Nevertheless, it was a good answer for edification and faith building of your students and all of us who have read this posting also.īut, I still remain highly critical that Jesus weeping at His best friend's grave was His most sorrowful moment. So, His weeping at Lazarus grave was moved solely by deep compassion of His human nature. But God had a better plan for Lazarus in order for His name to be glorified.īeing God, Jesus told His disciples beforehand that Lazarus was dead already but shall be resurrected. But that honour was denied him like many of us who were not there at our loved ones last moment on Earth. Probably, His best friend might have requested to say goodby to his very busy miracle working best friend. Remind you also that Jesus stayed extra days when he first heard that Lazarus was very ill and dying. It would have been so sorrowful if He wasn't able to bring Lazarus back to life, having done the same to other dead people who were never His best friend. AND knew quite alright that Lazarus shall comeback to life by His Resurrection power, which He fulfilled for the interest of the people around. I'm saying in essence that His weeping wasn't a confirmation of His most sorrowful moment and neither loosing His best made Him very sorrowful because He the life and Resurrection. My humble observation is that there are many good reasons and strong evidences to confirm that Jesus weeping for his best friend Lazarus' death was His greatest sorrowful moment in the Bible.įirstly, it's at best a good answer for helping your students understand the humanity of Jesus and His genuine love for His best friend as well His great compassion for Lazarus sisters and their town people who had gathered to mourn Lazarus death. Thanks for posting and sharing this your wonderful seminal sermon here. And I know if that if I keep believing and trusting in Jesus, when I die He will love me like that too, and take me to Heaven where we will all be happy forever." Let's pray that everyone embraces Jenny's plan and keeps believing and trusting in Jesus. Jenny, wanting to have the last word and speaking on behalf of her classmates, had no more questions, only this comment: "What Jesus did for Lazarus was really cool, and it showed how much He loved him. The deeper meaning of what Jesus said is that death has no power over us for those who believe that He is the resurrection and the life. Bradford's class that there was more in those words than meets the eye. Most people are familiar with the story of Lazarus, yet only a few can recall what Jesus told the guards at the tomb after Lazarus came forward - "Unwrap him and let him go free," He said. Having listened to Jenny and her questions, I set aside the topic I had originally intended to speak about, and shared more about Jesus and Lazarus and what happened after "Jesus wept." We talked about the soldiers rolling back the stone to the tomb and Jesus then raising Lazarus from the dead and what that meant for all of us today. When my grandfather died last year, everybody in my family cried, and me too." "Jenny, I can't know for certain," I said, "but I would think that when his best friend Lazarus died, and he went to visit Martha and Mary, then that may have been his saddest time." As soon as I said that, another student raised his hand and shared, "That's probably right. With a squint in her eye and furrow in her brow, I could tell that Jenny wasn't sure if I had just pulled the number three out of the sky to appease her and then get on with the class, so she had a follow-up query: "Chaplain Tom, if Jesus cried three times and it's in the Bible, which time do you think made him the saddest?" It was obvious that Jenny had the affirmation and attention of her peers as their eyes drifted back and forth between the two of us during the exchange. I said,"Jenny.that's a great question.and most Bible scholars would say that scripture reveals three times when Jesus cried." Before I had an opportunity to share with them a little bit about what a hospice chaplain does, one of the students, Jenny, raised her hand and asked, "Chaplain Tom, do you know how many times the Bible says that Jesus cried?" I had a feeling that Jenny already knew the answer to the question before she asked it, and that she was just checking out the accuracy of my biblical knowledge. There were about fifteen boys and girls, bibles open and ready to go. Bradford's 4th grade Bible Study class as a guest speaker was a special privilege.
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