Upside-Down Christmas: Luke 7

Luke 7

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There are few things worse to imagine than losing your child. And for a poor widow, this was doubly painful. You see, that widow would have been entirely dependent on her son to care for her. Women couldn’t just go get a job and there were no state benefits for people in her position. So the death of her son—that personal grief was compounded by the loss of her only security in society.

But Jesus was going to change all of that.

Today is day seven of our Upside Down Christmas podcast where we’re tracing the theme of the upside down pattern of Jesus’ life and ministry through the Gospel of Luke. And you should follow along not just by listening, but by reading one chapter of Luke each day throughout the season of Advent. Today, we’re in Luke 7.

And as I was saying, Jesus is going to change everything about this woman’s life by raising her son from the dead. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. (Luke 7:13-15)

Jesus, driven by his compassion, reverses this woman’s fortunes by raising her son back to life. But he also changes her life story. Just think for a minute. What was the story that people would tell about her? What was the narrative that governed her life? First, she was the widow who’d been bereft of her husband, and who had only one son to care for her. Now, she was further cursed by the loss of her son. She would have been a by word in the street. Maybe people would have thought she’d done something evil and had so been cursed by God. Would people even want to associate with her?

But then along comes Jesus and what happens? It’s not just that he restores her son to life. It’s that he changes that whole story. Now she’s the woman who’s son was given back to her by God. Now she’s the woman who was favored by God, graced by the presence of the great prophet of God. Now she’s the one whom God has exalted to a great status. Because of Jesus’ compassion, her whole life story has been rewritten—from shame and grief to glory and joy.

And that’s the pattern of the life of one who follows Jesus. No, it doesn’t mean that if you’re poor God will bless you with riches, or if you’ve lost someone God will restore them the way that he did the elderly widow. But what it does mean is that followers of Christ can expect that the grief and pain we endure today will be turned upside down one day, and that our story will be written, not as the tragedy we might count it today, but as a glorious story of redemption.

That’s the upside down kingdom. That’s our upside down Christmas. Let’s pray.

Lord, it’s so hard when we’re in the midst of our grief and pain. And how we wish you were here to reverse our fortunes right now. But, still, we trust you, Lord. We’ve seen how you’ve worked and we know that this is the way that you work—that you exalt the humble and raise the lowly. We pray then that you would make that our story. Have compassion on us, too, Lord. Have compassion. Strengthen us while we wait for your coming. Amen.

Family Devotional:

Let’s play a game. Have children lie down on the floor. Sitting is fine if you don’t have enough room for everyone to lie down. When you yell, “Get up!” everyone should get to their feet and jump into the air as quickly as they can. The first person to jump gets to be the next caller. Play as long as time allows.

Read Luke 7:11-16

When Jesus saw the mother and the people carrying the dead son, how did Jesus feel? Do you think Jesus feels bad for you when something bad happens to you?

What did Jesus do for the mother whose son had died?

Someday, Jesus will come back to Earth and He will bring everyone who believes in Him back to life who has died, and He will make it so that everyone who hasn’t died and believes in Him will never die. He’ll make our bodies perfect so that we can’t get sick, or get hurt, or get old anymore. And we will all live with Jesus and God forever.