Study Guide - Changing the World God's Way - Week 4

THIS WEEK'S SCRIPTURE: Luke 7:11-17
ADDITIONAL READING: 1 Kings 17:17-23; 2 Kings 4:32-37; Acts 9:36-43

Introduction

Death from a human point of view is the ultimate hopeless situation. Once the patient has died, no further medicine or treatment will help; it is just time to prepare for the funeral. In a broken world, hopelessness is all around us and in many forms.

Jesus came to bring life and to bring hope to all (Acts 10:38). Note that in verse 11 Jesus is going about along with His disciples (the Greek word disciples literally means learners) and a crowd of people. Jesus is thus teaching by what He does using teachable moments as He goes along.

Jesus is teaching several things. Jesus is teaching what God's character is like and what He, Jesus, came to do (Proclaim the message of the kingdom, heal the broken and release people from the power of Satan). Jesus is also giving His followers an example of what they/we should do. We are called to proclaim the message of the Kingdom, heal the broken (physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally), and deliver people from the bondage of Satan. Our ministry is in word and acts of power. The additional verses above set forth incidents in which people were raised from the dead by followers of God through His power not by Jesus personally.

As you go through these verses try to imagine the scene in your mind. Think of how people felt and what they thought.

Background Information

Nain was a village about 2 miles south of Capernaum. Thus the people would have heard of what Jesus had been doing. The village still exists today at that site. It is called Nein. A grave-site has been uncovered just outside the walls of the village from Jesus' time. The funeral procession was coming out of the City gates and going to the grave site for the burial. According to the custom there would have been people playing the flute and cymbals. The mother of the dead young man would have been walking in front of the coffin as it was carried out of the village with the people following and crying and wailing.

It is significant that the woman was a widow. In that culture, when a man died leaving a widow, the son was to take care of his mother. Here, the son (an adult) had died and the woman was now left without any means of support. In that culture, women could not work or own property and of course there was no governmental assistance. So in addition to the grief of a mother, she was facing a future of poverty and having to beg to survive. A truly hopeless situation.

This incident is different from many of the other incidents that are recorded in the gospels. Here no one comes to Jesus asking for help and no one demonstrates faith that Jesus can do something. Instead Jesus sees the situation and is moved with compassion and takes action and raises the dead young man. Jesus thus taught and demonstrated His authority and power over death and the spirit realm as well as demonstrating His compassion. Jesus demonstrated that in hopeless situations he, Jesus, takes the initiative and acts.

Note also that Jesus gave the young man back to his mother thus restoring her hope. Jesus' action was motivated by compassion for the widow. The incident thus gave Jesus' followers a good example of how to respond to hopelessness - with compassion that compels to action. The incident also shows us that nothing is hopeless in Jesus' eyes. We are also reminded that we as followers of Jesus have His authority (Matthew 28:18-9) to not only proclaim the message of salvation and hope but with His power to perform miraculous acts.

Key Points

• Jesus always goes to hopeless people and hopeless situations and Jesus calls us to do the same.

• People need to see the hand of God not just hear the words of God. 

• People need to see followers of Jesus compelled to action by compassion.

Digging Deeper Questions

1. What are some hopeless situations you have faced? What are hopeless situations people in general face?

2. What is it like when a person loses hope? How do they feel?

3. Tell the incident in your own words.

4. What moved Jesus to action? What does compassion mean? How is it expressed?

5. What did Jesus do? What do we learn about Jesus from this? What do we learn about our purpose as Jesus' followers?

6. What effect do you think this incident had on - the young man? - the widow? - the disciples? the crowd?

7. Is it still possible for the dead to be raised today? How does this incident effect you? What will you apply?

This Week’s Challenge

As you go through your week ask God to make you aware of people in need of hope and take action.