Ruth Harris
Token Christian,retired bad-ass level tech support
Okay, I will try one more time to explain what I meant.But in John, Jesus is god. John is the source for the doctrine of the trinity. In Mark, Jesus explicitly denies being god. If the story appeared in Mark, I might understand it. But why would any god weep? Immortality and omnipotence would imply no need for such an emotion. Thus Jesus is faking it. He’s basically lying to them instead of cheering them up. Hundreds of millions if not billions had died since Adam was thrown out of Paradise 4000 years prior. Billions more if you are an old earth creationist. Does god weep for them? Were none worth weeping for? Not even the great prophets and kings of Israel? If god weeps for the dead, why did he create death? If there is eternal life in heaven, there‘s no need for a god to weep, and on the contrary, he should rejoice and be happy about it.
If you’re saying that this just shows Jesus’s humanity, I’d be OK with it, but then you are denying one of the major tenets of Christianity, i.e. his divinity. Maybe that‘s a good UU argument against the Trinity. Jesus is just another great prophet like Elijah.
Jesus was NOT crying because Lazarus was dead. He was showing empathy for the pain of Martha, Mary and the others. Just like my sister showed her empathy for my pain when my son moved out.
You seem to be trying to focus this story on a single thing, Jesus crying. That was not the intended focus when it was written.
As for your statement that I am denying a major tenet of Christianity – not so. I am a Baptist. Part of our basic faith and practice states Jesus was “fully human and fully divine”. Ergo, showing grief or any other emotion is perfectly natural for the incarnate Jesus.
Ruth