What does Luke 7:11 mean?

Between Jesus' presentation as the Messiah in Nazareth (Luke 4:16–30) and James and John's request to call down fire on a village in Samaria (Luke 9:51–56), Luke alludes to the Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha fifteen times. Some are subtle, others are overt. The account of Jesus raising the son of the widow of Nain is the second of two stories that directly point back to Jesus' statement in Nazareth (Luke 4:24–27). First, like Elisha cleansing the foreign military commander Naaman of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1–14), Jesus healed the servant of a centurion—a foreign military officer—remotely (Luke 7:1–10). Second, this story, which parallels Elijah bringing to life the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8–24).

The imagery is powerful. As Jesus walks into the gates with a crowd of followers, they meet a crowd of mourners carrying the body of the only son of a widow. It's as if two waves meet; which will give way? Normally, Jesus' crowd would follow social convention and join the funeral procession. Not this time.

"Soon afterward" is vague, so all that's sure is this event happened after the centurion's servant was healed and before John the Baptist died. Nain is a small town in the far south of the district of Galilee, not the city in Judea mentioned in Josephus' Jewish War. It's within walking distance of Nazareth and maybe two days from Capernaum. It's only about half a mile, or less than a kilometer, from Shunem: the hometown of the woman whose son Elisha raised from the dead (2 Kings 4:8–37).