Detail of St Luke altarpiece by Andrea Mantegna, 1453-54

Luke: a Man With an Eye For the Ladies (Part three)

Monday July 21 2014

A weekly series of reflections by the Rev Billy McMillan on the women in Luke's Gospel

Part three

The Widow of Nain: Grace at Ground Level. (Luke 7:11-17)

"If only God had taken me instead."

These are the words of an elderly widow in my first congregation.  She had just lost her son.

This story may well bring to mind people who have died in the prime of life leaving elderly parents to mourn. Yet Luke, who as a doctor, was especially sensitive to human suffering, includes it in his Gospel as an illustration of the wonderful grace of Jesus.

As we look at Jesus restoring this young man to life and giving him back to his mother, there are four things we can say about it.

1. It operates at ground zero.

Here we see Jesus arriving at the gate of the town as the funeral procession was coming out.

So often we see the grace of Jesus in operation at street level: in local synagogues, on dusty roads, by the lakeside and  inside and outside the homes of ordinary people

Today, the grace of Jesus still operates at street level.

2. It is available to the humblest of people.

The person to whom the heart of Jesus went out was a widow.  He said to her: "Don't cry." (v.13)

There was, I think, a special place for widows in the heart of Jesus. In this gospel we have the story of the Widow and the Judge, (Luke 18: 1-8) and the incident of the Widow's Offering (Luke 21: 1-4).

It may have  been that Jesus' own mother Mary was widowed quite early in life and Jesus knew the struggle she had to bring up the family.

3. It comes to us when our need is greatest.

Jesus met this woman when she had lost her only son. 

There are others who have experienced the grace of Christ in extremities. The Philippian Jailer is one (Acts 16: 17-30), and John Newton , the writer of Amazing Grace, another.

Nor should we make light of the power of Jesus at work through different people to comfort those who are bereaved and to open up new ways of service with the passing of time.

4. It is offered to us as a gift.

This woman could not have bought, won or earned the grace of Christ but she did not need to.  It was offered to her, even without her asking. So while grace is never cheap, it is wonderfully free and unconditional.

Paul wrote in Romans 6. 23:

Part four will appear next week

Part two

Part one