Blessed are Those Who Mourn, for They Will Be Comforted

 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The word translated “mourn” here means a deep grieving. It is true that God is a God of comfort to those who mourn the death of a loved one or lost relationship (2 Corinthians 1:3-5), and that God’s comfort surpasses any other, as we know that all perfect healing will happen in heaven. Yet, the inference here in this beatitude  goes beyond even that. It is one of deeply grieving our sins that have separated us from God, so the translation from Greek would be “Blessed are those who deeply grieve their sins that have separated them from God.”  As Ephesians 2:1-2 indicates, before our surrendering our lives to God, we were like “dead men/dead people walking” - we had no way to rectify that situation on our own. We were helpless. We rejected Jesus, and so lived and walked in the darkness of the world under the power of satan. (Romans 1:20-22; Ephesians 5:8) The ruler of this world – satan – is doing everything he can to keep us away from the only true God. Yet, by God’s amazing grace, God reaches down through all eternity to call us out of the mire of sin and darkness. God the Holy Spirit prods us and pings us, even allowing us to make choices that will bring despair or suffer troubles if we don’t immediately respond to His call, so that we can call out to Him and seek His face. The Holy Spirit pursues us – like the Father in  Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, so that, by God’s grace, at some point we, too, may respond to the Spirit, falling down on the rock and hard place of sin and grieving the mess we’ve made by rejecting all God has done in Christ for us. The Spirit delights when we respond to His insistent call to us to “wake up” and to lament our sins – both “gross” and “respectable”. To recognize that the only source of release from the captivity and oppression of sin and its penalty – eternal death – is through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul, in his letter to the church at Corinth, refers to this recognition as “godly sorrow” – a sorrow or mourning generated through the Spirit’s prodding that leads us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). In response to our grieving and repentance, God forgives us, surrounds us with His comfort, pouring out His grace on us and His Spirit into us. We receive the bounty of blessings – entrance into forever relationship with God, finding our true comfort—our peace -- in Christ, and in knowing that because of what He did at the cross, God has guaranteed our eternity with Him, and that He will lavish His love, grace, and mercy upon us (Ephesians 1:3-14). Have we mourned our sins? Do we mourn the sins that still befall us even though we are saved? It is never too early or too late to do so.

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·       Do you remember a time when you grieved the loss of something or someone? How did that make you feel? Did you cry?

·       Why do you think that Jesus wants us to mourn our sinfulness? What might mourning the sinfulness of rejection of Jesus look like?

·       Is Jesus’ blessing of peace enough for you? Why do you answer that way?

Bonus: "Forgive Me, Lord, For I Have Sinned", Nathan Surgenor