What does Luke 7:12 mean?

Jesus, His disciples, and a crowd are entering the town of Nain near the southern border of Galilee. As they approach, they meet a large funeral procession. A widow's only son has died. The crowd gives what emotional support they can. She now has no husband and no son; her future appears hopeless.

Funerals were held in the evening. Once the man's death was confirmed, he was washed and anointed and either dressed in his own clothing or wrapped in a cloth. Attendants carried the body away on a litter or wooden board to a burial place where it would remain for a year until the flesh was gone. Then the bones would be moved to a family ossuary: a stone box made for that purpose.

The gate would be important to the widow in the coming days as the elders of the city settled her estate. If she is young enough, she may enter a levirate marriage there (Deuteronomy 25:5–6). If her family still has property, she will sell it to a kinsman redeemer (Leviticus 25:25–28, 47–49). Or she may watch, a passive witness to almost any financial transaction that will determine how impoverished she will be. Instead, moments after she expected her son to leave through the gates for the last time, he comes back to life.

The man is mentioned first, but the verse reveals that the story is about the mother. Like the previous story, Jesus heals someone dear to the main character. Although the servant and the son receive healing, the stories are about the centurion and the woman.