The account of raising the widow’s son is one of three times recorded in the Gospels that Jesus raised someone from the dead. Never before did such a remarkable scene unfold before the eyes of the multitudes. It demonstrates the grace and power of God in raising the dead, now witnessed in this lowly Man, Jesus of Nazareth.

The setting where this story unfolds was in the city called Nain. A dead man is carried out of the city in an open coffin, and he was the only son of a widow. A large crowd followed, yet all were helpless in the face of death. Many times dead persons had been carried out through this gate for burial, but this time everything was different because Jesus came. He approached the city and saw a large crowd leaving, but His eye saw through all the commotion to behold the widow, weeping because her only son had died. His heart of compassion was moved, and He said, “Do not weep.” He then touched the coffin, and those who carried it stood still.

It was not by chance that a dead man happened to be carried out of Nain at that particular time. No, this was God’s design, His timing. Jesus knew all things, for He had come to heal the brokenhearted. He had come in grace, not now to enforce the law. The law had nothing to say to a dead man, for “the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives” (Rom. 7:1)—and this man was dead. But Jesus, acting in grace above the law, said to the young man, “Arise,” and the one who was dead sat up and began to speak. Jesus then presented him to his mother. The Lord’s act was perfectly human, yet unmistakably divine! What a comfort to know that He is the same for us today.