Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 7:13
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
13. when the Lord saw her ] “The Lord” is far more frequent as a title of Jesus in St Luke (Luk 7:31, Luk 10:1, Luk 11:1, Luk 12:42, Luk 17:5-6, Luk 19:8, Luk 22:61) than in the other Evangelists except St John. The fact is a sign of the spread of Christian faith. Even though St Luke’s Gospel may not have been published more than a year or two after St Matthew’s, yet St Luke belongs so to speak to a later generation of disciples.
he had compassion on her ] Jesus, who was always touched by the sight of human agony (Mar 7:34; Mar 8:12), seems to have felt a peculiar compassion for the anguish of bereavement (Joh 11:33-37). The fact that this youth was “the only son of his mother and she a widow” would convey to Jewish notions a deeper sorrow than it even does to ours, for they regarded childlessness as a special calamity, and the loss of offspring as a direct punishment for sin (Jer 6:26; Zec 12:10; Amo 8:10).
weep not ] Rather, Be not weeping, i.e. ‘dry thy tears.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
13. the Lord“Thissublime appellation is more usual with Luke and John than Matthew;Mark holds the mean” [BENGEL].
saw her, he had compassion,&c.What consolation to thousands of the bereaved has thissingle verse carried from age to age!
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her,…. Knowing her case, that she was a widow, and had lost her only son:
and said unto her, weep not; signifying, that he would help her, which he did without being asked to do it, as usual in other cases.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Lord saw her ( ). The Lord of Life confronts death (Plummer) and Luke may use here purposely.
Had compassion (). First aorist (ingressive) passive indicative of . Often love and pity are mentioned as the motives for Christ’s miracles (Matt 14:14; Matt 15:32, etc.). It is confined to the Synoptics in the N.T. and about Christ save in the parables by Christ.
Weep not ( ). Present imperative in a prohibition. Cease weeping.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The Lord. See on Mt 21:3.
Saw her. Edersheim says, “Had it been in Judaea, the hired mourners and musicians would have preceded the bier; in Galilee they followed. First came the women; for, as an ancient Jewish commentary explains, woman, who brought death into our world, ought to lead the way in the funeral procession” (” Jewish Social Life “).
Had compassion [] . From splagcna, the nobler entrails, regarded as the seat of the affections. See on pitiful, 1Pe 3:8.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And when the Lord saw her,” (kai idon auten) “And upon beholding her,” and her broken-hearted condition, as she made her way to the burial of her only son.
2) “He had compassion on her,” (ho kurios esplagchnisthe epi aute) “The Lord felt compassion upon her,” as He was often “moved with compassion,” caring for the sufferings of men, Mat 9:36. Jesus’ own mother is believed to have also been a widow at this time.
3) “And said unto her, Weep not.” (kai eipen aute me klaie) “And said unto her, Do not weep,” or stop weeping, Luk 8:52; though He Himself wept at Lazarus’ tomb, Joh 11:35; being tempted or tested as we are, Heb 4:15. How much weeping Jesus has interrupted and stopped in this world by His compassionate words of assurance, Joh 14:1-6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(13) And when the Lord saw her.The words are noticeable as being one of the comparatively few instances in which the term the Lord is used absolutely instead of Jesus. As far as it goes it confirms the view suggested in the previous Note, that the narrative came from those who had a profound reverence for the Master they had followed, and at a time when they had learnt thus to speak of Him. (Comp. the language of Mary Magdalene in Joh. 20:2; Joh. 20:13.) It may be noted further that this use of the Lord occurs more frequently in St. Luke and St. John than in the other Gospels. Comp. Luk. 7:31; Luk. 10:1; Luk. 11:39; Luk. 12:42; Luk. 17:5-6; Luk. 19:8; Luk. 22:61; Joh. 4:1; Joh. 6:23; Joh. 20:18; Joh. 20:20; Joh. 20:25; Joh. 21:7; Joh. 21:12. The last three or four references show that the disciples habitually used the same mode of speech, but it would not follow that in their lips it necessarily meant more at first than our Sir, or Master. After the Resurrection, doubtless, it rose to its higher meaning, as in the exclamations of St. Thomas (Joh. 20:28; comp. Joh. 20:25), and of St. John (Joh. 21:7).
