Jesus met a funeral procession : the principal mourner that followed it engaged his attention —
[She was a mother following her own son to the grave. How afflictive is such an event to a tender parent ! This son had grown up to the estate of manhood. We may see in David's lamentations for Absalom what an affliction this is ! Her loss was further aggravated in that this was her only child. If one out of many had died, she would have been deeply grieved : how much more in losing him, in whom her affections had so long centered! That which added ten-fold poignancy to her sorrow was, that she was a widow. When her husband had died she had been consoled by her surviving child ; but now she had none left to be the support and comfort of declining years. Destroyed both root and branch, she had no prospect but that her name would be extinct in Israel.]
Filled with compassion he wrought a miracle on her
behalf —
[Jesus, addressing himself to the mourning widow, bade her not weep. How vain, how impertinent had such advice been, if given by a common man ! But, from him, it came as a rich cordial to her fainting spirit. He then stopped the pro- cession, and said to the dead man, Arise. Nor were the hopes, occasioned by his interference, disappointed. On other occa- sions he wrought his miracles at the request of others a. This he performed spontaneously, and unsolicited by any. Nothing moved him to it but that very compassion which brought him down from heaven : nor did he exercise this power in the name of another b. He spake authoritatively, as one who could quicken whom he would e: nor did he merely recall the soul without renovating the bodyd; the restoration to life and vigour was effected perfectly, and in an instant e. To complete the mercy, "he delivered the man to his mother;" and prefer- red the comfort of the widow to the honour he himself might have gained in retaining such a follower.]
Such a stupendous miracle could not fail of exciting suitable emotions —
II. The effect it produced —
a Intercession was made for Jairus's daughter, by her own father ; for the Centurion's servant, by his friends ; for the paralytic, by his neighbours ; but none besought him for this distressed widow.
b Elijah and Elisha obtained this power by prayer, 1 Kings xvii. 21. 2 Kings iv. 33. ; and Peter wrought his miracles in the name of Je- sus, Acts hi. 6. and ix. 34.
o John v. 21. " 2 Kings iv. 34, 35.
e " He sat up, and began to speak."