The First Person Jesus Raised From The Dead Series

The first person Jesus raised from the dead

Introduction: Jesus had already performed a number of miracles such as the overwhelming load of fish for Peter’s boat (Luke 5) and the healing of a paralytic (Luke 5:17-26). The miracles weren’t limited to men, only, as He had healed Peter’s own mother-in-law (4:36-39). Now He was going to demonstrate His power over death itself. He was going to bring a young man back to life, after the young man had died!

1 The Journey towards Nain

Text: Luke 7:11, KJV: 11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

Jesus had just left Capernaum after healing a servant of a Roman centurion (7:1-10). Nain is only mentioned once in the Bible, and it’s in this passage. Nain was maybe 20 miles south-east of Capernaum, and seemed to be built on top of a hill or foothill in the Valley of Jezreel (see the online map at https://bibleatlas.org/full/capernaum.htm), Even though, as mentioned, the city was never spoken of again in Scripture, the city has a special place. That’s because one of the Lord’s greatest miracles was performed there.

To be honest, I’ve never really understood why the Lord chose that particular route or why He and the others chose to enter that city. The map (see link above) shows what looks to be a road or trail heading basically south and my guess (it’s only that) is the end-of-that-line would be Jerusalem. Every male Jew was supposed to go to Jerusalem three times a year so it’s my guess that these roads or trails were designed to assist the travelers. Or, maybe, so many feet had traveled for so many years that the path was already there!

Yet, oddly, the road on that map seems to lead towards Samaria, the land on the west side of the Jordan River, located between Judea and Galilee. I haven’t found any reason why the Lord would choose that direction but then, some things are not for us to be concerned with. Something very important was about to happen, though, and we have the record right here in the text.

Verse 11 says Jesus and those with Him went into the city of Nain. The next verses tell us why.

2 The Tragedy inside Nain

Text, Luke 7:12, KJV: 12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

There’s no contradiction between the Lord and His followers coming into the city of Nain and them coming nigh to the gate of the city. Jerusalem had several gates (Nehemiah’s book mentions a number of these) and it’s possible that Jesus would be traveling through from, say, east to west or north to south. Another possible solution is that the group was going into the city to purchase food (like they did is Samaria, see John 4) and would exit from the nearest gate. No need to retrace the steps all the way back through the city to the original gate or entry point

Even though we’re not told the specific reason why Jesus and the others came into Nain, we can see it in this verse. Luke records here that there was a funeral procession heading out of the city. It’s important to remember that in Bible times, few people were buried inside a city.

There were exceptions, of course, such as the tombs of the various kings of Judah as listed in the books of Kings and Chronicles but for most people, their bodies were taken outside the city, usually on the same day the person died. Even as late as the days of the apostles, when Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter and died on the spot, their bodies were carried out of Jerusalem that same day (Acts 5).

Further, we’re not told the age of the deceased here. The King James Version translates the word as “man”, maybe a generic term for one who died (see Dr. A. T. Robertson’s notes online at https://godrules.net/library/robert/robertluk7.htm). The deceased here is not called any of the usual words for man, youth, elder (aner, anthropos, pais, brephos, etc.). Luke does say that the deceased was the only son of a widow, much like the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17. Reading some of the commentators, I found that this, the death of an only son, was one of the worst things for any widow to have to endure. She had no husband, and the son was apparently supposed to help his mother (actually seems like a reasonable request). But now that the son is gone, hope is gone, and she’s probably wondering what next to do.