He had compassion.Note, in this instance, as in so many others (e.g., Mat. 20:34; Mar. 1:41), how our Lords works of wonder spring not from a distinct purpose to offer credentials of His mission, but from the outflow of His infinite sympathy with human suffering.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Compassion on her ”Here was no solicitor,” says Bishop Hall, “but his own compassion. The centurion came to him for a servant, the ruler for a son, Jairus for a daughter, the neighbours for a paralytic; here he seeks up the patient, and offers the cure unrequested. While we have to do with the Father of mercies, our afflictions are the most powerful suitors.” Compassion for her is the suggesting motive, but doubtless other reasons favoured the result. There was a temper of faith and tenderness in both his followers and the funeral assembly, that stood in perfect contrast to the faithlessness of the Nazarenes, from whose hands he had so lately walked forth, rejected and rejecting.
Weep not The large attendance came to weep with her; this stranger met them to arrest her tears. They came to deposit her son in the tomb; he came to give him back to life. Like John, in Rev 5:5, she was bidden to weep not, because the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed to unseal the enclosures of death.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Do not cry.” ’
We are not told of any request made to Jesus. Perhaps all thought that there was nothing that He could do. But Jesus of His own volition went forward to help her because He was filled with compassion at her need. Here was One Who did not look lightly on the sufferings of His people. And gently He said to her, ‘Do not cry.’ We are reminded of His earlier words, ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh’ (Luk 6:21). Soon the widow’s laughter will reach up to God.
‘When the Lord saw her.’ The use of ‘the Lord’ is not accidental. Here was the One Who was in control of the situation, the Lord of life. Compare Luk 2:11 (a Saviour Who is Christ the Lord); Luk 5:8 (the holy Lord); Luk 5:12 (the Lord over disease); Luk 5:17 (the Lord of power); Luk 6:5 (the Lord of the Sabbath); Luk 6:46 (the Lord of disciples Who must be obeyed). It speaks of authority and power.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 7:13-15. When the Lord saw her, &c. Jesus, whose tenderness made him susceptible of the strongest impressions from occurrences of this kind, knowing that the mother’s affection was bitter, and the occasion of it real, was greatly moved at the sorrowful scene. Nor was his sympathy vain: he resolved to turn their mourning into joy, by raising the young man from the dead. The opportunity was peculiarly proper, as the multitude of the people attending the corpse entirely prevented all suspicion that the person carried out was not dead; since to manage with success a fraud, in which so many must have been concerned, was absolutely impossible. The miracle therefore being liable to no objection, Jesus came nigh, laid hold on the bier, and uttered the commanding voice, Young man, I say unto thee, arise! Immediately, at his authoritative call, the youth revived, having received life from Jesus, who, instead of shewing him around to the multitude, by a singular exercise of modesty and humanity presented him to his mother; Luk 7:15 to intimate, that in compassion to her affliction he had wrought the life-giving miracle. At the same time, as it was performed near the city gate, which anciently was the place of public resort, the youth must have been raised from the dead in the presence of many witnesses, particularly the multitude which came with Jesus, the people who accompanied the corpse, and all who happened at that instant to be in the gate upon business: wherefore, being so publicly performed, this great miracle became a noble confirmation of our Lord’s mission. “The ancients,” says Grotius, “observe, that in three of the miracles performed by Jesus after his sermon on the mount, the three kinds of God’s benefits are represented us: First, Those which are conferred upon our suing to God for them ourselves, as in the case of the leper. Secondly, Those which are obtained for us by the prayers of others, as in the case of the centurion’s servant. And, thirdly, Those which God bestows without being asked, as in the present case. To which kind of mercy the apostles very justly refer the calling of the Gentiles.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 7:13-15 . The sympathy with the mother was in itself sufficiently well founded, even without the need of any special (perhaps direct) acquaintance with her circumstances.
] “Consolatio ante opus ostendit operis certo futuri potestatem,” Bengel.
The coffin ( ) was an uncovered chest. See Wetstein in loc .; Harmar, Beob . II. p. 141.
The mere touch without a word caused the bearers to stand still. A trait of the marvellous.
, .] The preceding touch had influenced the bearers .
] He sat upright . Comp. Act 9:40 ; Xen. Cyr . v. 19; Plat. Phaed . p. 60 B: , and thereon Stallbaum.
