Vigil for Ben Towne

Posted by Terry McNichols

I sat at my computer to write something that would describe the vigil service held Wednesday night to lift up the Townes in prayer in this difficult time. I found, however, that I cannot begin to describe what happened in that church, filled to overflowing with 1000 grievers, as the body of Christ came together to mourn. Instead, I would like to link to a beautiful description, written by someone I don't even know, bound together via the internet by mutual friends and the blogs of same. Read here what was so eloquently summarized:

Jesus wept, you know. He lost a dear friend, and He wept. But what always surprises me about that story is that He didn't weep when He found out that Lazarus had died: He wept when he saw everyone else in such devastating grief. It says, "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled... Jesus wept." I wonder if Jesus had only really experienced the "catching" part before-- this part on the Heaven side, the part that must be more welcome than goodbye. Before He was human, he must have always experienced more of the celebration when a soul passes into Heaven than the grief. But as a human: He saw it. He must have realized the incredible pain that exists on the earth side-- on the temporal side. On the side that can't see ahead, that doesn't have a glimpse of the eternal. He realized the immense pain that a family could go
through during a death... And it made Him weep.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4