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.
Explore
·
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?
