Our reading is Luke 7:11-17. Jesus is in Galilee, and his popularity is high. He has just left Capernaum and traveled to Nain. On his arrival, he encounters a large grieving crowd. A man has died and they are carrying away his corpse. They are grieving about the man’s death, but they are concerned about his mother. These were challenging days in her life. In her past, she had buried her husband and now she is burying her son. She is the picture of brokenness. Her future did not just include loneliness. It includes poverty too. She lived in a patriarchal society, so her financial security is uncertain. Without her son, there will be no happy ending. Everyone’s heart went out to her, but no one wanted to trade places with her.
There is an unwritten law that says children will outlive their parents. That is not always true. Various studies tell us, between 9% and 18% of parents will experience the death of a child by the time the parent reaches 60 years old. In the nineteenth century, 25% of children died before the age of five. Personally, I fear the death of my children more than I fear my own death. That may be your greatest fear too. Perhaps, that is why this story of a grieving mother grabs our attention. It contains three valuable lessons we should never forget. This is the first.
Life is hard. If you do not believe me, thenask the widow in the story and she will tell you, life is hard.She had nothing. Her husband had died, and now her son had died. The only thing that the future holds for her is loneliness and poverty. She had nothing. She will tell you – life is hard. Sadly, her story is not unique.
The news is filled with people going through hardship. You know the story, everybody knows the story. On February 1, 2026, Nancy Guthrie (born 1942), mother of NBC’s Savannah Guthrie (born 1971) was reported missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona. She was abducted against her will. Because of her daughter’s celebrity status, every detail has been reported by the various news services. Her children have begged for her return, and a million-dollar reward has been offered. The family has struggled during this incredible hardship. Ask them and they will tell you, life is hard. Nancy Guthrie is not the only one to have gone missing in our country. According to the FBI and the DOJ, 500,000 to 600,000 Americans go missing each year. While 98% of those cases are solved, usually quickly, thousands of people remain missing long-term. Ask any of those families and they will tell you, life is hard. However, some stories of hardship never make the news.
During my time in the ministry I heard about hardship regularly. Good people experience hard times. Sometimes, the hardship is caused by poor decision-making. You drank too much or you bought too much. You cheated on your spouse, and everyone got hurt. There is no need to go on, you get the point. Poor decision-making leads to hardship. Sometimes, hardship enters our lives like an uninvited guest. Everyone knows someone with cancer or some other serious disease. You were rear-ended in a traffic accident on your way to work and now your back will never be the same. Depression and anxiety have stripped away any personal joy. How many people do you know who are struggling at this moment? What is your greatest challenge at this moment? I have spent countless hours sitting by the bed of one who is dying. No one has ever looked at me in those last sacred hours and said to me, “Russ, life was much easier than I thought.” They all said to me in countless ways, “life is hard.” Here is point number two.
Sometimes we need others. Look at her story one more time. The woman had lost two significant people in her life, her husband and son. She is staring into an uncertain future. She has nothing, except friends. Verse 12 says, “As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.” They were not there to carry the body. They were not there because funerals were fun. They were there to support this poor woman. Sometimes, we need others. The unnamed widow is not the only one. It is true of some of the greats in the Bible.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was from the town of Nazareth. In her time, Nazareth had a population of between 100 and 400 people. Have you ever lived in a small town? Everyone knows everyone else. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. This is the bottom line – in a time of high morals, Mary was a single, pregnant woman from a small town. Everyone from that town, everyone in her life, was talking about her unwanted pregnancy. She is the hot topic at the well. So, she escapes Nazareth and visits her cousin, Elizabeth. She went for two reasons. First, she goes to Elizabeth to escape the people in her life. Second, she goes to Elizabeth to receive some unconditional love. Has there ever been a time in your life when you needed the counsel of someone else? Has there ever been a time in your life when you needed some unconditional love?
Sometimes we need others. Where do you go for assurance and unconditional love? Maybe you are like Mary and go to a family member? Maybe you go to a friend? Maybe you go to a trusted member of the clergy? Maybe you go to a support group or counselor? Those people are important because they help you carry your burdens. Sometimes we need others. This is the point number three.
We always need God. In our story, the crowd that surrounded her during that day would have left her by sunset. There is only so much people can do. God can do more. As the crowd was walking out of Nain, Jesus was entering. It is a great visual. Everyone wants Jesus to arrive when life is hard. We turn to God during hardship.
In my last church, there was a sewing group. They were nice ladies who never demanded my attention. They would create various items and donate them to various people and causes. One of the things they created were prayer shawls. Each one went to a person who was encountering some kind of hardship. However, before the prayer shawl was delivered, they would pray over it and ask for God to help that individual. I do not know of one time when something miraculous occurred, but I know every time that prayer shawls became a valued item to the person in need. It didn’t become a valued item because of the skill it took to create it. It became a valued item because the prayer shawl reminded them of God. Countless times, I would visit a person in need and find one of the prayer shawls in the bed of the suffering person. When life is hard, we always need God.
I end this blog by challenging you to admit three things. First, I want you to admit life is hard. Second, I want you to admit sometimes you need other people to help you carry the load of hardships. Third and finally, I want you to admit you always need God; He is the only constant in an ever-changing world. American Baptist minister and author Walter Martin (1928-1989) once said, “The key to strengthening spiritual muscle and enduring hardship is finding strength in God.”
Russ Adams 