Sept 13, 2026 - The Gospel of Luke - Week 19 - Are You THE One

Think about what John's disciples are telling him.

How would this sound to you in chains?

John! You should hear what Jesus is doing.

He just raised the dead man! And I wonder if somewhere in that prison cell John is looking at his prison food?

If John is smelling the prison smells, he's feeling the prison chains every time he moves.

He's like, really?

Raising the dead.

These lights these shackles should be light work for him.

So what's the deal?

John isn't struggling because Jesus hasn't done anything.

Jesus has been very active.

John is struggling because Jesus hasn't done what John thought him.

Welcome in everyone.

My name is Jason, and I'm one of the pastors of Highland Christian Church.

On behalf of our team, I just wanted to say thanks for taking some time to journey with us through the scripture.

Our hope is that these words would cause you to think carefully about this Jesus we proclaim and that you would choose to trust him in your day-to-day.

And as always, if you're in the Asheville area, whether you live here or you're visiting, we'd love for you to come join us at the corner of Livingston and Depot Street in person at the Dr.

Wesley Grant Senior Southside Center.

Our prayer is that God's words would equip you for every good work that He's prepared for you to do today.

As a pastor, and I have been pastoring for 25 years, which is insane to think about, but for 25 years, pastoring and sitting with people, praying with people, walking into situations that I had no clue about, praying for certain things, seeing God do stuff, praying for other things, and nothing happens.

That is a tension that I walk with and I struggle with as a believer.

As a believer, I have been in the car or the boat that's headed to this place where one time God answers in a very specific way that I asked him to for a family situation.

Another time we're praying and we're praying and we're praying and nothing.

And I don't know that if you that if you've you've ever had time to slow down enough to think about that tension.

But it's not easy.

And when you live in a culture that's constantly deconstructing, or whatever the phrase is of the hour that's causing people to go, I no longer believe.

I think this conversation is important to be able to have.

And I'm very thankful that the scripture introduces us to this.

The scripture does not hide this concept from us.

And I hope that by the time we walk away together, we'll be able to have some tools, I would say, to walk away with if we need to.

For for you all, if you've been in that tricky spot where you have watched God do for somebody else the very thing you need Him to do for you.

I don't know if you've been in that spot when someone else gets the healing, or someone else, their kid, comes home, or someone else has their marriage or relationships restored, or someone else has a door opened by God that maybe you've been praying for.

Christian testimony can be both good and difficult.

Because we're supposed to be like really excited, right?

We're supposed to be, I'm so glad, brother.

I'm so glad, sister, that this happened for you.

But over on the other side, in your heart, you're going, God, what about me?

I told you this was be real.

We're gonna be real.

It's a real tension.

It exists.

It's hard to put words to, feelings to sometimes when you think about it.

God is caring, right?

Like my struggle isn't that God is caring or powerful, right?

It's off the table because why?

I just saw God care and be powerful for somebody else.

So the God caring and God being powerful part, that's kind of off the table.

And now I'm left to wrestle with why haven't you done the thing I think you can?

This is a little more difficult question than going, well, God, I don't think you exist, right?

This is, I've seen your power, I've seen your love, but you've done it for other people, not me.

This is a totally different struggle.

And so, thankfully, Luke introduces us to this tension.

Last week we had talked about the centurion and the faith that the centurion had.

And Jesus was amazed by it.

But now we're introduced to an entirely different picture.

In Luke chapter 7, verse 11, soon afterward, this is right after the centurion, soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him.

Luke 7:11

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 bear stopped.

Young man, he said, I tell you, get up.

Then the dead boy sat up and began to walk, began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, A mighty prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people today.

And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.

Now I want you to try to, and I know it's hard to, but I want you to try and picture these two great crowds about to collide at a city gate.

Nain is a tiny blip on the map, nowhere's essentially.

Most of the town was probably a part of the funeral procession, but you also have this giant crowd of people beginning to learn about who Jesus is, many who have been healed by him, many who have been hearing him teach, they're following him.

So you literally have two crowds approaching each other.

One is following life, one is following death, and they are about to collide.

Luke tells us that this is a really sad occasion.

He gives us details.

This is the second funeral procession that this woman has had to lead out of Nain.

It's the second time she's had to lead a funeral procession, be the source that everyone's looking at and noticing she's got she's lost.

She lost her husband, and there's mourners and there's professional people who are wailers to be loud so that the woman can weep and wail if she needs to, but not be the center of attention.

But this is the second time she's had to lead a funeral procession out of town.

Not only was she burying her only son, she was possibly burying all the expectations of her future as well.

As a widow with no heirs, with no family, there is a possibility she would have to beg to survive for the rest of her life.

