Adobe Stock
Many cultures and societies today embrace a lifestyle of going about doing what one enjoys. But the most important and the most genuinely joyful individual who ever walked on this earth had a different desire. Jesus Christ was described by His closest disciple as one who walked "about doing good."
Widowhood in Nain
A scholar who has visited and studied about Nain, Keith J. Wilson, described it as "a small farming village at Jesus's time, relatively poor." Far from a populated area, only one road led into it.
Widowhood when the Savior lived on earth was particularly difficult—especially for a woman who had no son. Wilson mentioned that the local culture believed that a husband dying was God's punishment for sin. So social and religious rejection could be a part of widowhood. Since women could not possess property—or anything else to provide life's necessities—her son's death took away her source of daily bread.
There was one who knew this woman with deep personal concern about her emotional grief for her son and the struggle with life's difficulties that she faced. He knew the one road leading into the village, and where and how to be on it to meet the young man's burial procession. Having been in Capernaum, Jesus, along with many followers, had to walk all night to be where it was so important to Him to be.
Gently, lovingly, the Savior said to the mother, "Weep not." He then "touched the bier," so that those carrying it would stop, and spoke to the son directly, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." When the young man obeyed and began speaking, Jesus personally took him to this mother.
The crowd of townspeople and the Savior's followers all feared as they "glorified God": "A great prophet is risen up among us . . . and God hath visited his people" (Luke 7:13-16).
Like so many Christians, we think with awe of the deep personal connection between the widow and Jesus Christ. And we remember that He is aware of our times of heartache, fear, and loneliness. He knows how to comfort and relieve us; and He knows all of us.
Going About Doing Good
As the Savior was going about, He never had a problem finding people who needed the "good" he did for them. Compassion International maintains,
Jesus Christ set the ultimate example of what it means to serve others. We look to his life to learn from him and follow his example. Every Christian is called to serve. This calling remains constant throughout our lives, even if the ways we serve change.
Ways He went about doing good inspire and teach us.
Jesus healed those with disabilities. Bartimaeus may have been the loudest of those who received his sight. Ignoring the crowd that tried to silence him, Bartimaeus stood in the road yelling until he was able to approach the Savior. He did become a devoted follower (Mark 10:46). Accounts of others who received sight are more subdued. We are told that those who could not hear were given that blessing, including the servant whose ear was sliced off when Jesus was taken captive. A number of those who were lame were healed, as was a man with a withered hand.
One of the most serious illnesses of the time was leprosy. Most people avoided anyone with leprosy; Jesus healed them, once 10 at a time. Jesus would have known in advance that only one of them would thank Him, but He healed them anyway.
As with the widow, Jesus knew those he healed, including their backstories. A paralytic was brought to him and lowered down on his bed from the roof of a crowded building. The sufferer had had some problems Jesus knew about. Christ understood the faith of the man and his friends, but rather than saying "rise up and walk," he was specific: "thy sins are forgiven thee" (Luke 5: 18-25). The man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda had been suffering 38 years. Jesus knew this, but He also knew more than the man probably realized. After the healing, Jesus found this man in the temple and warned, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee"(John 5:1).
When being about involved hungry people, Jesus miraculously turned a small amount of available food into enough to feed 5,000 on one occasion and 4,000 on another. When ships were in danger, he rebuked winds and calmed waves. When people were sick, he gave equal consideration to a centurion's servant and a nobleman's daughter.
We are especially drawn in by those who, like the mother in Nain, were in desperate need and received personal comfort and assurance.
· "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole," sighed a woman who had suffered hemorrhaging for 12 years.
"Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole," Jesus answered gently as He healed her. (Matthew 9: 20-22)
· "Master, this woman was taken in adultery . . . Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?"
"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
"Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?"
"Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more." (John 8: 3-11)
Going About as 21st Century Christians
“Love” in the New Testament is a specific term for a uniquely biblical orientation toward relationships and toward life, which is best seen in the example of Jesus Christ. In fact, the kind of love that Jesus taught and displayed was revolutionary, because it was centered in giving, not getting.
This explanation from the C.S. Lewis Institute (by Michael J. Wilkins) explains why and how Jesus spent his life going about doing good. Jesus and His followers gained nothing, but perhaps sore feet, walking overnight to Nain. But they gave everything to the mourning widow.
In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote,
When Christianity says that God loves man, it means that God loves man: not that He has some 'disinterested' . . . concern for our welfare, but that, in awful and surprising truth, we are the objects of His love. You asked for a loving God: you have one.
In His love for us, God offers us the responsibility and the privilege of going about doing good. A Christian columnist urged, "Every member of every church should be serving in some way, and every servant of the Lord should remember that it’s more than just serving others; it’s loving them."
This author mentioned some ways that communicate love and concern: babysitting to give parents a needed break, furnishing a meal for a family with illness, visiting an elderly person who is housebound, or telephoning someone to say "I've been thinking about you."
Some churches organize opportunities for members to give, serve, and love in their communities. BBC mentions a few:
· Organizing activities to involve local children,
· Providing personal help, including counseling, for those needing such support, and
· Opening "food banks" in church facilities.
Some individuals and families with desperate needs have not been connected up with sources we may use to find those in need. Like the widow of Nain, God knows who and where they are and may send someone directly person to person. A Christian leader from Mexico, Gregorio E, Casillas, participated in this kind of experience.
He had joined the leader of a Christian congregation in visits to members in a particular neighborhood. When scheduled visits were finished, the local leader mentioned that he "felt impressed" to go to one more family. The local leader greeted the woman answering the door by name, and they hugged and cried together.
The local leader had not known that the woman was recovering from chemotherapy and not strong enough to care for her son, who was an adult confined to a wheelchair. Together the two visitors helped the mother dress her son, help him into his chair, and feed him food that a kind neighbor had brought earlier in the day. They helped with other tasks that were difficult for her, and prayed for blessings on both of them.
If we are willing to follow the Savior's example and instruction to go about doing good and sharing His love, we too will receive the guidance and opportunities that we need.
Widowhood in Nain
A scholar who has visited and studied about Nain, Keith J. Wilson, described it as "a small farming village at Jesus's time, relatively poor." Far from a populated area, only one road led into it.
Widowhood when the Savior lived on earth was particularly difficult—especially for a woman who had no son. Wilson mentioned that the local culture believed that a husband dying was God's punishment for sin. So social and religious rejection could be a part of widowhood. Since women could not possess property—or anything else to provide life's necessities—her son's death took away her source of daily bread.
There was one who knew this woman with deep personal concern about her emotional grief for her son and the struggle with life's difficulties that she faced. He knew the one road leading into the village, and where and how to be on it to meet the young man's burial procession. Having been in Capernaum, Jesus, along with many followers, had to walk all night to be where it was so important to Him to be.
Gently, lovingly, the Savior said to the mother, "Weep not." He then "touched the bier," so that those carrying it would stop, and spoke to the son directly, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." When the young man obeyed and began speaking, Jesus personally took him to this mother.
The crowd of townspeople and the Savior's followers all feared as they "glorified God": "A great prophet is risen up among us . . . and God hath visited his people" (Luke 7:13-16).
Like so many Christians, we think with awe of the deep personal connection between the widow and Jesus Christ. And we remember that He is aware of our times of heartache, fear, and loneliness. He knows how to comfort and relieve us; and He knows all of us.
Going About Doing Good
As the Savior was going about, He never had a problem finding people who needed the "good" he did for them. Compassion International maintains,
Jesus Christ set the ultimate example of what it means to serve others. We look to his life to learn from him and follow his example. Every Christian is called to serve. This calling remains constant throughout our lives, even if the ways we serve change.
Ways He went about doing good inspire and teach us.
Jesus healed those with disabilities. Bartimaeus may have been the loudest of those who received his sight. Ignoring the crowd that tried to silence him, Bartimaeus stood in the road yelling until he was able to approach the Savior. He did become a devoted follower (Mark 10:46). Accounts of others who received sight are more subdued. We are told that those who could not hear were given that blessing, including the servant whose ear was sliced off when Jesus was taken captive. A number of those who were lame were healed, as was a man with a withered hand.
One of the most serious illnesses of the time was leprosy. Most people avoided anyone with leprosy; Jesus healed them, once 10 at a time. Jesus would have known in advance that only one of them would thank Him, but He healed them anyway.
As with the widow, Jesus knew those he healed, including their backstories. A paralytic was brought to him and lowered down on his bed from the roof of a crowded building. The sufferer had had some problems Jesus knew about. Christ understood the faith of the man and his friends, but rather than saying "rise up and walk," he was specific: "thy sins are forgiven thee" (Luke 5: 18-25). The man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda had been suffering 38 years. Jesus knew this, but He also knew more than the man probably realized. After the healing, Jesus found this man in the temple and warned, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee"(John 5:1).
When being about involved hungry people, Jesus miraculously turned a small amount of available food into enough to feed 5,000 on one occasion and 4,000 on another. When ships were in danger, he rebuked winds and calmed waves. When people were sick, he gave equal consideration to a centurion's servant and a nobleman's daughter.
We are especially drawn in by those who, like the mother in Nain, were in desperate need and received personal comfort and assurance.
· "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole," sighed a woman who had suffered hemorrhaging for 12 years.
"Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole," Jesus answered gently as He healed her. (Matthew 9: 20-22)
· "Master, this woman was taken in adultery . . . Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?"
"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
"Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?"
"Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more." (John 8: 3-11)
Going About as 21st Century Christians
“Love” in the New Testament is a specific term for a uniquely biblical orientation toward relationships and toward life, which is best seen in the example of Jesus Christ. In fact, the kind of love that Jesus taught and displayed was revolutionary, because it was centered in giving, not getting.
This explanation from the C.S. Lewis Institute (by Michael J. Wilkins) explains why and how Jesus spent his life going about doing good. Jesus and His followers gained nothing, but perhaps sore feet, walking overnight to Nain. But they gave everything to the mourning widow.
In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote,
When Christianity says that God loves man, it means that God loves man: not that He has some 'disinterested' . . . concern for our welfare, but that, in awful and surprising truth, we are the objects of His love. You asked for a loving God: you have one.
In His love for us, God offers us the responsibility and the privilege of going about doing good. A Christian columnist urged, "Every member of every church should be serving in some way, and every servant of the Lord should remember that it’s more than just serving others; it’s loving them."
This author mentioned some ways that communicate love and concern: babysitting to give parents a needed break, furnishing a meal for a family with illness, visiting an elderly person who is housebound, or telephoning someone to say "I've been thinking about you."
Some churches organize opportunities for members to give, serve, and love in their communities. BBC mentions a few:
· Organizing activities to involve local children,
· Providing personal help, including counseling, for those needing such support, and
· Opening "food banks" in church facilities.
Some individuals and families with desperate needs have not been connected up with sources we may use to find those in need. Like the widow of Nain, God knows who and where they are and may send someone directly person to person. A Christian leader from Mexico, Gregorio E, Casillas, participated in this kind of experience.
He had joined the leader of a Christian congregation in visits to members in a particular neighborhood. When scheduled visits were finished, the local leader mentioned that he "felt impressed" to go to one more family. The local leader greeted the woman answering the door by name, and they hugged and cried together.
The local leader had not known that the woman was recovering from chemotherapy and not strong enough to care for her son, who was an adult confined to a wheelchair. Together the two visitors helped the mother dress her son, help him into his chair, and feed him food that a kind neighbor had brought earlier in the day. They helped with other tasks that were difficult for her, and prayed for blessings on both of them.
If we are willing to follow the Savior's example and instruction to go about doing good and sharing His love, we too will receive the guidance and opportunities that we need.
11/21/2024 12:35:35 AM
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In