Beatitudes, Part 2: Blessed are Those who Mourn
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4, NIV)
Blessed are those who mourn… It might seem sort of contradictory. How can it be possible to mourn and yet be blessed? If we’re mourning, it would mean we lost something, right? And losing something or someone to the point of grief can’t be something Jesus wants for us, let alone something He blesses us with.
Yes, when Jesus says blessed are those who mourn, He means real and harrowing heartache. The word He uses in the Greek is “pentheó” which means a deep, personal grief over a death or a hope that dies. It is a grief so severe that it takes possession of the person and cannot be hidden.
But just like when Jesus said blessed are the poor without meaning poor in wealth or financial means, He’s not saying blessed are those who mourn while referencing a funeral or tragic occurrence.
The type of mourning He’s talking about isn't mourning over a death. It’s not a lost soulmate, family member, or friend. When Jesus says blessed are those who mourn, he means blessed is the one who grieves over the fact that they have sinned against God. And this isn’t just a casual feeling sorry for wronging God. It is a deep, gutteral, torn up lamentation over our fallen nature that bogs us down and separates us from our Savior and God.
This isn’t feeling slightly guilty about doing something wrong and then turning around to do it again. It’s a sorrow over offending God, our spiritual bankruptcy, and therefore our inability to lift ourselves out of the pit we’ve dug for ourselves. You see, the poorness in spirit we talked about last time– that level of spiritual poverty we face without tools, power, or hope to lift ourselves out of– is fully realized by those who mourn over it. Those who see their humanity and the wickedness of this world and lament over it are the ones who are in the best position to be saved by the Lord.
Why? Because they have no pride that gives them a false sense of bravado. They have no assurance that anything they have, say, do, or think can save. And if they can’t do it alone, then they need some outside entity to do it for them.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
In other words, blessed are those who are so grieved over their sin that they seek God the Father to be their salvation, for they will receive it. We can take our grief to God and He will give us solace and peace. We can take our heartache over the depravity of our flesh and the wicked desire of our hearts and bring it to the feet of Jesus. And you know what? We won’t be met with disgust, disappointment, or anger. We will be met with grace, love, and the forgiveness of a Savior who has the power to take those sins from us and pay the full pardon of them.
We receive not only grace and a new hope, but we are comforted. Jesus consoles and alleviates the heaviness of grief over sin. And that was completely contradictory at the time from what the Old Testament enforced. Under the law, when people sinned, they had to go through rituals and sacrifices to try and atone for their sin. They had to follow a set of guidelines that helped purify them, but that sin was never fully pardoned the way it would be by Jesus, the perfect and final lamb sacrificed on the cross.
His blood was more sufficient to cleanse us from our sins. His sacrifice was more mighty to save us. And in doing that, He took everything upon Himself. There is nothing I can do, no ritual I can follow, and no priest I can turn to that will be more comforting than the finished work of the cross. He took the work from off my shoulders and the weight of all the mourning I could ever do over my sins and made a way so He could bring me near to Him to be comforted.
And that comfort is not a momentary relief. It is perpetual. When I stand on Jesus and what He has done for not only myself but for the world, that comfort cannot be stolen or taken from me. My soul no longer has to live in the anguish of feeling at odds with God. Instead, I can receive salvation and walk by faith, assured that my sins are forgiven and Jesus dwells within me, never to be separated from Him again.
That blessing is something I can’t fathom on most days. The fact that I no longer have to be tormented by the thought of what my sin has cost me, but instead I can live in the freedom and joy of being comforted by Christ– knowing that I don’t have to wait for eternity to be with Him.
