This miracle raised the popular appreciation of Jesus' authority to new heights. Luke also continued to stress Jesus' compassion for people, in this case a widow whose son had died, by including this incident in his Gospel. The importance of faith in Jesus is not strong in this pericope. However the motif of the joy that Jesus brings recurs. The incident sets the stage for Jesus' interview by John the Baptist's disciples that follows (vv. 18-23).
7:11 Jesus may have gone directly from Capernaum (7:1-11) to Nain. Nain was only about 20 miles southwest of that town. It lay on the northern slope of the Hill of Moreh that stood at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley. It was 6 miles south and a little east of Nazareth and is easily visible across the valley from Nazareth. The Hill of Moreh is a significant site because on its south side stood Shunem where Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:18-37). Luke distinguished two groups of people who accompanied Jesus, namely His disciples and a large multitude of presumably non-disciples.
7:12 Friends were carrying the corpse out of the city gate to bury it outside the town as was customary. The fact that the widow now had no surviving husband or son meant that she was in desperate circumstances economically as well as emotionally (cf. 1 Kings 17:10). She would probably become destitute without someone to provide for her needs. The large retinue of mourners was common though it suggests that she had friends.
7:13 This is Luke's first narrative use of the term "the Lord"for Jesus (cf. v. 19; 10:1, 39, 41; 11:39; 12:42; 13:15; 17:5, 6; 18:6; 19:8; 22:61; 24:3, 34). It anticipates the title the early Christians gave Him (e.g., Acts 2:36), and in this story it anticipates the remarkable demonstration of His sovereignty that followed.
Luke noted Jesus' compassion for the woman, one of his characteristic emphases. The Lord's words expressed His compassion, but they proved to be far from merely hollow words of comfort. He would shortly give her reason not to weep but to rejoice.
7:14 The "coffin"(Gr. sorou) was a litter that carried the shrouded corpse. By touching it Jesus expressed His compassion, but His act also rendered him ritually unclean (Num. 19:11, 16). Probably His action told the bearers that He wanted to do something. So they stopped. Undoubtedly the residents of Nain knew Jesus, and His reputation was probably another reason they stopped. This was the first time Jesus restored to life someone who had died, according to the Gospel records. Again the simple but powerful word of "the Lord"proved sufficient to affect the miracle.
7:15 Luke probably wrote that the young man sat up and spoke to authenticate the resuscitation. Luke drew additional attention to the parallel incident when Elijah raised a widow's son by noting that Jesus gave the young man back to his mother (cf. 1 Kings 17:23). He had given him to her once at birth indirectly, but now he gave him to her again. This act further illustrates Jesus' compassion for the widow and His grace.
7:16 Again Luke noted that the result of Jesus' ministry was that fear (Gr. phobos) gripped the people (cf. 1:12; 5:26). This is a natural human reaction to a demonstration of supernatural power. They also praised God that this act of power had such a beneficial effect (cf. 2:20; 5:25-26; 18:43; 23:47).
The people remembered the life-restoring miracles of Elijah and Elisha in that very neighborhood centuries earlier. They quickly concluded that God had sent them another prophet similar to them (cf. 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37). However calling Jesus a prophet was not the same as acknowledging Him as Messiah much less God. Their second exclamation did not necessarily mean that they acknowledged Jesus as God. It is an Old Testament expression meaning that God had sent help to His people (Ruth 1:6; cf. Luke 1:68). Some of the people may have concluded that Jesus was Immanuel, God with us (Isa. 7:14), but their words allow a broader meaning.
7:17 Luke concluded this pericope with a notation that the news (Gr. logos, word) about this incident radiated over that entire region (cf. 4:14, 37). The surrounding district probably refers to the area beyond Judea that included Perea where John heard of Jesus' mighty works (v. 18).
"Jesus' amazing healings and exorcisms contribute to the very rapid spread of his fame. Comparison of the following statements shows how the narrator conveys an impression of rapidly growing fame: After the exorcism in the synagogue of Capernaum, a report about him was going out to every place of the neighboring area' (4:37). After the healing of the leper, the word about him was spreading more' (5:15). In the next scene Pharisees and teachers of the law are present from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem' (5:17). This is surpassed in 6:17-18, where we hear of a great multitude of the people from all the Jewish land and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and be healed.' We reach the climax of this development in 7:17: And this statement about him went out in the whole Jewish country and all the neighboring region.'"221
In Acts the spread of the news about Jesus was to go from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
This incident doubtless became the basis for many people concluding that Jesus was either the fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah's return (Mal. 4:5-6) or Elijah himself (9:8). Hopefully it brought others into a saving faith in Him.
