Matthew 5:4 - Blessed are those who mourn.

“A good man always finds enough over which to mourn and weep; whether he thinks of himself or of his neighbour, he knows that no one lives here without suffering, and the closer he examines himself the more he grieves.” - Thomas A. Kempis The Imitation of Christ

This week as we continue to look at the “beatitudes” we will be focusing on “blessed are those who mourn”.

Matthew 5:4 (NIV) 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We could simply take it at face value that God will bless those who mourn by comforting them. That seems the simplest explanation. For example, if we are mourning a loved one it is intensely comforting to know we will see them again. Any problem seems small when we put it, as my mother says, “in the light of eternity”. This week we will look at several aspects of mourning – the first being mourning over our spiritual state.

It is logical that we should view the mourning spoken of in Matthew 5 as spiritual. Being poor in spirit is beyond being poor materially. The beatitudes were ordered for a reason. Poorness in spirit is the first step in a right relationship with God. Mourning over it is the second.

“Religion, according to the Bible, is neither a set of intellectual convictions nor a bundle of emotional feelings, but a compound of both, the former giving birth to the latter.” —Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

In the view of this commentator, mourning is the natural response to the intellectual understanding of our poorness in spirit as compared with God and His holy standard. If we in fact feel we have nothing to offer and our deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) should we not mourn? The comfort then comes from the kingdom of heaven and knowing that though we are worth nothing - God thought us worth dying for.

Even if we can rationally say that we have no regrets for anything in our life, including our mistakes that have made us who we are, emotionally we undoubtedly look back on some moments with embarrassment and shame.

So how does the comfort come?

Psalms 103:12 (NIV) 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

God does not remember our sins. Someday perhaps we will not either. In the mean time, He is giving us that abundant life, little by little replacing our sin nature with the God given one for which we were made. “Joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b).

“No more crying there; we’re goin’ to see the King”.

These are some initial thoughts. If I can see through the tears more will follow.

Mark Wallace