The Lutheran Hour

"Jesus Gave Him Back"

#71-41
Presented on The Lutheran Hour on June 20, 2004
Speaker: Rev. Ken Klaus
Copyright 2025 Lutheran Hour Ministries

Text: Text: Luke 7:15b

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Our God, wishing to show His great love for us, has taken the title, “Father.” On this Father’s Day, we rejoice that our heavenly Lord has sent His Son to live, die, and rise. Because of a risen Lord, our sons and daughters have life eternal.

It’s Father’s Day. On Father’s Day I could start out with the kind of story that the advertising world loves. You know, the kind like that of the Sunday school teacher who told her children about the importance of going to church on Sunday. One of her boys got the point and interrupted his teacher mid-sentence. Enthusiastically, he said: “Teacher, teacher, I never go fishing on Sunday mornings!” “Excellent,” said the instructor, pleased her lesson had penetrated. “Won’t you please tell the other children why you don’t go fishing on Sunday mornings?” The boy replied, “Because my Daddy won’t let me go along!”

It’s Father’s Day. I could tell about the little boy who was given a time-out by his mother for using bad language. When dad came home, mother told hubby about junior’s dirty mouth and ordered him upstairs to administer proper punishment. Dad, outraged at what his son had done, stomped up the stairs, muttering, “I’ll teach that kid about bad language.” On the way up he tripped on a toy, twisted his ankle, shouted out a steady stream of expletives deleted. From the kitchen his wife called out, “Dear, come back down. I think you’ve taught your son enough about bad language.”

It’s Father’s Day. I would like to take you back in time, almost two thousand years ago, to the main road leading out of the small Galilean city of Nain. The city fathers of Nain might have tried to lure people to live in their tiny town by saying Nain was a nice place to reside. After all, the name Nain meant “pleasant” or “delightful.” Indeed, Nain may have been a wonderful location in which to live, but on the day we’ve arrived, you would have had to look hard to see a smile or hear a laugh. I’m getting ahead of myself. Here, have a seat. Let’s just watch for a few minutes. What I want you to see won’t take too long.

Here comes the first group now; laughing, joking, carrying on. Their faces are sore from smiling so much. There at the head, do you see Him? That’s Jesus. He comes from Nazareth, another small town a few miles from here. Yesterday in Capernaum, He performed a miracle; quite a thing, actually. He healed the slave of a centurion–not just an average miracle, either. He didn’t go to the slave; didn’t stand by his bedside; didn’t even go into the house where the man was ailing. Jesus had performed this healing from a distance. That’s the reason this group is following Him. They saw something special yesterday, and hope that they may see more of the same today.

Oh, time to switch directions. There, look over there. Coming out of the city is another group of people. Do you see them? Sad looking, aren’t they. Those are folks I was talking about before. See the lady in the lead? That’s a mother. Well, she was a mother until earlier today. That’s when her son died. He’s being carried on the door-like piece of wood behind his mother. If you look closely, you’ll notice people are taking turns carrying the young man. It’s a custom, it shows honor to the deceased. Behind the young man’s open casket should be the professional mourners. Behind them–we’ll have to wait for them all to come out of the city—is, well, the rest of the city. The funeral of a young person always brings people out. When I was a parish pastor I performed hundreds and hundreds of funerals. The only funeral larger than that of a young person, is that of a policeman or a fireman who dies in the line of duty. Today’s funeral is for a young man. The scars made by a death like his are going to be deep and slow to heal.

Now, I don’t know, but I can guess that not all of the people in the funeral procession have come here for the same reasons. Some of them are there because they knew the young man. In a town the size of Nain, it’s pretty hard not to know everybody. Some are here because they are shocked that a young life has been cut off. And, yes, there are always those who come because they’re curious to see how the mourners are going to behave. Probably some of those folks believe, quite wrongly, that this boy’s demise is a Divine punishment for some sin that he or one of his parents did. They will really feel that today. This mourning mother has also buried her husband. Unless there are some male relatives around to take care of her, she might soon feel that God has deserted her. With no Social Security or insurance to fall back on, she’ll be fending for herself. Of course, she’s not thinking that far into the future. The only thought in her numbed mind is the fact her son who was alive yesterday, is dead today.

Look closely at the two crowds. Compare them. Have you ever seen two more opposite groups of people? Hush now, watch what happens. This is the part I wanted you to see. Jesus is looking ahead at the crowd coming toward Him. I can’t tell if the woman from the other group even sees Him. Jesus has stopped; the crowd following Him has done the same. Normally they would, with respectful silence, move to the side and in silence, let the funeral pass on by. That’s what should happen. But it isn’t, is it? Jesus is speaking to the widow.

