Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Matthew 5:4).

In our daily meditations, we reflect on the teachings of Jesus from the hillsides of Galilee—the sermon commonly known as The Sermon on the Mount. In yesterday’s meditation, we examined Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This poverty of spirit should lead us to mourn for every attitude within us that does not align with Jesus Christ, such as the sinful woman who wept at the feet of Jesus at Simon the Pharisee’s table (Luke 7:36-49). If we have truly reached a state of spiritual bankruptcy, the next step is to embrace the emotional aspect that will guide us to mourn over all that has displeased God; hence Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4). With this statement, the Lord wants us to unburden ourselves of everything that weighs heavily upon us: “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). We should not rationalize our actions; instead, we must cultivate a hatred for anything we know that is selfish and displeasing to God. Be open and vulnerable to the Lord; after all, He is aware of everything we have done, including our motives. Nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:13).

The Greek word translated as “mourn” is pentheo; it means grieving and experiencing sorrow of heart, often leading to tears. Mourning is regarded as blessed by God when it prompts a change of heart in us, usually after we feel the pain caused by sin, either to ourselves or to others. The Lord empathizes with our pain and witnesses our tears. When we are moved to tears by pain, God intervenes to comfort us through the presence of the Comforter. In verse 4, the word comfort is the verbal form of parakletos, the name Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). Different English translations of the original Greek word include Comforter (KJV), Counselor (NIV), Advocate (NEB), and Helper (ESV).

Paracletos is a difficult word to translate because it means one called alongside us. The Lord comes alongside us when we mourn. He feels what we feel, sympathizes with our weaknesses, and shares in our pain (Hebrews 4:15). When Jesus confronted Saul, who became the apostle Paul, on the Damascus Road, the Lord said to him, "Why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). Jesus Himself was not being persecuted, but He felt the pain of His people being persecuted by Saul. The pain we go through touches the heart of our God. Our tears are precious to God. Even when tears are absent, it is the attitude of the heart to which God responds. The Scripture says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Another thing to mourn is the state of the world in disobedience to God and the evil that surrounds us in this life. One only needs to watch or listen to the news today to witness such great suffering among humanity and God's creation. A true believer longs for the restoration of God’s creation. When we mourn over the condition of this present world, we feel God's heart for humanity, and we look forward to the time when the Kingdom of God will be fully manifested. To mourn, we must understand the impact of sin. It separates us from God. Sin tramples God’s laws and ways and robs us of the joy of God’s presence.

It is common today for teachers and leaders in the church to focus solely on the positive and downplay the need for mourning or genuine sorrow. However, if you are in touch with God’s heart, you will long for His ways to be demonstrated and for others to be restored to a relationship with Him. If this is not the case, ask God to soften your heart. If sin in your own life does not grieve you, seek God to soften your heart and reveal His heart to you anew. On this side of heaven, we will never reach a point where we are free from sorrow over sin. In short, we can say that mourning is feeling sadness over loss and a longing for what is yet to be fulfilled. May God show us what it cost Him to cleanse us from sin and bring us the joy of His salvation. Keith Thomas

This meditation is from a more complete study found at the following link: The Beatitudes

The YouTube video is at the following link: https://youtu.be/9y-1KKJGLSo