Lent: Only son of widow

Luke 7:11-17

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Jesus saw the woman's distress and He took away the cause of her sorrow. I'm sure life was still very difficult for her. Nearly every account of a widow in the Bible is a tale of a difficult life. Although some seem to have managed well (Ruth, Anna), they survived despite their circumstances, not because of them. Jesus saw the desperation of this woman's situation and He improved it significantly out of love for her. I'm sure she still struggled to provide the basic necessities for herself and her son, but receiving her only child back was certainly a reassurance of God's love and a reason to hope no matter what challenges she faced in the future.
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Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that if God truly loved us, He would take away all our sorrow. Eventually, He will...but not while we are still living with the sin of this earth. Our own sins cause us grief, other individuals' sins cause us grief, and the sins of society cause us grief, and will continue to do so until we join our Lord in heaven. In the meantime Christ is willing to take away a large portion of our trouble, giving us reassurances of His love and reasons to hope.