Jesus – A Christ of Hope and Comfort

Luke 7:11-17

In a little cemetery in San Antonio is one of saddest tomb stones you can imagine. It is over the grave of Grace Llewellen. No birth date, not date of death, just these lines:

Sleeps, but rests not.

Loved, but was loved not.

Tried to please, but pleased not.

Died as she lived – alone.

Tuesday evening, I got a call no one wants to get. An 8^th grade girl was dead. She probably killed herself. Life was a mess for this young lady just like so many others in the world.

The next day I helped counsel some of the kids as they dealt with the news of what happened. One young lady I talked with had just lost her 2^nd close friend in just a year or so. “I feel so alone,” she cried. My heart was breaking for her. I asked her if she went to church, she did not, I asked her if she would like to pray and she said, “okay, but I’ve never prayed before.” After praying with her, I wondered how a young girl handles tragedy without Christ.

Today I want to start a series of sermon looking at Christ. Paul said in 1 Cor 2:2 – for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. So often we focus on bringing people to the church rather than bringing them to Christ. Yet, we all know that Christ is the only answer. Christ is the relationship we need to foster more than any other relationship.

PRAYER

I. Alone and Lost

A. A widow in pain

1. READ Lk 7:11-12

2. We don’t know this woman’s name or circumstances, but they were enough that they touched Jesus.

3. Being a widow in those days was tough. There wasn’t any social security or nursing homes.

4. There weren’t even many jobs a widow woman could do, so her life was probably shaky at best.

5. But she had her son, her only child, he would care for her.

6. Now he’s dead. Imagine this woman with no husband, no son, no hope.

7. My guess is she was simply walking in a fog behind her son’s body.

8. Her mind numb with grief, heart filled with the bitterness of despair.

9. Alone, hopeless, broken

B. Breaking Hearts

1. I wish I could say, that type of pain and sorrow doesn’t exist today, but this week has shown that simply isn’t the case.

2. Our society… our community is filled with people whose lives are a complete disaster.

3. Loved ones have died way too early. No one cares, family lives are a mess, marriages are falling apart, and people have lost jobs and will soon lose their homes.

C. Is your heart breaking?

1. We have roughly 110 people here today.

2. My guess is that there is a least one who knows exactly the pain I have been talking about.

3. You’ve stayed up into the wee hours of the morning wondering what comes next.

4. Your life is nothing like you imagined it being at this point.

5. You are lost, you feel all alone. Hopeless.

6. You understand that little girl, you can empathize with the grieving widow, you fear the same word could be chiseled on your tombstone that were chiseled on Grace’s

7. No one seems to notice or care.

II. I Feel Your Pain

A. Illustration

1. Several years ago, President Clinton uttered a line in a speech that has survived the speech and it’s circumstances.

2. “I feel your pain”

3. He wanted the American people to know he understood how they were feeling. He was aware of the great hurt we were feeling as a nation.

B. Jesus and the widow.

1. I feel your pain. That’s pretty much what Jesus said to this widow.

2. READ Lk 7:12

3. Don’t cry

a) If I had a dime for every time I have told someone that.

4. Don’t cry

a) I want to help, but what can I do to make a real difference?

5. Don’t cry

a) It’s what we say to offer comfort, as limited as it it.

6. Don’t cry

a) Heart felt words for a person who is hurting when all you can offer is a tender embrace.

C. Don’t Cry

1. When Jesus says don’t cry, there’s so much more that goes with the statement.

2. He REALLY knows what you are going through.

3. He can offer more than comfort, he can offer hope.

4. Max Lucado tells a story of Joy who teaches Bible class at an inner city church. They bring in the children from the nearby projects. As she teaches, most laugh, giggle, jump right into the lesson and all other things young children do. All except Barbara. She just sits back, quiet, alone. Her life had been so hard for someone so young. Her home life was almost non-existent. She was insecure and afraid. She was there every week, but never participated… until one Sunday. On that Sunday, Joy was teaching about Heaven. Barbara was listening with rapt attention. At the end of the lesson, she timidly raised her hand and spoke for the first time. “Mrs Joy, Is heaven for little girls like me?”

5. Breaks your heart doesn’t it? To hear that plaintive prayer from such young lips.