"Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. 'Don’t cry!' he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. 'Young man,' he said, 'I tell you, get up.'  Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother" (Lk 7:11-17).

I have already done a thought for the day on these verses; yet coming to it again I felt there are certain things here that would bear repeating. It should also be noted that this story is sandwiched between the faith of the Roman officer and the doubting of John the Baptist. I had not noticed that before. And in this beautiful story there is no mention of faith at all! Jesus acts purely out of the overflow of his heart: loving kindness, tender mercy and deep compassion. He longs to dry the eyes of those who weep over the loss of a loved-one.

Although not indicated or alluded to here, death made Jesus angry. We know this from the raising of Lazarus. We also know why he came. "Since the children [his spiritual brothers and sisters] … are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the devil, who has the power over death, and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death" (Hb 3:14-15).

There is no pleading for mercy in this story; no expectation on the mother's part. Jesus took the initiative. He commanded her son's soul to return to his body. He raised him from the dead. What he did for her was totally unexpected. Jesus reigns over the spirit world. All unseen authorities and powers were created by him to serve him. He proved to the large crowd that were following him that not only did the wind and the waves obey him but death itself had to yield its captives to him.

And there was no appeal or demand made at the end; to the mother or to her son. Jesus simply blessed them in an awesome way and moved on. He left them to work out their own future response. Timing, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, are very important when it comes to "drawing in the net" regarding evangelism. We can do more harm than good by forcing the issue.