Back when I was in college, learning to be a preacher, we were told that “Funeral customs are very local. When you move to a new area, it’s wise to ask the funeral director about customs in that locale.” It was good advice. When we lived in the South, funerals were almost always conducted in the church building; here, many services take place in a funeral home. Some areas of the country leave the casket open during the service, while others close the casket before the service begins.

Today, in metropolitan areas, funerals are often conducted during the evening hours so that more people may attend and “pay their respects” and only family members will attend the next day’s internment. Funeral attire has grown more casual over the years and the National Funeral Directors’ Association reports that 57.5% of people were cremated in 2021, rather than receiving traditional burial. Customs change.

Funerals are one area of life where you might not want to follow Jesus’ example. As author Max Lucado notes in “6 Hours One Friday,” Jesus interrupted every funeral we’re told he attended.

Jesus can’t help himself! A lifeguard can’t stand on shore and watch a drowning. A teacher cares when a student struggles. Good police officers won’t stand idly by while a crime is committed, and the Creator of Life can’t stand death! So when Jesus attends a funeral, He interrupted. When Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter died, Jesus said, “She’s asleep” and restored her to life. When Lazarus had been in his grave for four days, Jesus called him out.

And then there was the time Jesus and his disciples visited the village of Nain. As they approached the town, a funeral procession was coming out, headed for the cemetery.

First Century Jewish funeral customs dictated that the closest living relative lead the procession, so this one was headed by the dead man’s mother. She knows the way to the cemetery; she’s been there before. This woman is a widow, and now she leads the funeral procession of her only son.

It’s no wonder she was weeping. Her house is empty, her heart breaking. Dinner conversations will be one-sided, and she’ll never pull a grandchild onto her lap. Friends may visit and members of her extended family will try to ease her grief, but when she goes to bed at night, her house will sit eerily silent.

In her first century world, she may face economic challenges as well. In the days before Social Security, one’s children’s formed the old-age safety net. Hers is now gone.

Unless her husband left her well off, she must now depend on the generosity of her friends and neighbors.

And while many people at a funeral sincerely say, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” they’re often caught up in the circumstances of their own lives a few weeks later. They may forget.

So Luke 7:13 (NIV) tells us, “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her…”

Jesus has come to help. In fact, Nain is mentioned only one time in the Bible, and that’s in this story. Think about that a little and you’ll likely conclude that Jesus walked the 25 miles from Capernaum just so that He could interrupt this funeral.

“Don’t cry,” Jesus said. Then He touched the bier, and the pall bearers stood still. Not proper funeral etiquette. The Jewish readers of Luke’s gospel would also immediately note that this action rendered Jesus unclean; the Jews avoided unnecessary contact with the dead.

But etiquette and the legalities of clean and unclean aren’t on Jesus’ mind just now; He sees the heart of a grieving mother.

Jesus spoke: “Young man, I say to you, “Get up.” “In 6 Hours One Friday,” Max Lucado describes what happened next: “The living stood motionless as the dead came to life. Wooden fingers moved. Gray-pale cheeks blushed. The dead man sat up…and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” That’s what Jesus came to Nain to do. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “Brothers, we do not want you to….grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.”

Those who know Jesus always have hope, even when death comes to call. Jesus hates death even more than we do, so He offers life to all. In John 11:25, Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”

Mark Wilmoth

Pinehurst Christian Church

Marietta