] Comp. Luk 9:42 . His work had now been done on him.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Ver. 13. He had compassion on her ] Of his own free accord, and unrequested, he raised him. Christ had a most tender heart. How shall he not pity and provide for his praying people?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 7:13 . , the Lord, first time this title has been used for Jesus in the narrative. Lk. frequently introduces it where the other synoptists have “Jesus”. The heavenly Christ, Lord of the Church, is in his mind, and perhaps he employs the title here because it is a case of raising from the dead. The “Lord” is Himself the risen One. : express mention of sympathy, pity, as the motive of the miracle. Cf. Mar 1:41 . , cease weeping, a hint of what was coming, but of course not understood by the widow.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luke
JESUS AT THE BIER
Luk 7:13 – Luk 7:15
We owe our knowledge of this incident to Luke only. He is the Evangelist who specially delights in recording the gracious relations of our Lord with women, and he is also the Evangelist who delights in telling us of unasked miracles which Christ performed. Both of these characteristics unite in this story, and it may have been these, rather than the fact of its being a narrative of a resurrection, that found for it a place in this Gospel.
Be that as it may, it is obvious to remark that this miracle was not wrought with any intention of establishing Christ’s claims thereby. Its motive was simply pity; its purpose was merely to comfort a desolate woman whose hope and love and defence were lying stretched on her boy’s bier. Was that a sufficient reason for a miracle? People tell us that a test of a spurious miracle is that it is done without any adequate purpose to be served. Jesus Christ thought that to comfort one poor, sorrowful heart was reason enough for putting His hand out, and dragging the prey from the very jaws of death, so loftily did He think of human sorrow and of the comforting thereof.
Now I think we unduly limit the meaning of our Lord’s miracles when we regard them as specially intended to authenticate His claims. They are not merely the evidences of revelation; they are themselves a large part of revelation. My purpose in this sermon is to look at this incident from that one point of view, and to try to set clearly before our minds what it shows us of the character and work of Jesus Christ. And there are three things on which I desire to touch briefly. We have Him here revealed to us as the compassionate Drier of all tears; the life-giving Antagonist of death; and as the Re-uniter of parted hearts.
Note, then, these three things.
I. First of all, look at that wonderful revelation that lies here of Jesus Christ as the compassionate Drier of all tears.
And just because the manhood was perfect and sinless, therefore the sympathy of Christ was deeper than any human sympathy, howsoever tender it may be; for what unfits us to feel compassion is our absorption with ourselves. That makes our hearts hard and insensitive, and is the true, ‘witches’ mark’-to recur to the old fable-the spot where no external pressure can produce sensation. The ossified heart of the selfish man is closed against divine compassion. Since Jesus Christ forgot Himself in pitying men, and Himself ‘took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses,’ He must have been what none of us are-free from all taint of selfishness, and from all insensibility born of sin.
But there is another step to be taken. That pitying Christ, on the rocky road outside the little Galilean village, feeling all the pain and sorrow of the lonely mother-that is God! ‘Lo! this is our God; and we have waited for Him.’ Ay! waited through all the uncompassionating centuries, waited in the presence of the false gods, waited whilst men have been talking about an impassive Deity careless in the heavens, over whose serene blessedness no shadow can ever pass. This is our God. No impassive monster that no man can love or care for, but a God with a heart, a God that can pity, a God who, wonderful as it is, can and does enter, in the humanity of Jesus Christ, into a fellow-feeling of our infirmities.
If Jesus Christ in His pity was only a perfect and lovely example of unselfish sympathy such as man can exercise, what in the name of common-sense does it matter to me how much, or how tenderly, He pitied those past generations? The showers and the sunshine of this summer will do as much good to the springing corn in the fields to-day as the pity of a dead, human Christ will do for you and me. In our weaknesses, in our sorrows great and small, in our troubles and annoyances, you and I need, dear brethren, a living Jesus to pity us, there in the heavens, just as He pitied that poor woman outside the gate of Nain. Blessed be God!, we have Him. The human Christ is the manifestation of the Divine, and as we listen to the Evangelist that says, ‘When He saw her He had compassion upon her,’ we bow our heads and feel that the old psalmist spoke a truth when He said, ‘His compassions fail not,’ and that the old prophet spoke a truth, the depth of which his experience did not enable him to fathom, when he said that ‘in all their afflictions He was afflicted.’
