Read Luke 7:1-17 and then reflect on these words from Martin Luther:
From the Gospel ...and from the son of the widow we should learn to perceive the great power which God, through Christ, will apply to us at the last day when,by a word, He will recall to life all men and give everlasting salvation to believers.
This will be done in the twinkling of an eye, in order that we may not doubt in the least either the power of our Lord Jesus to do this or His will gladly to do it.
For here we have the example. The son of the widow is dead; he has lost the gift of hearing and all other senses. But when Christ speaks to him, he hears. This is certainly a strange and wonderful incident. He that does not hear, hears; and he that does not live, lives. Nothing is done but that Christ opens His mouth and bids him arise. The single word is so powerful that death has to vanish and life return...
Before the Lord death is not death at all. For us it is called and is death when we die. But before God it is a light sleep which could not be any lighter...
From "Treasury of Daily Prayer," page 228.
