to operate above a barely functional level, no longer able to live more than, one hit at a time. If you’ve seen that, you’ve seen a dead man walking.
Or if you have been dismayed at children as young as seven or eight who give up on learning (“it’s too hard), or give up on playing (“somebody might hurt me”), or just give up on being children. One psychologist I spoke with a few days ago about a particular child said, “If you look in her eyes, the lights have gone out.” In other words, “dead man walking.”
I come to you on this Mother’s Day to bring a message about family life. I want to think with you about the compassion that Jesus Christ offers to families in crisis. And I want to ask for your prayerful imagination as your church moves ahead to make a difference for hurting families. I come to you today, as always, to proclaim the good news, even where the world thinks there is none. But I also come, as always, to challenge us to be something more than we have ever been before. I come, in the name of the risen and living Christ, to challenge dead men walking into life abundant.
First, let me take you to a gloomy scene. The little village of Nain, just five miles from Nazareth, a village with scarcely two hundred souls, had turned out today. Funerals get attention in a place like that, where everybody knows everybody else. Funerals get attention, death is a big deal, and it is expected that you will pay your respects.
So the people of Nain have poured out of the town gate, following the pallbearers carrying the body of one of their young men. The mood? Always somber, for seldom would anyone make jokes around death; death has a way of evening that score! The mood was somber, but today more so than ever. Today there was a deafening silence, for the dead man had been the only son of one of Nain’s widows. All she had, really – her husband long dead, and now, this, her only son. Who knew what to say? Who could console the widow of Nain?
I
Jesus could, and Jesus did. At that very moment, as the funeral procession wended its way through the gate, heading to a burial site on the nearby hillside – at that very moment Jesus and his disciples came on the scene. Jesus’ eye searched the crowd, read the clues, and came to focus on this mother.
And when Jesus saw her, he had compassion for her son and said to her, “Do not weep.”
I am struck by the leanness and the precision of that statement. It says nothing, but it says everything. It says nothing about whether this son deserved compassion. Who knows? Maybe the guy had it coming. How did he die? Illness? Violence? Suicide? An accident? Who knows? Maybe he had been killed as he was attempting a crime. Maybe he had been carousing and drank himself into oblivion. Maybe he had been irresponsible and had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. We don’t know. And there is nothing to suggest that Jesus conducted an investigation. He just expressed compassion. That’s it. Clear and simple. A man was dead, a mother is grieving, and, to the mind of Jesus, it was time for love. It was time for compassion. You do not parcel out compassion on the basis of who deserves what. You just give love. You just care.
After all, which of us really deserves the love of God? None of us! But that’s what grace is – the unmerited favor of God. Love that comes unconditionally. Who has earned the favor of God? No one! All have sinned and come short of the glory of God! But He loves us, unconditionally.
So without any questions asked, without any fol-de-rol about what happened here or why did he die or what’s the story behind the story – Jesus had compassion and said to the mother, “Do not weep”.
That is where you and I must begin, on this Mother’s Day, as we think about families. That is where you and I must begin – offering compassion. It’s not about whether somebody deserves compassion. It’s only about their need of compassion.
Jesus offered compassion to a young man of uncertain character, in mysterious circumstances, in questionable surroundings. That’s our calling too.
Jesus offered compassion to a single mother, now bereaved, and gave her a reason to hope. That’s our calling too.
Jesus offered compassion where the crowd could see it and learn of the love of God, where the crowd could catch a glimpse of all that God wants for us. Jesus made a witness out of His compassion. And that too is our calling.
II
But I want you to notice that Jesus did not stop with offering sympathy. Compassion is a good deal more than sympathy. Jesus did much more than offer teary-eyed cliches. Jesus used His authority to give life! Jesus called on His relationship to the Father, and He used His authority to give life.
Imagine the scene, as the words from His commanding voice echo across the ravine:
“Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak …
Young man, I say to you, rise! And guess what? He did! He really did! He sat up, shook off his slumbers, rubbed his eyes, got the smell of spices out of his nostrils, and began to speak! Oh, I wish Luke had written down what he said! I wish the witnesses had put down for posterity the first words a man speaks when he comes back to life! Well, the text says that fear seized them all, and so I guess they didn’t think to fire up their laptops or point their digital cameras. But look what the authority of Jesus can do for a dead man!
Do you know what? It still can. It still can. The authority of Jesus can deal with a dead man walking and can give life. The authority of Jesus can take a broken life and make it whole. The authority of Jesus can take a splintered relationship and make it complete. The authority of Jesus can reach into an embittered heart and give hope. It’s all a question of the authority of Jesus and who will use it.
To whom has the authority of Jesus been given today? Who stands in the place of the Lord and acts on His behalf? We do. We His people. We His church. We have an authority, if we will use it. The problem is that we have not taken seriously what the Lord has given us. The authority to give life to dead men walking. Instead we settle for a cheap imitation, a half-hearted attempt to be nice. And there is no life in that. There is no life for dead men walking short of spiritual authority.
Think with me about what it would mean if we, the Lord’s church, acted with spiritual authority instead of just trying to be nice to people.
If we acted with authority, we wouldn’t just do weddings. We would insist on making marriages. There’s a world of difference between a wedding, with its lovely gowns and lavish receptions, and a marriage, with its daily struggles. So if we approached this with authority, we’d say to people asking about weddings, “Because we have compassion about marriage, we offer you premarital preparation. And, by the authority vested in us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you won’t do the preparation, we won’t do the wedding.” Authority brings real life, not a cheap imitation.