It’s always hard to find the right words at such a moment, isn’t it? Most of the time people say things like, “This is God’s will and we must live by it,” or “There is a silver lining inside of every cloud,” or even, “With time, you will find God’s will.” I wonder what Jesus will say? You heard it, didn’t you? Jesus said, “Don’t cry.” The crowd doesn’t especially like that. The crowd knows, even if Jesus doesn’t, that if anyone in this world has a reason to cry, it’s this lady. She’s lost a husband. She’s lost a son. She lost a good part of her future. Let her cry. It’s only natural. It’s only normal. Jesus doesn’t care about what the crowd thinks, and He doesn’t wait for the mom to respond. He doesn’t ask, “What accident, illness, or disease caused this?” He doesn’t ask whether this young man was doing something wrong when he died. Jesus simply steps past the lad’s mother and touches her son’s open casket. Those carrying the body stop. Jesus speaks again, “Young man, I say to you, get up.”

Let’s freeze that scene for a second–I have something I need to say to you. You do realize, don’t you, that what Jesus has just done in stopping this funeral procession would have been just as tactless 2,000 years ago as it would be today? Telling a mourning mother not to cry would have been just as callous and cruel back then as it would be in our own era. There can be no human excuse for such an action. The world knows that death is final. The world knows that when somebody breathes their last, that’s it. There is no hop, there are no more tomorrows. The world knows mourners should be allowed to cry.

That is what the world knows. After all, only God–if there is a God–would have the knowledge, the power to defeat death. Only a kind and gracious God would have the inclination to do so. Only God, who first breathed into humanity the breath of life, who gave us living souls, could take a disjointed body and soul, and reunite them. Only God could do such a thing.

Hold on to that idea, won’t you? Let’s go back. Look at the scene. You remember what Jesus said: “Young man, get up.” Watch! Watch! Watch! The dead boy is sitting up. He is talking. No, I don’t know what he’s saying. Maybe he’s finishing the sentence that was half-uttered when death came. Maybe he’s describing these last hours’ experiences. Yes, I would like to know what he’s saying, and I would like to know his name, and his mother’s name, and why he died, and a hundred other things. But they are unimportant to what we’re seeing – a dead boy is alive.

Remember, “Only God could bring the dead back to life.” Jesus has just done that. Jesus has just brought the dead back to life. And you conclude from this? Yes, you are right in saying, “Jesus is the Son of God.” He is, you know. Jesus did things that only God can do. He possessed attributes that only God can have. Recording the time that Jesus was with us, the Holy Bible gave Him names that only God could be called.

Jesus is God. Jesus is the long-awaited Savior. Promised to our first ancestors, after their disobedience had brought sin and death into this world, Jesus came. According to prophecy, He spent His entire life in perfection. Jesus fulfilled the laws that humanity had broken; Jesus avoided the temptations that tripped us. Jesus is the Savior who has taken our place. That day outside of Nain, Jesus defeated death. It wouldn’t be the only time. He called a man’s daughter back to life; He raised up His friend, Lazarus; and three days after He was crucified, after a Roman soldier ran a spear into His heart, after His enemies knew He was deceased, He rose from the grave.

On that day, Jesus defeated death for all time. In the book of Revelation (1:18), Jesus says, “I am He who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forever more.” Because death could not keep Jesus in the grave, we can share the confidence St. Paul wrote about: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

Jesus’ resurrection guarantees to all who believe, that death does not have the final word. Death does not have the last say. Death has been defeated. This is the hope, the knowledge that is held by all who believe on Him as their Divine Substitute. Do you remember how, when we first started watching, there were two crowds: one sad, one glad? After this miracle, two crowds become one. Together they concluded: “God has come to help His people.” If that is your conclusion, God has brought you to this moment. If you want to know more about the Savior who can do such great things, give “The Lutheran Hour” a call at the number we will give before the end of our broadcast.

I’m sorry, what did you say? What does all this have to do with Father’s Day? You probably missed it, what with all the hubbub going on. Don’t be upset; it was easy to miss. When the young man started talking along with everybody else, Jesus gave him back to his mother. That’s what I really wanted you to see; that’s why I brought you back here today. Jesus gave him back to his parent. You still don’t understand what that has to do with Father’s Day? Here, let me give you a quick story. I heard of a first-grader who asked his grandmother if he was “a child of God.” Her reply was short and to the point, “Why, of course you are, honey.” Having heard grandma reaffirm what he had learned in Sunday school, with a worried look on his brow, the little boy, most seriously said, “I think I’d better get home and tell Mom and Dad – they think I belong to them!”

Fathers, today I ask you, do your children know to whom they belong? Yes, they are your sons, your daughters. They carry your genetic imprint, even as they carry your name. But they are also God’s sons and daughters. If you have given your children the best education money can buy, all the stuff stocked on the shelves of the toy stores, all the designer clothes, the latest video games, the best athletic shoes, but haven’t given them Christ, your children remain spiritual paupers. If you have taught them how to play every team sport, how to survive every wilderness situation, given them all the skills necessary to succeed in a dog-eat-dog world, but have held back telling them about the Savior, they are ignorant of that one, all-important truth which will give them heaven.

Fathers, do your children know to whom they belong? God has given them to you. The only difference between you and the mourning mother of Nain, is your children have not died. That does not mean that they are any less from God’s hand. Because your children are God’s children, I encourage you to give them back to God. He has fashioned them, watched them when you could not, protected them from a host of problems that you have never seen, will be with them long after you are gone; most of all, God allowed His Son to die, so that you, your sons, and your daughters might live. Do your children know they belong to Jesus?