Then, note that the pitying Christ dries the tears before He raises the dead. That is beautiful, I think. ‘Weep not,’ He says to the woman-a kind of a prophecy that He is going to take away the occasion for weeping; and so He calls lovingly upon her for some movement of hope and confidence towards Himself. With what an ineffable sweetness of cadence in His sympathetic voice these words would be spoken! How often, kindly and vainly, men say to one another, ‘Weep not,’ when they are utterly powerless to take away or in the smallest degree to diminish the occasion for weeping! And how often, unkindly, in mistaken endeavour to bring about resignation and submission, do well-meaning and erring good people say to mourners in the passion of their sorrow, ‘Weep not!’ Jesus Christ never dammed back tears when tears were wholesome, and would bring blessing. And Jesus Christ never said, ‘Dry your tears,’ without stretching out His own hand to do it.
How does He do it? First of all by the assurance of His sympathy. Ah! in that word there came a message to the lonely heart, as there comes a message, dear brethren, to any man or woman among us now who may be fighting with griefs and cares or sorrows, great or small-the assurance that Jesus Christ knows all about your pain and will help you to bear it if you will let Him. The sweet consciousness of Christ’s sympathy is the true antidote to excessive grief.
And He dries the tears, not only by the assurance of His sympathy, but by encouraging expectation and hope. When He said, ‘Weep not,’ He was pledging Himself to do what was needed in order to stay the flow of weeping. And He would encourage us, in the midst of our cares and sorrows and loneliness, not indeed to suppress the natural emotion of sorrow, nor to try after a fantastic and unreal suppression of its wholesome signs, but to weep as though we wept not, because beyond the darkness and the dreariness we see the glimmering of the eternal day. He encourages expectation as the antagonist of sorrow, for the curse of sorrow is that it is ever looking backwards, and the true attitude for all men who have an immortal Christ to trust, and an immortality for themselves to claim, is that not ‘backward’ should their ‘glances be, but forward to their Father’s home.’ These are the thoughts that dry our tears, the assurance of the sympathy of Christ, and the joyous expectation of a great good to be ours, where beyond those voices there is peace.
Brother! it may be with all of us-for all of us carry some burden of sorrow or care-as it is with the hedgerows and wet ploughed fields to-day; on every spray hangs a raindrop, and in every raindrop gleams a reflected sun. And so all our tears and sorrows may flash into beauty, and sparkle into rainbowed light if the smile of His face falls upon us.
And then, still further, this pitying Christ is moved by His pity to bring unasked gifts. No petition, no expectation, not the least trace of faith or hope drew from Him this mighty miracle. It came welling up from His own heart. And therein it is of a piece with all His work. For the divine love of which Christ is the Bearer, the Agent, and the Channel for us men, ‘tarries not for men, nor waiteth for the sons of men,’ but before we ask, delights to bestow itself, and gives that which no man ever sought, even the miracles of the Incarnation and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ our Lord. If heaven had waited until men’s prayers had forced its gates ere it sent forth its greatest gift, it had waited for ever, and all mankind had perished. God’s love flows out of its own expansive and diffusive nature. Its necessity is to impart itself, and its nature and property is to give. A measureless desire to bestow itself, and in itself all good, is the definition of the love of God. And Christ comes ‘to the unthankful and to the evil,’ bringing a gift which none of us have asked, and giving as much of Himself as He can give, undesired, to every heart, that thereby we may be led to desire these better gifts which cannot be bestowed unless we seek them.
So here we have the compassion of the human Christ, which is the divine compassion, drying all tears and giving unasked blessings.
II. Note, secondly, the further revelation of our Lord here as being the life-giving Antagonist of Death.
And then note, still further, we have Christ here as the Life-giver. ‘Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!’ Christ took various methods of imparting His miraculous power. These methods varied, as it would appear, according to the religious necessities of the subjects or beholders of the miracle. Sometimes He touched, sometimes He employed still more material vehicles, such as the clay with which He moistened the eyes of the blind man, and the spittle with which He touched the ears of the deaf. But all these various methods were but helps to feeble faith, and in the case of all the raisings from the dead it is the voice alone that is employed.
