Following Our Coffins

“When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’ Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still... ‘I say to you, get up!’” Luke 7:13-15.

I have never noticed until this morning the different levels of love Christ extended in this morning’s passage. Jesus was going about His business and Scripture tells us that as He approached the town gate He saw this scene playing out. There was a woman who had just lost her son and his body was being carried in a coffin as she followed. She was a stranger to Him but it is written that as soon as He saw her, His heart went out to her. He approached both the woman and the coffin and comforted her. He touched the vessel carrying the dead and commanded the dead to rise. Life was given back and the testimony of Jesus was shared throughout the land.

There are hurting and wounded people who have laid to rest their hearts. They keep their hearts enclosed in a protective vacuum, sealed up and without pulse for life. Things have happened and they have never recovered, so they live their lives following their coffins. But Jesus came to mend the broken hearted and to save them from death. He never intended for us to follow our coffins but rather to follow Him. It is important to see the actions of Jesus in our story and understand that He is the same Jesus for us, offering us the same life. First of all, Jesus sees us in our pain like He did the woman in the story. He feels our pain as He looks upon our suffering. He comforts us in His strength, not our own. Most importantly, He gives life back where we feel death.

Is there anything you have laid to rest in your coffin…any dream that didn’t come true…any hurt that has prevented you from realizing the joyful life God still offers? We are all going to follow something whether it be our fears, our losses or our God. Which will it be for us? Will we allow God to lay His healing hands on our hearts or will we carry around death? We have two choices but the first step is allowing Jesus to ‘approach and touch the coffin.’

‘The dead…sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back…’ Luke 7:15.