Autism Is Not a Good Gift From God: Part 4

In Part 3, we looked at Jairus, a father who went looking for Jesus because his daughter desperately needed healing.

Jairus found Jesus.

He fell at His feet and begged Him to come to his house.

But in Luke 7, we meet another parent whose story unfolds very differently.

She never went looking for Jesus.

Yes, you read that right. We often read about those who sought out Jesus, but this was not this parent’s case.

However, Jesus saw her.

Two Crowds Met at the Gate

Scripture tells us:

“Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her.”

Luke 7:11–12 NKJV

There were two crowds traveling in two different directions.

Jesus was approaching the city with His disciples and a large crowd following Him.

At the same time, another large crowd was leaving the city.

But this crowd was following a coffin.

One crowd was walking in the footsteps of Life.

The other crowd was following the steps of death.

And they met at the gate.

Inside that funeral procession was a mother who had already experienced tremendous loss. She was already a widow, and now she had lost her only son and was on her way to bury him.

But before the people reached the burial site, something happened.

Jesus saw her.

She Never Asked, but Jesus Saw Her

Scripture continues:

“When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”

Luke 7:13 NKJV

I want you to notice who Scripture specifically tells us Jesus saw.

A mama’s heart in deep anguish due to the loss of her only son.

Before Luke tells us that Jesus approached the coffin, he tells us that Jesus saw her.

Really hone in on that.

He saw her.

She didn’t have to approach Him and explain her situation.

He simply saw her.

And there may be a parent reading this right now who needs to know that Jesus sees you, too.

Yes, He sees your child. He was there when your child received the diagnosis. He sees the pain, the unrest, the tears that fall in secret, and the dreams that look like they’ll never be fulfilled.

He sees you.

And the same Jesus who saw this mother is the Jesus we have been examining throughout this series.

His Compassion Moved Him to Act

Scripture does not simply tell us that Jesus saw her.

It tells us:

“He had compassion on her.”

His heart went out to her in her pain.

And throughout the ministry of Jesus, compassion was not just an emotional response He often had. We repeatedly see His compassion followed by action.

Scripture says:

“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.’ So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.”

Luke 7:14–15 NKJV

Jesus walked directly toward what everyone else was carrying to the grave.

He touched the coffin.

And the procession came to a halt.

Everyone around this mother was moving in the direction that their current circumstances told them they had to go.

Then Jesus stepped into the current circumstance.

Jesus Interrupted What Death Had Started

Jesus did not join the crowd and continue walking toward the burial place with them.

He intervened.

Jesus had already spoken to the mother, telling her not to weep. But when He approached the coffin, He spoke directly to the issue:

“Young man, I say to you, arise.”

And what was dead responded to the voice of Jesus.

The young man sat up and began to speak.

This is another place where we have to look at the direction of Jesus’ actions.

Throughout this series, we have been examining the character of the Father by looking at the Son.

Jesus said that He did what He saw His Father doing.

So what did Jesus do when He encountered this mother and what had happened to her child?

He did not tell her that her child’s death was a good gift or that He intended for her child to die before his time.

And here’s the key.

He did not tell her that she needed to accept what had happened as the way her son was supposed to be.

What Jesus did was restore what had been lost.

Jesus said:

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

John 10:10 NKJV

Luke does not tell us what caused this young man’s death, so we do not need to add something to the account that Scripture does not tell us.

But Scripture does show us what Jesus did when He encountered death.

He restored life.

And this was consistent with that which He was sent into the world to do.

She Had Never Seen Jesus Do This Before

There is another important detail about this account.

The resurrection of the widow’s son at Nain is the first resurrection performed by Jesus recorded in Luke’s Gospel.

Think about what that means for this mother.

She did not have the testimony of Jairus’s daughter to look back on, or Lazarus, who was also raised from the dead.

In this moment, she could not stand there and say, “I know Jesus can raise my son because I watched Him do it for someone else.”

Luke had not previously recorded Jesus raising someone from the dead.

However, this mother became the first parent in Luke’s Gospel to experience Jesus resurrecting her child.

And let’s go a little deeper here.

She never asked Him to do it.

Did you catch that?

Jesus initiated the encounter.

He saw her, had compassion on the parent, walked up to her child’s coffin, and interrupted death by speaking a Word to her son.

And He gave him back to his mother.

Therefore, He restored that which had been lost.

Sometimes we look for evidence that Jesus has done the exact thing we are believing for before we are willing to believe Him concerning our own child.

We want to find somebody whose child has already experienced what we are believing to see happen in ours.

We aimlessly search for a testimony that looks exactly like our situation.

But somebody has to be the first testimony.

This mother did not have another mother’s resurrection testimony to lean on in Luke’s account.

She became the testimony.

And He Presented Him to His Mother

There is one sentence in this account that I do not want us to overlook:

“And He presented him to his mother.”

Jesus did not raise this young man merely to demonstrate His power before a crowd.

There was a mother standing there whom Jesus saw and had compassion on as she was on her way to bury her only child.

And He didn’t ignore her situation.

After Jesus spoke life to him, He gave the son back to his mother.

What had been taken away from her was now standing alive before her.

This is why, when we are trying to determine the heart and character of God concerning our children, we have to keep looking at Jesus.

You may question, what does compassion look like?

Look at Jesus.

Does He see me, the parent who is grieving over what has happened to my child?

Look at Jesus.

What did Jesus do when He encountered something that had robbed a parent of what they once had?

Look at Jesus.

He stopped what was taking place, spoke life into that which had died, and gave the son back to his mother, restoring him to his rightful place.

The Parent Jesus Saw

Part 3 introduced us to a parent who knew he needed Jesus and went looking for Him.

But this mother never had the opportunity to do that.

Jesus came to her.

Maybe you have looked at other parents and thought they knew how to approach Jesus better than you.

Perhaps they know more Scripture and have stronger faith.

Maybe you have wondered whether you have prayed enough, believed enough, or done enough to get God’s attention concerning your child.

Remember the widow of Nain.

She never asked.

Scripture tells us:

“Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen up among us’; and, ‘God has visited His people.’ And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.”

Luke 7:16–17 NKJV

The people who had been following a funeral procession left talking about Jesus.

What began with a crowd surrounding death, sadness for the mother, and people discussing the event at hand ended with a crowd glorifying God.

And for the parent who has wondered whether Jesus sees you in the middle of everything concerning your child, remember this mother.

You do not have to convince Jesus to see you.

The widow of Nain never did.

Jesus saw her.