The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Holy Gospel of the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, Luke 7:11–17 as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.
Notes
II. The Resurrection of the Dead Son of the Widow at Nain (v. 11–18)
11. Now it happened afterward * that He (the Lord Jesus) came into a city (among the mountains of Hermon, located four miles away from Capernaum) with the name Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him (not only the twelve Apostles, but rather also many other who were His disciples and hearers) and many people (which followed after the Lord Christ for the sake of His teaching and miracles).
* Greek: “On the following day”
12. Now as He came near to the gate of the city, behold, there a dead man was being carried out, * who was * the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And many people from the city went out with her (for the burial of her son).
*For the Jews had to have their graves outside of the city.
** 1 Kings 17:17.
13. And when the Lord saw her, * He was moved with pity for her (from heartful compassion) the same (grieving widow), and said to her, ** “Do not weep (excessively over the deadly departure of your son).”
* Matthew 9:36
** Jeremiah 31:16
14. And He came forward and touched (with His almighty, life-giving hand) the casket (the deathbed, the bier, upon which the young the man was openly carried), and the bearers stood. And He said, “Young man, * I (who am the resurrection and the life, John 11:25) say to (command) you, stand up.”
* Mark 5:41
15. And the dead man sat upright, and began to speak. * And He gave him (living again) to his mother. (This is the first dead person whom Christ raised in the New Testament; afterward, He also raised the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the school, Matthew 9:25, and Lazarus, John 11:43–44, from the dead, and in His resurrection there were many bodies of the saints who were raised with Him, Matthew 27:52)
* 2 Kings 4:36
16. And fear came upon all of them (for they were greatly astonished over this great miracle), and they praised God and said, “A great prophet (who is the Messiah Himself) has risen among us, and ** God has visited His people (through the sending of this prophet in grace). ***
* The like had not happened since the time of Elisha, and thus not in nine hundred years, much less with such circumstances.
** Luke 1:68, 78 (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; Matthew 16:14)
*** Or, according to the Greek: “And (some) said (who still regarded Him as a mere man, but nevertheless held Him to be a prophet), ‘A great prophet has risen among us.’ Or (others, who still went further said), ‘God has visited His people (through the Messiah Himself).’”
17. And this report of Him resounded in all the Jewish lands and in all the surrounding lands.
Useful Applications
II. DOCTRINE: As easy as it was for Christ to raise this young man from the dead with a word, thus will He also by His divine almighty Word raise all the dead on the Last Day (v. 14–15).
PATTERN OF SOUND WORDS 