Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

January 19
Sunday


TWO MEN

READ:
John 11:30-37
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He groaned in the spirit
and was troubled....
Jesus wept.
__John 11:3,35
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Two men were killed in our city on the same day. The first, a police officer, was shot down while trying to help a family. The other was a homeless man who was shot while drinking with friends early that day.
The whole city grieved for the police officer. He was a fine young man who cared for others and was loved by the neighborhood he served.

A few homeless people grieved for the friend they loved and lost.

I think the Lord grieved with them all.

When Jesus saw Mary and Martha and their friends weeping over the death of Lazarus, "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33). He loved Lazarus and his sisters. Even though He knew that He would soon be raising Lazarus from the dead, he wept with them (v.35). Some Bible scholars think that part of Jesus' weeping also may have been over death itself and the pain and sadness it causes in people's hearts.

Loss is a part of life. But because Jesus is "the resurrection and the life" (v.25), those who believe in Him will one day experience an end of all death and sorrow. In the meantime, he weeps with us over our losses and asks us to "weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15). __Anne Cetas

```````````````````Give me a heart sympathetic and tender;``````````````````
`````````````````````Jesus, like Thine, Jesus, like Thine,`````````````````````
`````````````Touched by the needs that are surging around me,`````````````````
```````````````and filled with compassion divine. __Anon.`````````````````````
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Compassion helps to heal the hurts of others.

********************************Today's Bible Reading __ John 11:30-37********************************

30 Now Jesus had not yet
come into the town but was
in the place where Martha
met Him. 31 Then the Jews
who were with her in the
house, and comforting her,
when they saw that Mary
rose up quickly and went
out, followed her, saying,
"She is going to the tomb to
weep there."

32 Then, when Mary came
where Jesus was, and saw
Him, she fell down at His
feet, saying to Him, "Lord,
if You had been here, my
brother would not have
died."

33 Therefore, when Jesus
saw her weeping, and the
Jews who came with her
weeping, He groaned in
the spirit and was troubled.

34 And he said, "Where
have you laid him?" They
said to Him, "Lord, come
and see."

35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the
Jews said, "See how He
loved him!"

37 And some of them said,
"Could not this Man, who
opened the eyes of the
blind, also have kept this
man from dying?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Although He had the power to heal Lazarus before he died (vv.1-5),
Jesus delayed coming to the aid of His sick friend. Yet when Christ
showed up at the funeral, he grieved with Lazarus' loved ones.
It would appear that Jesus wanted to call Lazarus back from the
dead in order to testify of His divine power. God's actions do not
always operate according to our expectations. But how He chooses
to respond will certainly result in the outcome that will ultimately
glorify Him. The raising of Lazarus is a wonderful example of this.