No Abuse of Authority – Luke 7:11-17

Here are some examples of a boss’s abuse of authority in the workplace:  Constantly reminding an employee that they can be fired or replaced, humiliating an employee in front of his colleagues, forcing an employee to work overtime multiple times a week without additional pay, mistreating employees when he/she is in a bad mood, condescending reactions to employee questions, constantly shifting the blame to employees for their own incompetencies, withholding critical information from an employee that he/she needs to know, putting personal interests before the company, and enforcing companies policies and rules on others without following them themselves.  Authority can be scary.

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.  (Luke 7:11-17 ESV)

700 or more years earlier in Israel the prophet Elijah and Elisha both were used of God to raise someone from the dead, in each case a son, one of a widow and one of a woman who had grown old without having children.  Here, in Jesus’ day, was a widow who without her son was financially likely desperate and without income enough to survive.  Jesus feels compassion for her and raises her son from the dead.

Jesus merely commands the man to come back alive and he does so and this creates both fear and praise for God among the villagers.  They remember Elijah and Elisha and declare that a great prophet has come among them.  Jesus’ fame increases all the more.  God is using each of these miracles to affirm Jesus’ authority and message.  We can imagine that many began thinking about whether he could raise their dead to life again.  But God determines what happens and there are only a few in Jesus’ ministry whom he raises from the dead.

Why do you think you would find it scary if someone raised someone from the dead?  Would it be because of the power that person has?  Would you fear their power might be used against you?  Unhealthy people with unlimited power end up abusing that power.  But Jesus, of course, was not unhealthy nor abusive.  We’re safe in his power.

 

P.S., I have written a new book, John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is free here to download as a pdf.