So, then, what is the meaning of that majestic ‘I say unto thee, Arise’? He claims to work by His own power. Unless Jesus Christ wielded divine authority in a fashion in which no mere human representative and messenger of God ever has wielded it, for Him to stand by that bier and utter, ‘I say unto thee, Arise!’ was neither more nor less than blasphemy. And yet the word had force. He assumed to act by His own power, and the event showed that He assumed not too much. ‘The Son quickeneth whom He will.’
Further, He acts by His bare word. So He did on many other occasions-rebuking the fever and it departs, speaking to the wind and it ceases, calling to the dead and they come forth. And who is He, the bare utterance of whose will is supreme, and has power over material things? Let that centurion whose creed is given to us in the earlier portion of this chapter answer the question. ‘I say to my servant, Go! and he goeth; Come! and he cometh; Do this! and he doeth it. Speak Thou, and all the embattled forces of the universe will obey Thine autocratic and sovereign behest,’ they ‘hearken to His commandments, and do the voice of His word.’
Then note, still further, that this voice of Christ’s has power in the regions of the dead. Wherever that young man was, he heard; in whatsoever state or condition he was, his personality felt and obeyed the magnetic force of Christ’s will. The fact that the Lord spake and the boy heard, disposes, if it be true, of much error, and clears away much darkness. Then the separation of body and soul is a separation and not a destruction. Then consciousness is not a function of the brain, as they tell us. Then man lives wholly after he is dead. Then it is possible for the spirit to come out of some dim region, where we know not, in what condition we know not. Only this we know-that, wherever it is, Christ’s will has authority there; and there, too, is obedience to His commandment.
And so let me remind you that this Voice is not only revealing as to Christ’s authority and power, and illuminative as to the condition of the disembodied dead, but it is also prophetic as to the future. It tells us that there is nothing impossible or unnatural in that great assurance. ‘The hour is coming when they that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.’ There shall be for the dead a reunion with a body, which will bring men again into connection with an external universe, and be the precursor of a fuller judgment and an intenser retribution.
Brethren, that Voice that raised one poor bewildered boy to sit up on his bier, and begin to speak-broken exclamations possibly, and stammering words of astonishment-shall be flung, like a trumpet that scatters marvellous sounds, through the sepulchres of the nations and compel all to stand before the throne. You and I will hear it; let us be ready for it.
III. So, lastly, we have here the revelation of our Lord as the Reuniter of parted hearts.
May we not go a step further? May we not say, If Jesus Christ was so mindful of the needs of a sorrowful solitary soul here upon earth, will He be less mindful of the enduring needs of loving hearts yonder in the heavens? If He raised this boy from the dead that his mother’s arms might twine round him again, and his mother’s heart be comforted, will He not in that great Resurrection give back dear ones to empty, outstretched arms, and thereby quiet hungry hearts? It is impossible to suppose that, continuing ourselves, we should be deprived of our loves. These are too deeply engrained and enwrought into the very texture of our being for that to be possible. And it is as impossible that, in the great day and blessed world where all lost treasures are found, hearts that have been sad and solitary here for many a day shall not clasp again the souls of their souls-’and with God be the rest.’
So, though we know very little, surely we may take the comfort of such a thought as this, which should be very blessed and sweet to some of us, and with some assurance of hope may feel that the risen boy at the gate of Nain was not the last lost one whom Christ, with a smile, will deliver to the hearts that mourn for them, and there we ‘shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over-measure for ever.’ ‘And so shall we’-they and I, for that is what we means-’ so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
the Lord. This Divine title more frequent in Luke than in any of the other Gospels. See verses: Luk 7:19, Luk 7:31, Luk 7:1; Luk 11:1; Luk 12:42; Luk 17:5, Luk 17:6; Luk 19:8; Luk 19:22. a1. App-98. A.
saw. Greek eidon. App-133.:1. Not the same word as in Luk 7:24.
compassion. See on Luk 7:11 the reason for the selection of this miracle, here.
on. Greek. epi. App-104.
