My friend Liz was in the hospital and had just given birth to a beautiful daughter, Sarah.  She was the fourth child for Liz and her husband Ron.  On the day before Liz was ready to leave the hospital, she heard a lot of chaos and commotion out in the hall, she saw nurses run by and she heard the announcement of a code blue.  She said she just had a funny feeling.  The next thing she knew, they were bringing her the lifeless body of her three-year old son, Marcus, who had drowned in a neighbor's pool.  How she would have longed for that moment when Jesus put his hand on the coffin and said, Rise up Marcus.

So many times in our lives, we hear people ask, "Why aren't there miracles like this any more?  Why doesn't Jesus heal people like he did before?"  I would imagine that any one of us can think of a situation or loss where we longed for the healing power that Jesus showed that day in Nain.

From now until November our gospel texts are from Luke. While we don't know who the actual author of the gospel is, tradition has him as being a physician, someone who traveled with the apostle Paul.  The same author who wrote Luke wrote the book of Acts.  Trying to pin down the actual identity of the author is not as important as recognizing what it is the author was trying to emphasize as he tells these stories.  Luke wants to show us that Jesus is God's way of ruling the world, and his writings give testimony that God's will is at work.  He is identified as a prophet of God.  There are many stories of healing - of Jesus interacting with the outsiders, the outcast, the nameless ones who have no place in society.  Jesus acts to heal, to bring life out of death, to go to the places where he did not belong, and touch the people he was not supposed to touch.  He walked right into the middle of every situation and declared wholeness.

A widow like the one from Nain was a person with no status in that society.  Without a husband, she was a nobody, and in real danger of dying herself without someone to take care of her.  Her son would have been her only hope - someone who could provide, feed, and care for her.  And now, he was dead. But Jesus looks at her as a person of need.  Without her even asking, he sees her as worth his time and attention.  Then he breaks another taboo, he touches the platform on which the dead body rested --- a holy man would not do that, would not defile himself with death.  And if that weren't enough, he commanded the man to rise, and he did.  And the people were scared stiff, and glorifying God all at the same time.  They recognized Jesus as a great prophet, a clear reminder of another prophet, Elijah, who had also raised from the dead a child of a widow.

What was his power?  What is the truth this story wants to tell us?  And why couldn't God have done something that magnificent for Liz and Ron?  Or for you or me? 

There had to be great excitement in Nain that day; what was lost and gone, came back to life.  What was an ending was a new beginning.  Yet, like all the healing stories about Jesus, eventually, even those he raised from the dead, lived to die another day.  Slowly but surely Jesus walked through the countryside establishing himself as someone who did not play by the rules.  Someone who seemed to answer to a greater power, who seemed to be more interested in life and healing than following the religious taboos.  Jesus came to bring life.  Over and over again he showed his people that.  And finally, he gained the ultimate victory, he took the power away from death.

You and I have died the big death, the death that was ours in baptism, the death that we died with Christ, and someday, we will each die to this physical life.  But the One who came to break all the rules, is also the One who came with a promise; the promise that we would live because he lived.  His actions got him into so much trouble that he was finally killed, but God raised him from the dead, brought him into new life, not simply an extension of the old life.

Over and over in Luke we will see how Jesus intervenes in places where there seemed no future, no hope, and no possibilities.  We will see how the actions of Jesus were for one purpose, to call attention to God.  To call attention to a new order, where there were not outsiders and insiders, rich or poor. Over and over Jesus would do miracles and tell parables that helped people to see God in a new way.

We, unlike the people of Nain, live on the other side of Easter.  We know the power of God.  We know that God has accomplished for us what we could not do for ourselves.  And in the meantime, we too are called to draw attention to God's way of ruling the world, God's way of healing the world.

My friend's son was not brought back to life that summer day.  But as many people gathered around Liz and Ron and their family day after day, it  became clear that there was a miracle, that there was resurrection power as we lived out the promise of new life in the healing presence of the living Christ.

 God did not prevent Marcus from drowning in that pool, but God continued to bring life out of death, hope out of despair.  And we came to know once again that resurrection happens all over the place as we see the future opening when the door seemed shut tight, as we come to know the presence of God in the midst of our suffering, as we care for one another the miracles happen, the compassion of God is present in those who surround us.

As we explore these stories from the gospel of Luke, we will come to know a Jesus who is very human, who is concerned for the people he meets, the poor and sick, the women and Gentiles, a Jesus who tells stories that help us to see God more clearly.  We will come to understand salvation as something that happens here and now, a life that is lived out in thanksgiving to God.  We will come to understand that the miracles and the healing happen every day, and sometimes they happen through us, the ones who are now the body of Christ in the world.  What happened that day in Nain when Jesus gave the widow back her son, what happened that day when Elijah gave the widow back her son, happens to us --- Life --- and as we read scripture, we come to know a God who is always at work to bring us to life. Life, Now, Today

AMEN