4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted – Matthew 5:4
The Beatitudes of Jesus are essentially nine blessings found in the most unusual places. They run counter to what we often cling to as being strength. In many ways, the teachings of Jesus are foreign to us. This is for our benefit, for the answer to our current state of life has to be outside of our current circumstances.
Why are we blessed in mourning?
Take a look at the world around you. The proper response is mourning. Reject any theology that fails to see the life below – without full expression of God – in such bleak terms. For if everything in this life were steady, then what use would the Gospel be? It would be no more than a motivational message of self-help. No, the Gospel of Christ clings to the realities of life.
But what about the spiritual discipline of joy? Are we not to have incredible joy in this world? Yes, but joy is to be as internal as it is to be external. Joy lives within us even when our outward movement is mourning. If Jesus is close to those who mourn, then why not allow our heavy hearts space to do so? Mourning gives our Lord space to comfort as the loving dad He is. The truest grit of joy is found in the recognition of grief. We know the depths of sadness, yet it doesn’t control us. We know there is victory on the other side such mourning. This is the joy purchased through the grief of the cross.
We are promised an uncomfortable comfort in this world. As we share in the sufferings of this world with those around us, Jesus gives us the spiritual confidence needed. We mourn with others so we can comfort others. As an expression of an illogical faith, we are an equal balance of mourning and comfort; grief and joy.
Where there is great sadness, there is an even greater savior.
Lord, teach us to mourn well. Cling to our sadness and give it purpose. May your joy rule our hearts as we look to make some sort of theology out of the broken fragments of this world. Be near.
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