not. Greek. me. App-105.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 7:13. , the Lord) This sublime appellation was better known and more used when Luke and John wrote, than when Matthew wrote. Mark holds a midway place. This head of the faith needed to be taught and established in the beginning: then afterwards it might be taken for granted.-, the bowels of His compassion were moved) And so for the consolation of the mother, the young man must return to this life.- , weep not) His thus administering consolation before the performance of the miracle, shows His power of surely performing it. It is His frequent preface elsewhere, Fear not. Among men [on the part of men] there is always something which the approach of God has to remove out of the way at the beginning.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
he: Jdg 10:16, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Psa 103:13, Isa 63:9, Jer 31:20, Lam 3:32, Lam 3:33, Mar 8:2, Joh 11:33-35, Heb 2:17, Heb 4:15
Weep not: Luk 8:52, Jer 31:15, Jer 31:16, Joh 20:13, Joh 20:15, 1Co 7:30, 1Th 4:13
Reciprocal: Ecc 7:4 – heart Isa 47:9 – these two Amo 8:10 – as the Mat 14:14 – and was Mat 15:32 – Jesus Mat 20:34 – Jesus Mar 1:41 – moved Mar 9:22 – have Luk 10:33 – he had Joh 11:21 – if Act 20:10 – Trouble Rev 5:5 – Weep
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WEEP NOT!
And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Luk 7:13
The poor widow of Nain had lost her only son; and, surely, as she followed his bier, the most stoical could not have rebuked her for weeping. Nature, with its poor dumb wounds, large and bleeding, said, with resistless voice, Weep. And yet Jesus says, Weep not! Is Jesus, then, at strife with nature? Christ is not at strife with nature, but introduces another, and often opposing, force which produces a profitable and blessed resultant. Nature would say. Weep and weep and weep; Jesus says, Weep and hope and rejoice. Weep not!
I. The bitter tears of remorse.To many we can yet give still happier advice: Do not now by disobedience, or hardness, or vice, or mere thoughtlessness, fill the bitter springs which will overflow in future years, and make your life a sour and joyless swamp in room of a fruitful garden. Doom not yourselves to call down into unresponsive graves, I repent of all I did and said. But even to the prodigal with no earthly father or mother to hear his confession, to the man who has wasted his life and with no earthly future, to the man whose life and words have poisoned the very air and killed many a tender plant of virtue and religion, Christ says, Weep tears of repentance and not of remorse. Oh, it is a ravelled weft, said such a man in reviewing his life. None but Christ can disentangle it and still make it part of a garment for thee, if not of beauty, yet not of shame. The blood of Jesus Christ, Gods Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
II. The rebellious tears of ingratitude.How many in weeping forget all the goodness of the past, and make of their former blessings the very furnace which pours forth their burning iron tears! A sorrows crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. But surely this is base ingratitude. Is it true, then, that all the garnered memories and blessings of the past only serve to make the winter which has come upon you more terrible and resourceless? Look up and see the Brother born for adversity by your side. He at least lives; and if you will have closer communion with Him henceforth than in the past, your tears will lose their hardness and be akin to joy.
III. The inconsolable tears of hopelessness.Weep not as they that have no hope. Your sea of grief is not shoreless. Your bark is not helmless. He Who led His people of old through fire and water, and brought them to a wealthy place, is leading you onwards. The very waves of your trouble are rolling towards the unseen blessed shore, and wafting you to the desired haven. No affliction is for the present joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterwards it worketh the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. The draught may be bitter, but it has healing in it. The cup which My Father giveth Me to drink, shall I not drink it?
IV. The luxurious tears of selfishness.You are not to let your tears, like a sea, cut off your helpfulness and sympathies from the rest of the world while you sit in the luxurious islet of self-pity.
Illustration
Thus spake He,Weep no more!
Be still, sad heart! Be dry, ye moistened eyes!
Thus to the living I the dead restore.
Sleeper, awake, arise!
Then at His bidding came
To those cold lips the warm, returning breath;
Then did He kindle lifes extinguished flame,
Victor oer Sin and Death.
And thus He ever stands
Friend of the fallen, wiping all tears away;
Wherever Sorrow lifts her suppliant hands,
And Faith remains to pray.
Whereer the wretched flee,
From the rude conflict of this world distrest,
Consoling words He whispersCome to Me,
And I will give you rest!
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3
Compassion means pity, and Jesus felt that way toward this sorrowing mother. (See Isa 53:4.) In his sympathy for her he bade her cease weeping.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 7:13. And when the Lord saw her. The title Lord is peculiarly fitting here. Luke uses it more frequently than Matthew and Mark.
