Why did Jesus weep before raising Lazarus from the dead?

[Shri Anil asked: In the Bible, there is an incident in which a close devotee of Jesus named Lazarus died four days ago and the news came to Jesus when He was away from the place of Lazarus. Hearing this news, Jesus said that Lazarus was just sleeping and that He is going to awaken him from the sleep and the disciples who would be present there with Jesus would witness this miracle, which would glorify God. However, when Jesus reached Lazarus’ house, seeing Lazarus’ sisters cry, Jesus also wept briefly. Subsequently, He raised Lazarus from the dead. Swami, in this incident, first Jesus knew that He was going to raise Lazarus, but when He reached the place of Lazarus, seeing the weeping sisters, He also wept. The all-knowing God was weeping, overwhelmed by the sight of His weeping devotees. How can we correlate these two scenes of (1) Jesus foretelling the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead and performing the same miracle and (2) the weeping of Jesus upon seeing the weeping devotees? Please enlighten us.]

Swami replied: Jesus wept for the sake of the weeping devotees and not for the death of Lazarus because He knew fully well that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. God is always pained at the pain of His real devotees, who love Him both theoretically and practically, without aspiring for anything in return. His foretelling the raising of Lazarus from the dead is not at all connected to the weeping of Jesus.

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| Shri Datta Swami | Why did Jesus weep before raising Lazarus from the dead? |

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