The final resurrection performed by Jesus in the Gospels is found in Luke 7. Jesus has just finished healing the servant of the Centurion in Capernaum. The next day, He travels to a small village nearly 30 miles away called Nein. Nein is a seemingly insignificant town that is only mentioned here in Luke; however, Jesus makes it a point to travel there. It is a 10 hour walk from Capernaum to Nein, and there is a large crowd who is travelling with Jesus. Everything about the led up to this miracles shows that Jesus was very intentional in His mission. He had somewhere to be, and He had something He intended to do when He arrived.

God’s timing is something that we cannot fathom. It works on a higher level of thought then we do; God sees everything, knows everything, and orchestrates everything to work out for good; we, on the other hand, are living our lives day-by-day by faith because we have no idea what is coming next. It is important to understand this, because Jesus’ arrival in Nein’s can only be considered divine timing. Jesus arrives at the gates of Nein right as a funeral procession is exiting the city. Jewish people never keep a body overnight, thus, while Jesus was travelling, someone died; not just a someone but the only son of a widow. This is the quintessential picture of the worst case scenario. In the Jewish culture, if a woman had no husband or any sons, she was pretty much destined for abject poverty. This is the situation that meets Jesus when He arrives at Nein.

Jesus takes one look at the situation and immediately acts. He tells the woman, “Don’t cry!†Jesus speaks into the situation with authority; He speaks directly to the issue. He is seeing death, and His command is “Stop!†However, the people of Nein don’t know who He is. There is no faith involved in this miracle. Jesus is intervening. That is what is happening. As the procession continues to move, Jesus walks to the stretcher and stops it by touching it. Jesus is a rule-breaker. He is not supposed to touch a dead body; it would defile Him; but Jesus is not afraid of touching death. He stops the death, commands the boy to rise (which the boy does), and then Jesus PICKS UP THE BOY and hands him back to his mother.

How many times do we find ourselves in the midst of the worst case scenario? Everything in our world has spiraled out of our control—whether by our own actions (which is the most likely scenario) or by outward circumstances? We wonder where God is. We wonder if He knows or understands what is happening to us. We want to know if He even cares. But, in the midst of all of this, Jesus is already on His way. He knew before we did that things were about to go bad. He has the answer long before there was a problem. He is coming to get down and dirty in our sin, to resurrect us, and to bring us out. He meets us on the road; we are carrying our death; He is bringing the life; and He stops us! He touches our death, brings life, and lifts us up out of it. He was on the way. He will always be on the way.