If we acted with authority, we wouldn’t just do child dedication services. We would insist on preparing parents. There’s a world of difference between a dedication ceremony, with pretty words and smiling grandparents, and raising a child, with daily challenges. So if we approached this with authority, we’d say to people asking about child dedications, “Because we have compassion about children, we offer you a parenting course and ongoing consultation. And, by the authority vested in us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you aren’t serious enough to learn about children, none of whom come with a set of instructions in the package .. if you’re not serious enough to learn about children, we won’t do the dedication.” Authority brings life, not a cheap imitation.
If we acted with authority, we wouldn’t just do baby-sitting and call it Christian education. We would insist on serious teaching for children. There’s a world of difference between a Sunday School classroom or a children’s worship gathering to which a child is sent when it is not too much trouble and we can get up early and the weather is nice and maybe somebody will pick him up .. there’s a world of difference between all of that and giving children thorough, systematic, careful, consistent instruction. So if we approached this with authority, we’d say to parents, “Because we have compassion about children, we ask that you take Sunday School at least as seriously as you do day school, and that you get them here, no matter what, and that they be prepared when they come.” And, more than that, if we approached this with authority, we’d say to parents, “Because we have compassion about you too, we want you enrolled in Bible study. We want you here, week by week, on a consistent basis, because, whether you know it or not, what we have to teach is life!” The Lord’s authority brings life. And it is not the task of the church just to hang around like the Seven-Eleven whenever somebody needs a quick fix!
Do you see where I’m going with this? Just as with Jesus’ own authority, based on His compassion, Jesus spoke life to a dead man and got results, I believe that His church can speak with authority and get results.
We are not here to do weddings, but to make marriages. We are not here to do child dedications, but to support parents. We are not here to provide baby-sitting, but to teach children. We are not here to keep teens off the streets, but to mature them into something useful. We are not here to network young adults into good jobs, but to equip them for mission. We are not here to provide a hotel for tired saints, but a proving ground for recovering sinners.
And at the end of the road, we are not even here to mumble funeral services and say nice things about the deceased. We are here, by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, to move the grieving forward and to heal the broken-hearted, so that they may live after their loss. And deeper than that, so that they may live into eternal life.
By the authority of the one who said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” Dead man walking? There are so many of them! But I see a dream emerging. I see a hope that we will create here, in this church, a center for family health. I see us creating a way of serving and teaching that will, by the magnificent authority of the living Lord, bring a new day for families in this community. I’m not ready to say more than that just yet. But the possibilities are more than we can ask or think, if we will live under the authority of Jesus.
A dead man walking? Someone for whom the spirit is dead and the heart is faint? “Young man, I say to you, rise!” [And] the dead man sat up and began to speak … Hallelujah! It can still happen.
III
And that’s not all. The dead man sat up and began to speak, and
Jesus gave him to his mother.
Jesus Christ wants nothing more than to give us as gifts to one another. When He has begun His life-giving work in us, He wants to give us to one another – changed. No longer dead, but alive. No longer a mess, but a gift. Changed. When the young man sat up and spoke, “Jesus gave him to his mother.”
We don’t know anything about how this man and his mother interacted. Anything I might say is pure guesswork. But if it was anything like what goes on in our families, well, there are no perfect human relationships. May I say that again? There are NO perfect human relationships. But I’ll wager that whatever it was before Jesus came, it was different afterward. Whatever they were to one another, when Jesus gave life and then gave them to one another, that relationship was transformed. It was different.
Mother’s Day. Behind the smiles, the cards, the flowers, and the sweet sayings, there may well be a history that is not so sweet. Most of us come to Mother’s Day with ambivalent feelings. Yes, she gave me life. Yes, she fed me and clothed me and got me to school. But did she have to be such a nag? Did she have to scream at me day after day? Yes, he is a fine man now. Yes, he knows how to say all the right things now. But what a terror he was growing up! What a lot of gray hairs he gave me during his teen years! Most of us have ambivalent feelings about our families.
By the way, did you hear about the little girl who was trying to understand about gray hair? She saw her mother’s hair starting to turn gray, and she asked, “What makes that happen?” Mom thought a minute and came up with a good one. “Well, you see, every time you do something bad, I get another gray hair.” The little girl’s mouth flew open, and then she said, “Is that right?! Wow, Mom, you must have been a terrible kid, because just look at all of Grandma’s gray hair!”
Well, maybe Mom was a terrible kid. We don’t want to talk about that. Or Grandma may have been a terrible mother. We don’t talk about that either. But the truth is, we have a lot of memories and a lot of unhappy feelings about one another.
But here is the good news! When Jesus Christ touches a life, that life is changed! When Jesus Christ heals a dead man walking, He not only gives life. He changes that person. I’ll bet you the widow of Nain and her son had a different kind of relationship after Jesus gave them back to one another. I don’t think you could go back to the same old same old after that.
Somebody here today needs to become the Lord’s gift for his mother. You may be a dead man walking right now, but with the power of Jesus, that can be changed. Some mother here today needs to become the Lord’s gift for her children. She’s a dead woman walking right now, but with the power of Jesus, that can be changed. Some couple here today needs to let Jesus touch their marriage and give it new life. Some child here today needs to let Jesus put the light back in her eyes. Some teenager here today needs to grow up in Jesus. Some young adult here today needs to wake up and find new energy, in Jesus. Some senior here today needs to know that at the end of it all, there is Jesus. He gives life, He brings life, He is life.
So why would you remain a dead man walking, when you could be alive again?
