CHRIST our SYMPATHIZER: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb 4:15). Blessed double negative! Yes, He can, and does, sympathize with His struggling people. Never is this seen more clearly than in the words, “Jesus wept.” L.W.G. Alexander writes: More wonderful words than these are nowhere found in Scripture. The verb translated “wept” is unique in its employment here, not found elsewhere. Literally it is “Jesus shed tears.” These were tears of sympathy with the bereaved—heaven’s gems sparkling on the cheeks of Emmanuel, God with us, revealing to mankind the heart of the Eternal. Could He not have prevented this sorrow? Yes. But had Lazarus not died, this special revelation of the heart of God would have never been granted to men to support them in the hour of sorrow. The death of Lazarus has enriched the race with a vision of God which can only be discerned through tear-dimmed eyes.