Luke 7:11-17

If you ever visit Hilton Head Island be sure to check out a little club called “The Jazz Corner.” But make your reservations early because The Jazz Corner is a very popular place. They serve up some really fantastic food, and the live music is out of this world – terrific Rhythm and Blues, Motown, and – of course – Jazz. As you listen to jazz pianist Martin Lesch and his band you just might find yourself thinking, “Jesus would love this place. Jesus would love jazz.”

And that’s sort of what this week’s Gospel lesson is about – Jesus…and a jazz funeral.

Do you know what I’m talking about?

Jazz funerals became popular in the early part of the 20th century down in New Orleans – or “Nawlins” as our Southern friends say. And typically what happens in a jazz funeral is that the family and friends of the dear departed leave the church and form a procession behind the hearse as it slowly rolls to the cemetery.  And together with the mourners, a brass band marches along, playing dirges and other sorrowful songs like “Nearer My God to Thee” and a really downbeat version of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” They play these songs low and slow as the parade marches on to the graveyard.

But after the mourners complete the graveside service, cut the body loose, and say their final goodbyes, the band all of a sudden launches into “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” and “Didn’t He Ramble?” and other upbeat, joyful tunes. The mourners pop open colorful umbrellas and handkerchiefs and wave them in the air, and they leave the cemetery alternately dancing and walking – and passersby join in the happy procession.

It is a celebration of resurrection.

And that’s what happened that day long ago in a little town just outside of Nazareth, called Nain. No there wasn’t a New Orleans brass band, but there was a funeral procession. Family and friends of a young man who’d died followed the coffin as it was carried outside the city limits to the local cemetery. Perhaps they sang or chanted the sad songs of death as they walked along. The mother of the young man was crying, and the whole parade of people expressed deep and inconsolable grief. No, there wasn’t a jazz band, but there was this sad parade.

And there was Jesus.

He and his followers were coming into town just as the funeral procession was marching out of town. Luke is the only Gospelwriter who reports the story and he tells us something important: the dead man was the only son of a widow. She had lost her husband and now she’d lost her son. And as if losing her child wasn’t heartbreaking enough, in those days women had no other means of support than the men of the household. So she had lost her husband. She’d lost her son. She’d lost her means. And she’d lost her future, too.

Luke tells us she was weeping.

Well, Jesus sees this sad parade, and the distraught woman. The Bible tells us “his heart went out to her.” So he breaks away from his little band of followers, and goes over to this funeral procession. “Don’t cry,” he whispers to the widow. And then he goes up to the open wooden coffin and touches it. The pallbearers stop and fall silent. And then Jesus says, “Young man, get up!”

Luke tells us the dead man SAT UP, and began to talk!

And then Luke writes these most beautiful words, “Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

And the band started playing!

“Oh when the saints, go marchin’ in…!”

Well, there wasn’t a band there that day, and “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” hadn’t been written yet. But those folks surely were singing a joyful tune! Luke describes it this way: “They were all filled with awe and praised God!”

What a wonderful story! But what are we to do with it?

We have all walked in that parade, bearing loved ones to their final resting place. But no one came to us and told us to stop crying and then touched the coffin and told our loved one to get up – and it actually happened – like it happened in this Bible story about the widow of Nain.

Death, in our experience, is final.

Or is it?

You see, this story is given to us not to offer false hope and encourage us to go around trying to drive funeral homes out of business. No, this is not a story about what may happen today, but it is a promise about what will happen SOME day!

The key to understanding the story is found in verse 16 where the people say, “A great prophet has risen among us! God has come to help his people!”

This story is placed in a section of Luke where Jesus is revealed to be the long-awaited Messiah. This Messiah, according to the scriptures, will establish God’s kingdom on earth, and one of the joys of that beautiful kingdom will be resurrection – when all mothers will be given back their children! It is the day we pray will soon come whenever we recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!” It is the day we look forward to when the band strikes up a familiar tune whose lyrics go like this:

We are trav’ling in the footsteps
Of those who’ve gone before,
And we’ll all be reunited,
On a new and sunlit shore,

And the chorus goes like this:

Oh, when the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in

Have you ever noticed the lyrics of the verses? They are about THAT DAY THAT IS COMING!

And when the sun refuse to shine
And when the sun refuse to shine
I want to be in that number
When the sun refuse to shine

And when the moon turns red with blood
And when the moon turns red with blood
I want to be in that number
When the moon turns red with blood

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call
Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call
I want to be in that number
When the trumpet sounds its call

Some say this world of trouble,
Is the only one we need,
But I’m waiting for that morning,
When the new world is revealed.

Oh when the new world is revealed
Oh when the new world is revealed
I want to be in that number
When the new world is revealed

And then again the chorus. Will you sing it with me?

Oh, when the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in

You see the song is about that promised and hoped-for day when all the dead will rise!

“Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

Not just the son of the widow of Nain, but your son – daughter – husband – wife – friend – neighbor…

The Christian Faith offers us strength for living through the triumphs and the tragedies of this life. It invites us to participate in offering compassion to those who are sorrowful, and bringing about justice for the downtrodden, and treating every human being as a child of God – and our brothers and sisters. The Christian Faith is a “here and now” faith to be lived out TODAY in THIS WORLD.

But it also looks ahead – to the goal – to the prize – to the outcome – to the Day that is spelled with a capital D when all things are made new – and every mother welcomes home her children.

In the meantime, here’s what we must do:

live faithfully,
mercifully,
compassionately.
Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And never – never – never – let go of the hope that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

And that one day….