Weep not. The first sign of compassion; and a token of coming help. Doubtless His words awakened faiththe same words, though not now followed by such a miracle, are ever applicable, for our Lord, by His death and resurrection, has become the Resurrection and the Life in the highest sense, always affording to His people a ground for the command, weep not, of which this miracle was only a sign.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 7:13-15. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, &c. Jesus, whose tenderness made him susceptible of the strongest impressions from occurrences of this kind, knowing that the mothers affliction was bitter, and the occasion of it real, was greatly moved with compassion at the sorrowful scene. Here was no application made to him for her, not so much as that he would speak some words of comfort to her; but, ex mero motu, purely from the goodness of his nature he was troubled for her, and said unto her, Weep not. Observe, reader, Christ has a concern for mourners, for the miserable, and often prevents them with the blessings of his goodness. He undertook the work of our redemption and salvation in his love and in his pity, Isa 63:9. What a pleasing idea doth this give us of the compassion of the Lord Jesus, and the multitude of his tender mercies, which may be very encouraging to us, when at any time we are in sorrow! Let poor widows comfort themselves in their sorrows with this, that Christ pities them, and knows their souls in adversity; and, if others despise their grief, he does not. Christ said, Weep not; and he could give her a reason for it, which no one else could; weep not for a dead son, for he shall presently become a living one. This was a reason peculiar to her case; yet there is a reason, common to all that sleep in Jesus, (which is of equal force against inordinate and excessive grief for their death,) that they shall rise again, shall rise in glory, and therefore we must not sorrow as those that have no hope, 1Th 4:13. Let Rachel, that weeps for her children, refrain her eyes from tears; for there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border, Jer 31:17. And let our passion at such a time be checked and calmed by the consideration of Christs compassion. And he came and touched the bier Which he could do without contracting pollution. The people of the East bury their dead without coffins, but they carry them to the grave on a bier that is shaped like one. By touching this, Jesus intimated to the bearers that they should not proceed. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise And no sooner had he uttered this command than he that was dead sat up Without any human help, having received life from Jesus, which was thus evinced, as it was also by his beginning to speak. Thus, when Christ communicates spiritual life to a person who had been dead in trespasses and sins, he instantly arises out of the state of insensibility, darkness, and death, in which he had lain, and his lips are opened in prayer and praise. And he delivered him to his mother Christ did not oblige this young man, to whom he had given a new life, to go along and continue with him, as his disciple to minister to him, though he owed him much, even his own self; much less as a trophy of his dominion over death, to get honour by him; but presented him to his mother, to attend her, as became a dutiful son, showing hereby, that it was in compassion of her affliction he had wrought the life-giving miracle. Indeed, all Christs miracles were miracles of mercy; and a great act of mercy this was to this widow. Now she was comforted according to the time in which she had been afflicted, and much more; for she could now look upon this son as a particular favourite of Heaven, with more pleasure than if he had not died. And as this miracle was an illustrious display of our Lords compassion for a person in distress, so it was a striking confirmation of his divine mission; this youth being raised from the dead near the gate of the city, a place of public resort, and in the presence of many witnesses, particularly the multitude which came with Jesus, the people who accompanied the corpse, and all who happened in that instant to be in or passing through the gate upon business.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vers. 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: Luk 10:1, Luk 11:39, Luk 12:42, Luk 13:15, Luk 17:5-6, Luk 18:6, Luk 22:31; Luk 22:61 (Bleek).
The whole circumstances enumerated Luk 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 (), 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 : 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, Luk 7:13.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
This is Luke’s first narrative use of the term "the Lord" for Jesus (cf. Luk 7:19; Luk 10:1; Luk 10:39; Luk 10:41; Luk 11:39; Luk 12:42; Luk 13:15; Luk 17:5-6; Luk 18:6; Luk 19:8; Luk 22:61; Luk 24:3; Luk 24:34). It anticipates the title the early Christians gave Him (e.g., Act 2:36), and in this story it anticipates the remarkable demonstration of His sovereignty that followed.
Luke noted Jesus’ compassion for the woman, one of his characteristic emphases. The Lord’s words expressed His compassion, but they proved to be far from merely hollow words of encouragement. He would shortly give her reason not to weep but to rejoice.