FOR THIS WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN JESUS
Isaiah 9:6 John 11:17-35 (As I prepared for an upcoming Blue Christmas Service ...) Thirty or so years after the angels, the stable, the shepherds, the star and the wise men, Jesus received the news that his friend, Lazarus, was dying. Jesus took his time in arriving at Bethany for purposes known only to him and His father. He knew how this particular story would end, but Mary and Martha, Lazarus' sisters, and their friends did not. The end they witnessed was Lazarus' death, and they wept with grief over their loss. Jesus, knowing that rejoicing was on the way, had no reason to cry, but John 11:35 tells us "Jesus Wept." But he stopped, gathered Mary and Martha and all their neighbors and realitives in with his compassion and love and shared their pain and their sorrow. God in human flesh, whose birth we celebrate each year with lights and laughter and parities, wept with them. I realize that this is a strange story to share during the Christmas s...