Wednesday, 11 May 2016 - "A widow: from despair to renewed motherhood"
Daily Scripture: Luke 7:11 The next day Yeshua, accompanied by his talmidim and a large crowd, went to a town called Na‘im. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead man was being carried out for burial. His mother was a widow, this had been her only son, and a sizeable crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, “Don’t cry.” 14 Then he came close and touched the coffin, and the pallbearers halted. He said, “Young man, I say to you: get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Yeshua gave him to his mother.[Luke 7:15 1 Kings 17:23] 16 They were all filled with awe and gave glory to God, saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us,” and, “God has come to help his people.” 17 This report about him spread throughout all Y’hudah and the surrounding countryside.
Reflection Questions:
“A little later Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a great crowd traveled with him,” Luke wrote. Whatever his original plans when he went to Nain, he laid them aside when another large crowd came through the city gates, not to greet Jesus but to support a grieving widow and mother going to bury her only son. Jesus compassionately set aside any other agenda until he brought the woman’s son back to life, and restored him to his mother.- In Jesus' day, losing an only son was a terrible disaster for a widow. Under Jewish law, only through a male relative did she have legal standing to own property or sustain herself. So Jesus not only saved her from emotional loss, but from likely poverty and helplessness. What has Jesus saved you from? In what ways does a sense of his loving power at work with and through you give you strength and comfort for each day?
- Luke recorded the response of those who saw Jesus' action: “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” In what ways did their reaction fall short of fully understanding the meaning of Jesus' ministry? In what ways was it accurate, and a first step toward accepting Jesus' lordship over their own lives?
Lord Jesus, you said one part of your earthly life was to give us a preview of your eternal kingdom. How I look forward to when you will restore all lost children to their mothers’ loving arms, as you did that day in Nain! Amen.
Insights from Kari Burgess
Kari Burgess is a Program Director for the ShareChurch team, handling promotion and marketing for all of the conferences held at Resurrection, as well as registration and coordinating hospitality volunteers.
Our story today tells us Jesus was on his way to Nain. I’ve got to think he had a reason to go there, a purpose of some sort, an agenda. There was a good and worthy plan for ministry once he got to Nain. But on the outskirts of town he gets interrupted, distracted from his purpose. He met a funeral procession and it stopped him in his tracks. Whatever was important for him to be working on this particular day did not matter. This was significant, more significant than his meeting agenda waiting for him in Nain.
Jesus was good at this. He paused whatever good thing he was getting ready to do because he had compassion for this woman. He brought her son back to life! Ministry—life—happens in the interruptions. Pastor Scott Chrostek and Kelly Sisney lead a Leadership Institute workshop called “Unleashing the Power of Invitation and Interruption.” In it, they teach that outreach and ministry often happens spontaneously and organically in our daily life. If we are too bound to our plans, we will miss opportunities to connect with others.
I am a planner. I like to-do lists. I like the satisfaction of checking each thing off my list and completing tasks. I don’t do interruptions, or a change of plans, very well. And the month of May is nuts. Am I right? Our family is spinning right now and finding it hard to keep up with everything on our calendars. Who has time for interruptions in May? I feel if I allow any interruptions, I will get off track and never find my way back.
Sometimes God has another plan, a plan for me to be interrupted. For Mother’s Day, even though our calendar wasn’t so busy that day, I had a plan for how the day was supposed to go. My youngest daughter and I ran a 5K together in the morning (so fun!). I thought we would visit my mom and dad for dessert in the afternoon, attend 5 p.m. worship and then head home for steaks on the grill.
But then my older daughter needed me. When I saw tears in her eyes as she tried to eat scrambled eggs, I wasn’t sure what was up, but I knew it was SOMETHING. She needed a listening ear. She needed guidance. She needed affirmation and reassurance. She needed rest. She needed some retail therapy, Starbucks and mom time—just the two of us. It was more important than visiting with my parents, more important than attending worship as a family and more important than dinner on the grill (which, by the way, would have been rained out anyway!) And it blessed us both.
I’m certain I didn’t solve all the problems of a 14-year-old girl, but I am certain taking the time to be interrupted gave us the opportunity to bond more deeply and build trust. I learned so much about what weighs heavy on her heart, which is way more important than keeping a perfect calendar and making sure she gets to every activity on time.
What an important reminder for me that I need to be more easily interruptible each day. It is so easy to get consumed by the calendar and by the to-do list. As the “prophet” Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Dear God, Thank you this day, for the blessing of the reminder of how important it is to stop, take a deep breath and pay attention to what is happening around me. And to be willing to be interrupted.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Our story today tells us Jesus was on his way to Nain. I’ve got to think he had a reason to go there, a purpose of some sort, an agenda. There was a good and worthy plan for ministry once he got to Nain. But on the outskirts of town he gets interrupted, distracted from his purpose. He met a funeral procession and it stopped him in his tracks. Whatever was important for him to be working on this particular day did not matter. This was significant, more significant than his meeting agenda waiting for him in Nain.
Jesus was good at this. He paused whatever good thing he was getting ready to do because he had compassion for this woman. He brought her son back to life! Ministry—life—happens in the interruptions. Pastor Scott Chrostek and Kelly Sisney lead a Leadership Institute workshop called “Unleashing the Power of Invitation and Interruption.” In it, they teach that outreach and ministry often happens spontaneously and organically in our daily life. If we are too bound to our plans, we will miss opportunities to connect with others.
I am a planner. I like to-do lists. I like the satisfaction of checking each thing off my list and completing tasks. I don’t do interruptions, or a change of plans, very well. And the month of May is nuts. Am I right? Our family is spinning right now and finding it hard to keep up with everything on our calendars. Who has time for interruptions in May? I feel if I allow any interruptions, I will get off track and never find my way back.
Sometimes God has another plan, a plan for me to be interrupted. For Mother’s Day, even though our calendar wasn’t so busy that day, I had a plan for how the day was supposed to go. My youngest daughter and I ran a 5K together in the morning (so fun!). I thought we would visit my mom and dad for dessert in the afternoon, attend 5 p.m. worship and then head home for steaks on the grill.
But then my older daughter needed me. When I saw tears in her eyes as she tried to eat scrambled eggs, I wasn’t sure what was up, but I knew it was SOMETHING. She needed a listening ear. She needed guidance. She needed affirmation and reassurance. She needed rest. She needed some retail therapy, Starbucks and mom time—just the two of us. It was more important than visiting with my parents, more important than attending worship as a family and more important than dinner on the grill (which, by the way, would have been rained out anyway!) And it blessed us both.
I’m certain I didn’t solve all the problems of a 14-year-old girl, but I am certain taking the time to be interrupted gave us the opportunity to bond more deeply and build trust. I learned so much about what weighs heavy on her heart, which is way more important than keeping a perfect calendar and making sure she gets to every activity on time.
What an important reminder for me that I need to be more easily interruptible each day. It is so easy to get consumed by the calendar and by the to-do list. As the “prophet” Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Dear God, Thank you this day, for the blessing of the reminder of how important it is to stop, take a deep breath and pay attention to what is happening around me. And to be willing to be interrupted.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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