In 7:11-17 we see the Man-Savior showing pity to the weeping mother by raising up her dead son. Verses 11 and 12 say, “And it came about soon afterwards that He went into a city called Nain, and His disciples went with Him and a large crowd. Now as He came near the gate of the city, behold, one who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a considerable crowd from the city was with her.” This situation was very sad, and no one could do anything to comfort the grieving widow. First she had lost her husband, and now she had lost her only son.
This case was unique in its misery—the only son of a widow was being carried in the coffin. The Savior’s compassion was also unique in His loving sympathy. He volunteered, in His tender mercy, His power of resurrection to raise the widow’s son from death, without being asked to do so. This indicates His unique commission, coming to save lost sinners (19:10), and shows the high standard of His morality, as a Man-Savior, in saving sinners.
Luke 7:13-15 says, “And seeing her, the Lord had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. And approaching, He touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise! And the dead man sat up and began to speak; and He gave him to his mother.” Here we see the Man-Savior’s compassion in speaking to the widow and in touching the coffin. When He touched the coffin, those who were carrying it stood still. Then the Lord commanded the dead son of the widow to arise. This is the Lord’s divine attributes expressed in His human virtues.
In His compassion, the Man-Savior spoke to the widow and touched the coffin. He was not asked to do these things. But seeing the situation, He initiated the action that caused the dead son to be raised up. To the great surprise of those present, the Lord initiated this action according to His human virtue. What caused Him to be moved with compassion? The cause of this was His human virtue. Then in His human virtue His divine attributes were expressed by raising the young man from the dead.
Again we see that the Lord Jesus is full of the human virtues and of the divine attributes. In His raising up the dead son and giving him to his mother, we see the expression of the Man-Savior’s divine attributes in His human virtues.
Luke, who wrote his Gospel according to the sequence of morality, put together the two cases of the healing of the centurion’s slave and the raising up of the widow’s son. In the case of the healing of the centurion’s slave we see the Lord’s authority, but in the case of the raising up of the widow’s son we see His affection. When the Lord touched the coffin, He showed His sympathy, affection, and love. Therefore, the first case is a matter of authority; the second case is a matter of affectionate sympathy. In both cases we see the Man-Savior in His human virtues with His divine attributes.
Actually, in both cases we see the authority of the Man-Savior. Saying a word that the centurion’s servant may be healed implies authority. However, the authority expressed here is not as high as that expressed in the raising up of the widow’s son. When we put these two cases together, we see that the Man-Savior, the God-man, was full of human virtues with the divine attributes.