J. Wilbur Chapman, the great Presbyterian evangelist, in one of his sermons retold a story he had heard. This is the story: A father went into the bedroom where his young son, his body ravaged by disease, was dying. When the father entered, the boy asked, “Daddy, lift me up for a moment.” The father gently put his hands under the boy’s withered body and lifted him up from the bed, just a little. “Lift me higher,” the boy pleaded, “Daddy, lift me higher.” The father lifted his son up, until he was holding the boy above his head. When he let the boy down, he was dead. It seemed to the father, as if he had actually lifted his son into the very arms of Christ.” That was the story Chapman told.

But it is not the end of the story. One time after Dr. Chapman had finished his story and service, a man came up to him and said, “Dr. Chapman, it happened just as you said. I went into my son’s room. My minister was with me. I lifted my son up, and his weak voice came back to me in whispers saying, “Higher, Daddy, higher.” When I took him down, he had gone. But Dr. Chapman, I want you to know, I had lifted my son into the arms of Christ long before. When he was a very small boy I taught him of a Savior’s love, and told him what it means to be a Christian.” That is the work of a Christian father. If you have known such a man, you are blessed; if you are such a man, you are a blessing.

And to those of you Fathers who have, up to this point in time, neglected the spiritual side, the immortal souls of your children, do not let this day end without remembering the great responsibility God has given to you. Your children are a trust. Honor that trust. Give your children back to the Lord. Give them back. Lift up your sons. Lift up your daughters. Lift them up so they may know their Savior. Let that be your story. And if you need to know how, Lutheran Hour Ministries is ready to help. Call us. Amen.

Lutheran Hour Mailbox (Questions & Answers) for June 20, 2004
Topic: My Will Be Done

ANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor Klaus, a listener writes, “I’ve been praying a lot lately; I was brought up in church and I know the Bible, but I’m starting to get discouraged. Why aren’t things going the way I plan?”

KLAUS: I am really glad somebody finally asked that question, Mark.

ANNOUNCER: Why is that?

KLAUS: Partly because it’s such a common universal question. I think almost everybody has asked that question, wondered about it at some point in their lives.

ANNOUNCER: You mean, to become discouraged when things just don’t seem to be going right?

KLAUS: I mean that, but a little bit more, Mark. There aren’t many people who realistically believe that they can have it their way all the time. I think about the only exception to that rule would be babies and dictators. Babies and dictators want what they want, the way they want it, when they want it. And, they’re self-centered enough to get mad when life doesn’t grant them their every wish.

ANNOUNCER: So babies and dictators aside, I think most people understand that life is going to dish out both the good and the bad, some times more of one, some times more of the other.

KLAUS: But this person is saying something different with their question. They’re thinking, “I’m a good Christian. I know my Bible. So as a good Christian who knows their Bible, they know God listens to prayer and has the ability to answer those prayers.

ANNOUNCER: So far, so good.

KLAUS: Right. Now here’s the problem. Our listener, like many of us, goes one step further. He or she is saying, “I’ve been praying to God and asked Him to come through for me. Why isn’t God doing what I want? How come God isn’t coming through? What’s wrong?”

ANNOUNCER: Now, when you were a pastor in the parish, did people ever say that to you?

KLAUS: They don’t always express it that way, but they certainly expect God to answer their prayers the way they want them answered. More often I’ve heard them say, “I’ve been praying for days. All I do is pray. God still hasn’t answered me. What’s wrong? Is it my fault or God’s?” The truth is, there may be nothing wrong.

ANNOUNCER: But at the same time they’re still not getting the answer they’re looking for.

KLAUS: Maybe the answer is right there in front of them. Years ago, the poet Carl Sandburg was asked to attend the dress rehearsal of a new play. It was a very serious play, written by a very serious author, about a very serious subject. Unfortunately, Carl Sandburg fell asleep and slept through most of the play. The playwright was deeply offended and demanded to know, “How could you sleep when you knew how much I wanted your opinion?” To which Sandburg replied, “Sleep is an opinion.” Applying that to our question, sometimes not getting an answer from God is God’s answer. Sometimes even though we think we’ve looked at our request from every possible angle, we might miss one. We might miss seeing things from God’s perspective. God knows best. He is our heavenly Father. He will do what is right for us. He will not give us something that is wrong for us, just because we ask for it. This is one of those times, I suppose all of them are, those times when we have to say, “Father knows best.” Which is why we pray, “Thy will be done, ” not “ours.”

ANNOUNCER: Now that you mention it, I can think of a number of prayers in the Bible where God did not say yes.

KLAUS: Like when Abraham asked God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, or Paul with his thorn in the flesh.

ANNOUNCER: Which is also why Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” In that case, it was God’s will that Jesus suffer and die for our sins.

KLAUS: Which is why I tell our listener, “You know the Bible. It tells you that God knows best. Keep praying. But know that God’s decisions are always best. That’s what the prophet Hosea said, ‘Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them’” (Hosea 14:9).

ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus.