Luke 7:13–15: “When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.”

February 18th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

That short phrase, “He had compassion on her,” catches our attention and gives us insight into the heart of Jesus Christ. He was moved with compassion for a weeping woman, a mother, so He turned a funeral procession into a celebration. As believers, we must all come before our Savior in humility, but we also need to come remembering that He is compassionate and His “mercy endures forever” (Ps. 136:1). In fact, His compassion and mercy are intrinsic to the very core of His heart, which is why He always responds to our frail and faltering needs, forgives us, and emotionally strengthens us. Bernard of Clairvaux summed up this idea well when he said, “Justice seeks out only the merits of the case, but pity only regards the need.” It was compassion, not justice, that moved Jesus to heal this woman’s son. He still responds to our needs in the same way today.

Don’t you love verse 15? “He who was dead sat up and began to speak.” This young man, who had been dead, started talking; and he certainly must have been talking about what Jesus had just done for him. When Jesus raises people who are dead in their sins today, we still see that they begin to speak about God. It is one of the signs we expect to see when a person gets saved. They start talking about God in a positive way, perhaps for the first time in their lives.

“LORD, help us to speak well of Your grace and mercy this day to others.”