Joy Comes in the Mourning
Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
What is it that makes us sad and how can we say that we are “blessed” in this sadness?
It seems to me that when we think of what makes us sad, we often think of things that happen to us in our daily lives. We might think, for instance, of not getting that job that we really wanted to get. Or we might think of the sadness we experience when a relationship that meant a lot to us breaks down. Perhaps we even think of the grief and pain we experience over death. These are just a few examples of things in this life that can make us sad. If we wanted to, we could stack up thousands more. Thomas Hobbes, the great British philosopher once wrote that life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” In other words, life is a sad existence full of mourning.
So is Jesus saying to us that we are “blessed”, or flourishing, simply because we experience this sadness of the world? If so, wouldn’t Jesus’s words here create a culture of morbidity that sought to suffer, to experience sadness, to mourn because the flourishing life is found in this mourning? Well, it all depends on how we interpret the words of Jesus here. An incorrect interpretation would certainly lead us down this path. We would think that the sadder we are, the more we suffer in this life, the more spiritual we are. If we interpret this beatitude incorrectly, we could think that it is chic to be bleak. However, as we will see we cannot read this beatitude as meaning that the more we mourn the more blessed we are.
The first thing we need to remember here is that the beatitudes are not formulas to achieve the blessings of God, but character descriptions of people who already believe in Jesus. What this means is that Jesus simply cannot be saying, “Anyone who is morbid about life and sad now is blessed.” Instead, what this means, is that Jesus is saying, “Christians are people who mourn.”
The second thing we need to remember is that this beatitude follows the previous one. There it was seen that the “poor in spirit” are those who recognize their spiritual poverty before the Lord, who see clearly their sinfulness, and recognize their utter helplessness before a Holy God. The way up is actually down, the ascent starts in descent. Our beatitude today follows this one by complimenting it. It is not talking about mourning in general, just as the previous beatitude was not talking about poverty in general, but it is talking about spiritual mourning.
Thus, we begin to see that this beatitude is looking at the person who already believes in Jesus and describes them as someone who mourns spiritually. Yet, what is it that they mourn over? I think there are three things that the true Christian heart mourns over: our sin, the sin of others, and the effect of sin in the world.
1) We Mourn Over Our Sin
When we look at the Bible it is clear that God looks with favor upon those who mourn over their sin. Perhaps the best example of this in the whole Bible is found in Psalm 51. If this is not something you have had the chance to meditate upon, I would encourage you to meditate upon this Psalm in the days to come.
Here we find David’s prayer to God after his inexcusable act with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. In this prayer, we learn a lot about how we should bring our own sin before the Lord. We especially learn that God’s ultimate desire is not that we would make sacrifices to him, but that our hearts would be broken over our sin and that we would mourn them. Verses 16–17 make this abundantly clear, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:16–17). God wants our hearts to break over our sin, like his heart breaks over our sin. He wants us to mourn our sin, as he mourns our sin.
As we consider this beatitude, we should ask ourselves; do I mourn over my sin? Do we respond like David with earnest prayer, sorry for what we have done, and sad that we have done it? Not sad over the potential repercussions of our sin, but sad over the sin itself? Do we mourn the reality that we have this sinful nature that we just can’t seem to shake? Do we long for the day when our sinfulness is finally overcome? Let us consider these things and recognize that the true Christian heart is one that mourns over its sinfulness like David does in Psalm 51.
2) We Mourn Over the Sin of Others
We don’t just find the saints mourning over their own sin in the Bible, but we see them mourning over the sin of others as well. We see the prophets mourning over the sins of Israel. The book of lamentations is essentially one long discourse mourning the sins, and the results of the sins, that Israel has committed. We see the Apostle Paul mourn over the sexual sin prevalent in the Corinthian church. We see Jesus mourn over the sins of Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37-39.
All of this shows us that the true Christian heart is not simply satisfied with the eradication of personal sin in our lives, but longs for the eradication of sin in others as well. Seeing sin in the world causes the Christian to mourn over the simple reality that things are not as they should be.
When people close to us are walking in sin does that cause us to mourn? Or do we turn a blind eye to it? Do we call others to believe in Jesus and to find forgiveness of sins in him? Or do we prioritize our personal image in a world that looks down upon sharing ones faith? The true Christian is one who mourns over the sins of others and acts accordingly.
3) We Mourn Over the Effect of Sin in the World
It’s not just the sin itself we mourn over, but it’s the effects of sin in the world as well. Probably the best example of this is seen in how Jesus responds to the death of his dear friend Lazarus. In the Gospel of John we actually see Jesus weep over Lazarus’s death. Many have argued that this shows us Jesus’s deep compassion, and it does. However, it also shows us (probably even more so) Jesus’s sadness over the effects of sin in the world.
Jesus knew that he was going to heal Lazarus and so he can’t be weeping here over Lazarus himself. Rather, if we look at John 11:33 we see precisely why Jesus wept, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his Spirit and greatly troubled.” What caused Jesus to weep is seeing all of these other people broken hearted and devastated over the death of Lazarus. Jesus mourns here because of the effects of sin in the world.
This is why it is appropriate for us to mourn at the funerals of our fellow Christians, because death is an effect of sin, it is not natural, and it should not exist. We mourn because death should have never happened to them. We mourn because we long for the new heavens and the new earth where death is no more.
Conclusion
What Jesus is saying here in our beatitude is that the true Christian mourns in the world because things are not the way they are supposed to be. The effects of sin linger on meaning death continues to come for all people. We mourn because we see sin all around us and we hate it with every fiber of our being. We mourn because we continue to sin ourselves. We continue to fail the Lord, break his commands, and let him down.
Yet, shockingly, we are called “blessed” by Jesus when we mourn like this! Why? Simple, because to mourn like this demonstrates that the Holy Spirit has done a work in our hearts to convict us of sin, believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of that sin, and to shun sin walking in righteousness. To mourn like this demonstrates that the Spirit has worked in us to bring about our salvation. This is why Jesus closes this beatitude with the promise of comfort. Those who mourn over sin now, who hate sin, who want to see sin eradicated wherever it is found, and who experience deep sadness over the sinfulness of the world will one day experience the comfort of eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.