Now, in many Middle Eastern cultures, there would be people who would be generous and maybe throw her a pence or two, right?

But for her, this walking out and burial is not just about her son.

It's about everything for her.

And here, Jesus' crowd would have heard all of this noise.

Wailing and crying and mourning.

And the traditional response, and in many small towns in America, they still do it.

If you see a funeral procession coming behind you, you get over what?

You get over and let the entire thing pass by.

That would have been something they probably would have done had they not been with Jesus in this moment.

Jesus has probably been leading this crowd, and they're like, oh, there's mourners coming.

We should probably step to the side so that they can get out.

But that's not what happens.

Jesus doesn't step aside, and he actually doesn't let the procession pass.

He moves towards it.

And Luke tells us why.

He sees this mother out front, and his heart overflows with compassion for her.

And at this moment, unlike the centurion, right?

The centurion, he was the one who was like, Jesus, I'm not even worthy to come.

You can just come to my house, or you don't have to have to come to my house, you could just say a word, and my servant will be healed.

And Jesus is like, I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel.

There's no moment of great faith in this moment.

This woman doesn't halt Jesus and go, Jesus, please heal my son.

The dead guy can't get up and say, Hey, could you heal me, please?

Nobody in the crowd is approaching Jesus.

Jesus approaches this funeral.

This is purely out of the compassion of his heart.

In fact, that word compassion, it's this Greek word splogna.

It's a great word when you really let it kind of gurgle in the back of your throat.

But it's your guts.

Jesus feels this in his guts and it overflows.

It's not a great picture.

But compassion is actually seeing something, as Miss Peggy said, you're moved to actually do something, right?

It's not pity, because pity is like, oh, how sad.

Compassion is that is so sad, I'm going to do something about it.

There's a difference.

Jesus is moved by compassion.

And in this moment of Jesus' powerful authority, we also see his love.

Jesus moves toward this mom first and says, Don't cry.

Which in this moment would be incredibly hurtful to say to a woman who has just lost her son, previously lost her husband, and now lives with an uncertain future.

To say stop your crying to someone in this situation would be seen as incredibly heartless, cruel, unless, unless Jesus intends to deal with the thing causing her tears.

When my kids were little, more often than once, they would come running to me with whatever toy broke in their mind, like they thought it would, they it was done, like it was a Lego or some kind of a toy.

It was broken, and they would come to me with these giant crocodile tears.

Daddy, you know, crying and everything.

And what I would do as a dad is I'd look at the toy and go, oh, this is so easy to fix.

You don't have to cry about this.

Let's get this, let's fix this.

You don't have to cry about this.

We'll we'll fix it.

It's fixable.

I can take care of this.

Now, if I didn't look at that situation, nor have the ability to fix it, and all I said to my kid was, don't cry.

It would be heard as stop your crying.

But that's not what we see here.

It's okay to say, don't cry, if you have every intention of relieving that thing that is the source of those tears.

Jesus does.

He has the power to fix what is broken at its source, and Jesus walks directly toward death.

Luke keeps showing up.

This is a very strange thought.

Everything unclean cannot stick to Jesus.

As we've journeyed from Luke 1 now to Luke 7, we have seen all the different things that Jesus has done unexpectedly.

Jewish people lived by what were known as purity laws.

Everything was either clean or unclean.

And your goal was to avoid the unclean so you don't become unclean.

There were really inconvenient purity rituals and times of separation and all of this stuff.

So in general, just stay away from unclean things so you don't gotta worry about being unclean.

Sickness is unclean.

Skin diseases unclean.

Dead stuff, definitely unclean.

Right?

Over and over and over.

Yet Jesus' health is contagious.

We're not used to that.

Right?

When we get around those sick children in those elementary schools, those snotty noses, we're not going, oh, my health will rub off on you.

No, we know we're gonna get it.

It's bad.

But for Christ, he touches what is unclean and sickness leaves.

Unclean spirits have to go.

And instead of death getting on to Jesus, life gets into this dead man.

We are consistently being confronted with the unexpected.

And moved by his love, he touches this funeral board.

It would not have been like a coffin like we think of today.

It was more than likely a flatboard.

The kid was probably wrapped and ready to be put into a tomb, which would later turn into him being put into a bone box on a shelf next to his father.

Jesus doesn't just get stirred with compassion.

He confronts death.

And death obeys him.

So not only is he compassionate enough to move, he has the power to do something about it.

This dead kid sits up and starts talking.

And Luke says, Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Think about what Luke has just shown us.

Does Jesus care?

Yes.

Look at the mom.

Nobody asked him to do anything, his compassion moved him towards her.

Is Jesus powerful?

The kid was dead.

And now he's going home with his mom.

Jesus spoke, and death had to give the kid back.

I love that picture that Luke says.

He gave the child back to his mother.

It's like he was like, Death, can you please just hand that boy back to me, please?

Fine, Jesus here.

Right?

Like, no fight, no argument, no nothing.

Death has no rights.

Jesus says, Boy, come with me back to your mom.

And he does.

Jesus has completely reversed this funeral procession.

They came out of the village or heading out of the village.

Like, think of all the casseroles that all these people had made for this mom whose kid was dead.

Like, how do you bring over a casserole and hand it to the boy?

This was, you were, I mean, here, here's your casserole.

You can eat it now, right?

Like, all of the plans, all the environment, the whole attitude, like a dirge as they're walking out.

Celebration, and they're walking back in.

The people who were not a part of that funeral would have been so confused.

Like, what the heck, bro?

This is incredibly sad.

Not anymore.

Everything has changed, and now everyone is wondering who is this Jesus?

Yeah, right?

But the story isn't over.

That's great when you're the widow at Nain.

But what happens when you're John the Baptist in prison?

He continues in verse 18.

The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing, so John called for two of his disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, Are you the Messiah we've been expecting?

Or should we keep looking for someone else?

John's two disciples found Jesus and said to him, John the Baptist sent us to ask, are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we be keep looking for someone else?

And at that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind.

Then he told John's disciples, Go back to John and tell him what you've seen and heard.

The blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the good news is being preached to the poor.

And he added, God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.

What we know about John the Baptist after Jesus' baptism is that Herod, the corrupt Jewish king, had put John in prison for questioning his moral choices.

John is hearing what Jesus is up to and has been in prison most of the time Jesus is actually ministering all over Judea.

We know that from the other gospels.

This is John the Baptist.

I mean, he's written about in the Old Testament.

Are you written about in the Old Testament?

Am I written about in the Old Testament?

No.

He's the one who points out, Jesus, this is Son of God.

He's the one who's going to take away the sins of the world.

He, I mean, this dude baptized.

Now he's in prison.

And he even had quite the following of his own.

He was pretty popular.

And now, Jesus is on the scene doing Messiah things, yet Herod is still doing Herod things, and John is still in a cell.

Think about what John's disciples are telling him.

How would this sound to you in chains?

John, you should hear what Jesus is doing.

He just raised the dead man.

And I wonder if somewhere in that prison cell John is looking at his prison food, if John is smelling the prison smells, if he's feeling the prison chains every time he moves, and he's like, really?

Raising the dead.

And these lights, these shackles should be light work for him.

So what's the deal?

John isn't struggling because Jesus hasn't done anything.

Jesus has been very active.

John is struggling because Jesus hasn't done what John thought he should do.

There's a very real difference in the way we approach.

John knew the Old Testament predictions about God's rescuer.

John knew what the Messiah would be about.

But where's the day of vengeance, Jesus?

Jesus, where's the kicking of butts and taking of names?

Where is the destruction of evil Rome and leadership like Herod's and all of these people who curse you and your ways?

When are they coming down?

Like I get that you like hanging out with the sick, but where is the crushing of all the evil?

Where's the kingdom?

I mean, John has to deal with did I peg Jesus wrong?

I mean, I was the one out front announcing there's the Son of God, there's the Messiah, there's the dude, that's the Him, He's the one, He's got more power in his little pinky than I ever could have.

That's him.

And now he's in prison and he's asking the question in suffering: are you the guy or should we keep looking for someone else?

See, suffering has a way of doing that to us.

Jesus, I thought you X, Y, and Z.

And if he doesn't X, Y, and Z, then we move on to our next God.

Then we move on to our next idol.

Then we move on to our next thing.

And the question is always, Jesus, are you who I thought you were?

Because if you don't do these things, then maybe you're not.

We're really tempted, just as John is.

John's circumstances have collided with his expectations.

And here is the heart of it.

And this is where I think I struggled.

News of Jesus' power, right?

News of Jesus' power and his love sounds different when you're the person who desperately needs him to use those things.

The widow got her son back.

Praise God.

John's still in a dungeon.

It's no wonder that dungeons have a way of creating doubt.

Sometimes our hardest question isn't Jesus, can you?

It's Jesus, why haven't you?

Like, why, you know, why haven't you is so much more personal.

Why haven't you done the thing?

That's different than not believing he can do something.

Sometimes it isn't what looks like God's absence that bothers us, right?

Sometimes we are moved by going, well, maybe he's not here, maybe he's not around.

Sometimes we know he is around, but sometimes it's that very evidence of God's activity in someone else's life while our situation remains the same that we struggle with.

The scripture deals with this head on.

It doesn't invite us to ignore these questions.

John is left wrestling with.

I know you care.

I know you can.

I just don't understand your ways.

We can't say Jesus doesn't care because we've seen his compassion for the widow.

We can't say that Jesus isn't powerful.

This dead kid is sitting up talking to his mom and walking back home with her.

Jesus tells John, listen to what I'm up to, and look at what I'm doing.

The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, dead are raised, poor received the good news.

Jesus' actions reflect what Scripture said God's promised Messiah would do.

Jesus knows that people have all kinds of views of what they think God's rescue plan should look like.

And here's where he takes John.

When you don't understand Jesus' ways, return to what you know about Jesus' identity.

I wish I had a nice, simple answer telling you that all the under, you know, the questioned and wrestled with things in your life are going to be answered.

I don't.

But I do have Jesus' words to John in verse 23.

God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.

Jesus is telling John, don't get tripped up over me.

I know you have expectations that you want me to come through for.

Don't get tripped up over me.

Don't let me be a stumbling block.

The word is a scandalon, scandalous.

It's the word we get scandal from.

John, you're not struggling because I'm not doing this the way you thought Messiah would.

And John, you're struggling and you won't be the last to struggle with this.

People are going to keep stumbling over Jesus because he refuses to become the kind of king they want him to be, and eventually comes the greatest stumbling block possible: a crucified Messiah.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians the message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction, but we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

Israel wanted a conquering king who would restore Israel's glory and crush the evildoers.

Instead, their king is healing and lifting the poor, helping the unclean, and carrying a friggin' cross.

The ultimate in loss and humiliation.

Outside Nain, a mom gets her son back.

Jesus intercepts that procession.

But later, outside the gates of Jerusalem, the Son of God is headed towards death.

But this time the Son carries the wood himself.

Nobody stops this processional.

Nobody jumps in the way to save the Son of God.

Nobody jumps in.

The Son of God himself doesn't even stop this procession.

He marches straight up to death, enters into it, and everyone watching it looks at death is finally won.

Jesus is just another misguided revolutionary.

He's got nothing.

We thought he was.

We thought he was.

We thought he was.

And now, but three days later, on a Sunday morning, death has to give another son back.

Don't forget it.

And this time, he isn't raised merely to live a few more years and then die again.

He walks out never to die again.

Luke intends for Nain to look like a preview of Easter, and Easter becomes a preview of our future.

Jesus has not promised that we won't weep now.

Please hear me say that.

Jesus never promised that we won't weep now.

God never promises us that everything confusing in our lives will eventually make sense.

The scripture doesn't teach that.

I don't hold to that, and I hope you don't hold to that.

I mean, if historians are correct, Jesus marched in a funeral procession for his own earthly father, Joseph, alongside his mother's tears.

Do you think Mary was like, Jesus?

Jesus.

Jesus.

In fact, the scripture actually commands us to weep with those who weep.

It's a command.

Which means there is going to be weeping.

We are going to sit beside hospital beds.

We are going to stand at graves.

We will comfort one another in sorrow when God doesn't fix our earthly ills as we want him to.

That's what the scripture teaches us.

Yet the cross gives us reason to trust God's way because God's way has already looked terribly wrong, and it turned out to be the way he conquered, defeated, and humiliated death.

And as the band comes, we close our time in worship.

It's an appropriate response, even in situations like this.

One day God will wipe every tear from every eye.

And on that day, we will finally hear the words Jesus spoke to the widow.

Don't cry.

Not because grief should be pushed down or avoided, but because God will have finally dealt with everything that ever gave us reason to grieve.

Sin, pain, injustice, sorrow, death.

There will be nothing left to grieve because he has dealt with the source of it.

So when Jesus says, don't weep, it is not because he doesn't like tears.

It's because he has the power, the authority, and the compassion to deal with what grieves us.

Until then, sometimes, believer, you will be the widow at Nain.

Celebrating and rejoicing.

Sometimes you will be.

Other times you will be with John sitting in a dungeon.

There will be miracles and there will be mystery.

And we live in the tension of both of those.

John sitting in a dungeon wrestling with who Jesus is doesn't mean John was falling away from the faith, but it does mean his expectations were directly confronted.

The struggle doesn't put us outside the life of faith, folks.

It's something we will all go through.

We have seen his compassion and we have seen his power.

And because of the resurrection, you and I know where the road ends.

We're just not always going to understand the road between here and there.

Luke 7, 23.

Blessed is the one who does not stumble because of me.

Let's pray.

We just wanted to say thank you for listening to the Highland Christian Church podcast today.

And if you ever want to connect with us, send prayer requests, ask questions, or for any other reason, you can visit our website, www.highlandchristian.com, or you can send us an email at info at highlandchristian.com.

We'll let you guys.