Jesus WepT?

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At 05:33 AM 4/25/96 PDT, you wrote:
>Here's a question for discussion:
>
>I've been studying the story of when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It
>is said in John 11:35 JESUS WEPT  For what reason: 

I believe that Jesus, in His humanity, desired to share in all of the
different trials and challenges that men face in this world.  For a moment,
He placed deity aside and wept, as any man, for a dear, dear friend.

By so doing, He is now able to let every person that ever grieves over the
loss of a loved one that "He has been there, too."  How comforting to cry to
Jesus in sorrow and know that, although He is God, He nonetheless went
through grief as a man and understands our feelings!  ("...touched by the
feeling of our infirmities..tempted in all points.. Hebrews 4:15)  As God,
in the Old Testament, He had not experienced Himself the things that His
children were going through.  Now He has.

Think about this- when Jesus was going to the cross He was offered a drink
of vinegar that He refused to accept (Matthew 27:34).  This is commonly
believed to refer to a type of anesthesia that helped to relieve the
terrible pain of crucifixion- yet Jesus refused to be relieved of any of the
pain!  Part of His mission was to experience what we experience- pain,
hunger, loneliness and, yes...grief at the cemetery, too.

This is my explanation of why Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus.
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Rex Deckard, M.Ed.
rdeckard@venus.net
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