Luke 7:13-15

The Miracle.

The expression: the Lord, is seldom met with in our Gospels except in Luke, and principally in the passages which are peculiar to him: Luke 10:1; Luke 11:39; Luke 12:42; Luke 13:15; Luke 17:5-6; Luke 18:6; Luke 22:31; Luke 22:61 (Bleek).

The whole circumstances enumerated Luke 7:12: an only son, a widowed mother, and the public sympathy, enable us to understand what it was that acted with such power upon the heart of Jesus. It seems that He could not resist the silent appeal presented by this combination of circumstances. His heart is completely subdued by the sobs of the mother. Hence the word, at once tender and authoritative: Weep not. Prudence perhaps would have dictated that He should not work such a striking miracle at this time. But when pity speaks so loud (ἐσπλαγχνίσθη), there is no longer any room for prudence. Besides, He feels Himself authorized to comfort. For in this very meeting He recognises the will of His Father.

Among the Jews the bier was not covered; it was a simple plank, with a somewhat raised edge. The body, wrapped in its shroud, was therefore visible to all. Jesus lays His hand on the bier, as if to arrest this fugitive from life. The bearers, struck by the majesty of this gesture, which was at once natural and symbolical, stopped. There is a matchless grandeur in this σοὶ λέγω : “ I say to thee,...to thee who seemest no longer able to hear the voice of the living...” There is absolutely nothing in the text to justify the sarcasm of Keim: “Faith in a force which penetrates to the dead, even through the wood of the bier, evidently belongs to the evangelist, but it is not ours.” The resurrection is in no way attributed to the touching of the bier, but to the command of Jesus.

The interruption of the connection between the soul and the body in death, as in sleep, is only relative; and as man's voice suffices to re-establish this connection in any one who is wrapt in slumber, so the word of the Lord has power to restore this interrupted connection even in the dead. The advocates of the natural interpretation have maintained that the young man was only in a lethargic sleep. But if this were so, the miracle of power would only disappear to be replaced by a miracle of knowledge quite as incomprehensible. How could Jesus know that this apparently dead man was still living, and that the moment of his awaking was imminent?

As soon as the soul returned to animate the body, motion and speech indicated its presence. Jesus certainly has acquired a right over the resuscitated man; He asserts this right, but simply to enjoy the happiness of restoring to the afflicted mother the treasure which He has rescued from death. The expression: He gave him to his mother, corresponds to this: He was moved with compassion, Luke 7:13.