There is a statement in Mark 4:11-12 seems to suggest that Jesus told parables with the deliberate intention of making his teaching obscure to those who were not already his disciples, so that echoing the word's of Isaiah, " they may indeed see but not perceive and may indeed hear but not understand; less they should turn again, and be forgiven'. such an idea is so contrary to all we know of Jesus that some explanation seems to be required. Many suggestions have been put forward, of which I mention two: According to C.H. Dodd (and a number of others who follow his views), this is not a genuine saying of Jesus. It was inserted by the early church to explain why the Jews had rejected Jesus. It was they said, a part of a providential wisdom of God himself, who had always intended this to happen. There are, however, two arguments against this view.
First, it was probably only the Kingdom is here, that describes the coming blessings of the Messianic age. But Jesus pictures of it make it clear that not everyone will gain admission. Indeed, the parable of the great supper suggests that the over religious will have no place in it at all. Those who share in its blessings will come in from the streets rather than from the sanctuaries. In Matthew's Gospel great emphasis is laid on the responsibilities that all this places on those who profess to be God's people.
Since no one knows the hour or day when this will take place, we must be in a state of-constant readiness, like the bridesmaids who waited for the bridegroom to arrive at the weddings.
This element in Jesus teaching transcends the sharp distinction we like to draw between what will happen in the future and what is already present. Because Jesus has come. God's new society has already arrived. Those who are willing to accept God's authority are even now a part of the kingdom.
What ever else may be revealed in the future will be, not so much a new beginning, as the final working out of all the implications of something that, in essence, is already here. Though God's new society had small and insignificant beginnings. It is the kind of beginning that must inevitably produce spectacular growth. But, development is like that of a mustard tree, " The smallest seed in the world' which grows up into one of the biggest plants of all. As I read the Gospels, I see this same truth lived out time and again. There is passage after passage showing Jesus as he goes to people trapped in desperate situations. Whether it is a sinful women at Jacob's well; a blind man at the Temple; a poor beggar in Jericho; or a rich man in a tree. We are given the privilege of watching as Jesus moves in power for people who are trapped in hopeless and helpless situations. Lets look at one of those situations in a scene from a tiny hamlet called Nain. We look in to watch Jesus do the impossible and the incredible one more time.
We look at this passage, thinking on the simple thought. "He came to me." I want to show you what Jesus can do, when he comes into your impossible situation. Let see what He can do for every soul that will trust him by faith. When Jesus came to Nain, it was a time of death. He did not arrive at a joyous moment. He arrived during a time of great mourning. The name "Nain" literally means "Beauty."
But, there was no beauty in Nain that day. Death had invaded the little town of Nain.
We are told the victim is a young man. That he is "the only son of his mother, and we are told he is dead! A great crowd of mourners are making their way through the gates of the city, to a little cemetery, where he is to buried.
As was the custom in that day, the people of the city had stopped what they were doing and had joined the funeral procession as it made its way through town. The Mother would have been in front of the open coffin, which contained the body of her son. Behind them would have been those who were mourning the boy's death. These people would be wailing, crying and chanting phrases of grief and mourning. some may have been friends and relatives; others may have been paid to come and help mourn the death of the boy. Those bringing up the rear would have been the town's folk who followed out of respect for the dead.
Here is a young man whose life had been filled with great potential. He might have had hopes of marriage, and of fathering children, but now he is dead. But, death has been part of the human experience ever since man sinned against "God in the Garden of Eden" Ever since Adam chose to go his way instead of "God's way," death has stalked and claimed life after life. This was the warning of God to Adam, Gen 2:17. and, this was the experience of Adam, Gen 5:5. It has been, and it continues to be the experience of every human that has ever lived, with the exception of Elijah and Enoch. Death and its pain, is part and parcel of the human experience Heb.9:27). What had happen at Nain is what has been happening to the human species since the dawn time. Death has come. And just as death has come for others, one day it will come for you and me. I think there is more than just physical death. I think this boy, in his physical death, is a picture of what spiritual death is all about. I call your attention back to Gen. 2;17. In that verse, God told Adam that the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, would be the day he died. Well he didn't die that day physically, For he lived hundreds of more years. But, spiritually, he died the day he ate the fruit Is that what you read in this verse? You see the Bible tells us in Roman Romans 6:23 that" the wages of sin is death." The verse speaks of the body, but it refers to the eternal destiny of the lost soul in .Hell! Death of the body is one thing, but separated from the presence of God, Spiritually, is more tragic That is the end of the person who lives their life without God dies lost. Psa. 9:17; 2 Thes. 1: 8-9-. There is a sense of a person being dead (spiritually) and alive physically.
The young man was there physically, he could not hear the cries of his mother, or the mourning and grieving did not effect him. They were going to place his body in the earth and he neither knew or cared. He was dead to the things of the earth. He was oblivious to life, and was beyond the touch of those who loved him. What a picture of the lost man or women, alive and well (physically).
They go about their lives, but they are dead (spiritually). They cannot see, hear, think, move, speak or feel God. They are dead to God, his word, and oblivious to the life available in God. You will note the wording of the text: There was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. This widow felt the hand of death long ago as it took her husband away. Now, her precious son has been taken away by death as well. She has no one to care for her in her old age. she has nothing to look forward except poverty and despair. She is at the mercy of other peoples kindness. She is trapped in a helpless condition. Just as this dead son is a picture of a lost person . If Jesus is not your Savior, you are in the same condition as the boy. You are trapped in a set of circumstances, that forces you to be powerless to change. Your life is a life in bondage to sin and the whims of the world.
We are not told what the boy said when he was raised from the dead. He sat up and began to speak.
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