And there at Nain the widow had lived with her husband and son.  The first blow came when her husband died, but she still had her son, so she was not alone in the world.  But next her son too was taken and in a moment her life suddenly became empty and grey.  And so she took her place in the funeral procession to see his body laid to rest in a tomb hewn in the rock face outside the village.  The body, wrapped in linen grave-clothes with a separate piece wound round the head, was placed on an open bier.  In front there went flute players piping a dirge, then came the bearers with the widow walking alongside, and lastly the people of the village.  The beauty of the distant view only added to her sadness, for never again would her son share it with her.

But at the entrance of the village they were met by another crowded procession which had just toiled up the steep path from the valley below.  At the head of the procession was Jesus who had left Capernaum the day before, a distance of some 25 miles.  So the two met.  “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’  Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.  And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’  The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother” (NRSV, Luke 7:13-15).