This was a morning that made me feel great to be alive. Crisp 55 degrees, sunny, clear blue skies. The leaves which are finally full on all the trees looked greener than ever. My morning walk glowed with an awareness of God.
I used Luke 7:11-17 for scripture prayer today. Jesus brings the only son of a widow back to life. Only Luke has this story. With her only son dead she would have had no means of support. Jesus raises this man from the dead out of compassion for his mother. Luke says, "Jesus gave him to his mother."
The compassion of Jesus is one of the themes of Luke's Gospel. It is one of the reasons that this is my favorite Gospel. In a particularly poignant translation, the New International Version has, "When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, 'Don't cry.'" Jesus feels what the widow is feeling. His heart and hers are one. He suffers with her and acts out of that compassion.
In the crowd's reaction Luke doesn't seem to say simply "God has visited his people." Several translations give the verb a further notion of caring. The New Revised Standard Version has "God has looked favorably on his people."
Jesus is God's gracious love in the flesh. On the cross the outstretched arms of Jesus gathers all the pain and suffering of the whole world into himself. God suffers with us.
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