Luke 7:11-17  11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” 14 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

A man driving home from work saw a little league game being played and decided to stop and watch. He sat behind the bench on the first-baseline and asked one of the boys on the bench what the score was. “We’re behind 14 to nothing” the boy said with a smile. The man said, “Really? You don’t look very discouraged for being that far behind!” “Discouraged?” the boy said with a puzzled look on his face. “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t even been up to bat yet!” To an onlooker, that team may have appeared to be “Without a Prayer.” But his attitude of that player was just the opposite.

Some would describe the widow in the reading above as being “without a prayer.” Her son had died, she was taking his body to be buried in a state confusion and uncertainty. The death of her son had profound implications for this widow. She not only lost her family, she lost her livelihood, her security and her dreams. She “didn’t have a prayer.” But Jesus helped her anyway.

The harsh truth of the matter is that under the Law, you and I really don’t have a prayer. Adam’s Fall into sin brought death to all mankind, including us. (Rom 5:12-21) Death is the result of our sin. And we have no ability to come to God on our own. This account gives us a good picture of that situation. The Widow of Nain was in despair, there was nothing should could do, nowhere to turn. Notice that she did not approach Jesus, but He came to her.

If you find yourself feeling without a prayer, you can take heart in the knowledge that God has taken the initiative and sent his Son to give you life, even without your prayer. God is good and kind and gracious to us certainly without our deserving it, and also without our asking for it! Luther affirmed this over and over again in his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism. A repeated refrain in that section speaks of God doing things even “without our prayer.”

Encountering the situation in Nain, Jesus touched the coffin. He reached out and took the initiative without a prayer requesting Him to do so. And what He did here was not just a trivial gesture or token show of compassion. It had implications. Touching a dead body made a person ceremonially unclean. It prohibited them from doing certain things, like going into the Temple, for a specified period of time. But Jesus wasn’t worried about that. The sinless Son of God did not remain aloof, but reached out and touched the coffin in order to help this widow in her grief. And it didn’t do her son any harm, either!

In a similar way, Jesus reached out and touched each of us. He was willing to take on Himself our uncleanness, our sin, and ultimately our death. He did not shirk from this task for which He had come into this world. He did not try to distance Himself from death, because He has assumed flesh and bone in order to confront death for us with His bare hands. And when He confronted death, He mastered it. Even though He died for sin, He was the victor! His resurrection is our guarantee that He won the war.

If you find yourself feeling without a prayer, in a hopeless situation or just not knowing what to pray, remember the touch of Jesus. His touch raises to life. His touch raised the widow’s son. His touch brings comfort and healing. His touch gives you eternal life, which transcends all grief. And His touch has implications for this world, not just the world to come.