Blessed are those who mourn. Wait. What?

I don't know about you, but I find myself grieving a lot. I can't say that I like it always; it really can ruin the mood. For some reason, I don't know how to keep it from happening, other than if I lived in a cave somewhere. I suspect that would not even work.

I can't really call myself a super spiritual person, but I can say that the grieving has become more "normal" as I've studied Scripture more, spent time trying to understand Jesus and follow him more closely, and as I've been more engaged in Christian community. Something's changing in me.

Maybe this is true of you also.

Mourning or grief is a huge part of life, and there are many, many reasons for grieving or mourning: death, sickness, loss of what once was, disappointment, broken relationship. It shows up in hospital rooms, cafeterias, living rooms, driveways, and lonely nights. It can be noticeable, or go on for years unknown, unseen. Mourning or grieving knows no tact, it has no timing. It is an equal-opportunity life messer-upper.

I'm afraid sometimes we want to avoid it. We don't want messer-uppers, we prize fixer-uppers. Our inclination is to move on to something better; life more enjoyable.

Jesus doesn't seem to be an advocate of moving on from grief or mourning. If those who mourn are blessed, then it makes sense to embrace it, does it not?

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Most translations of this Beatitude state, "blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Another way to put it is, "blessed are those who grieve, for they will be consoled."

The idea of "mourn" includes, but also goes beyond, mourning over a specific loss or tragedy. And if we were to translate this into English very precisely, it would say, "blessed are the mourning ones." The statement refers to people whose lives are characterized by mourning or grieving.

Now, this doesn't mean "sad all of the time." If this were so, Jesus might as well have just cut to the chase and said, "blessed are the boring." Somehow mourning is a vital part of following Jesus and finding ourselves as people of his kingdom.

Everything about Jesus' mission in the New Testament points to this. As a result of being of Jesus' kingdom, we mourn because we live in the realization that the world is not as it should be. Once we set foot on the path of following Jesus, a profound discontent with the status quo sets in. We find ourselves a people of the "in between." Hope has come because Jesus' kingdom has been announced and even begun among us. But we still wait. We await the full reveal. As Paul says in Romans 8:18-25, we groan with all creation, waiting for renewal. Even the saints with God still wait and grieve according to Revelation 6:9-10.

The corollary (big word I remember from Geometry class) is this: mourning is connected with discontentment with a world not fully under Jesus' Lordship. This can refer to our personal lives--we mourn our continued struggle as humans. This was a typical way of interpreting Christian mourning among early church theologians. But this mourning also goes beyond--it must go beyond--to mourning over the whole world. Those captivated by Jesus and his kingdom can't but mourn common patterns of social living, economics, politics--all of it. And there's a lot to mourn.
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The second half of this statement, the "because," is as important as the first half. Those who mourn will be comforted. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I find it interesting that Jesus doesn't say that mourning will meet its end. Maybe it's implied. But, I know from experience, as do many of you, that being comforted doesn't always mean the mourning or reason for mourning goes away (remember the saints in Revelation 6).

This makes me ask: Whence does the comfort come? (I always wanted to use "whence." It just means "from where." Maybe add it to your vocabulary--see how people react.)

The comfort comes from two places. It comes from the lived experience of being among the people of God's kingdom. Jesus says something like this to Peter in Matthew 19. Peter says to Jesus..." hey, look Jesus. We've left everything and followed you." Jesus replies: "Yes, and because you've done this, you have gained and will gain more mothers, sisters, brothers, and what you need for life than you had before." When we enter into the kingdom life, we receive. In the case of the Beatitude we're talking about, it's comfort that we receive. We receive the comfort of life in a community who bear one another's burdens and who grieve along with us because God's heart grieves.

This comfort has also a future reality to look forward to. Revelation 21:3-5 gives the hope that enables the Christian community to live as it does in this world of mourning:

Look! The home of God is among humanity. He will dwell with them;
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them;
He will wipe every tear from their eyes;
Death will be no more,
Mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
Because the first way of things has passed away.
And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new."

Even though all is not as it should be, reversal will happen and God will "make all things new." Read the passage again. It's beautiful.

"Those who mourn" refers to the ones who cannot be content with the status quo and mourn the present situation of life on earth because God's will and God's kingdom are not fully realized.

"Those who mourn" are among the blessed because their lives are set on something else; they have not fully eased into the waters of the present age. These will find comfort in the experience of Jesus' community both now as they await full redemption, and in the future when we can sing with abandon, "This is my father's world."
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And you know what? It's those who mourn who have the most capability to effect change and comfort to others who mourn. Thornton Wilder's, The Angel that Troubled the Waters, is about a doctor who lays by a healing pool waiting for the angel to heal him. Day after day the angel heals others, but not the doctor. Fed up, the doctor complains and demands an explanation why the angel won't heal him. The angel replies:

"Without your wound, where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of people. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children of earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love's service only the wounded can truly serve."

Our world needs those who mourn. They are the blessed, and the world is blessed because of them.
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Think, Talk, Apply

As you contemplate how you build your life around the center of the ways of Jesus and his kingdom, where does mourning fit? Is the reality that all is not as it should be a reality upon which you build and order your life? What do you mourn, and why? How do you talk about mourning with your family, with your children?

How does this beatitude challenge common understandings of what "blessing" or being "blessed" means? How does this challenge your worldview?

How is the comfort of being part of the people of God central to your existence? How does your ability to mourn bring comfort to others? How can this be a more significant part of your life?