From (Luke 7:1-17) 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 all men to life and give everlasting salvation to believers...
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 the 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.
Martin Luther, from "Treasury of Daily Prayer," page 228.
