Blessed Are Those Who Mourn….
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:4).
Blessed are those who mourn their spiritual poverty, who weep on account of sin and their lost relationship with God, for they shall be comforted.
Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 61:2, as referenced earlier. This verse assures comfort for those mourning their present condition. In verse 6, Isaiah declares that these people – the poor, the brokenhearted, and the captives – “shall be named the priests of the Lord…the servants of our God.” They will be restored to the original relationship with the Creator. In every age there is a remnant who are aware of what has been lost.
The sinner recognizes that he has left God rather than that God has left the sinner. This, too, is part of the Good News.
To mourn is proper when there is a sense of loss. In the physical world, there will always be much for which to mourn. Loss is always with us because death is an inevitable part of the departure from the rules of Eden.
This sense of loss upon entering the kingdom, the shedding of the incorrect beliefs, is as sorrowful as losing a friend that has proven unfaithful.
As with Paul, “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Phil. 3:13), we do not mourn what we have left behind so much as the momentary void between leaving and arriving, between casting off and replenishing.
Paul states, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Rom. 7:19). The recognition of this forces Paul to say, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me…?” (Rom. 7:24). Paul mourns his propensity to sin, his movement away from God. This is the natural reaction to the realization of our poverty of spirit.
In the courtyard of the wilderness tabernacle, the daily sacrifices were made both morning and evening. The smoke rising above the center of the camp was a constant reminder to all in the camp.
People of the world saw the sacrificial smoke as symbolic of sin. This required mankind’s pursuit of relationship with God by submission to the rites of cleansing.
People of the spirit saw the sacrificial smoke as symbolic of redemption, God’s pursuit of mankind and restoration to oneness with Him.
The sacrifice for sin was meant to include a more immediate sense of penance as the offender killed the sacrifice himself personally, This animal sacrifice was also symbolic of the offender’s own “loss of life,” estrangement from God by the offence. In essence, the animal sacrifice was a pleading for restoration of favor through an offering of a life for a life. All of this was but “a shadow of things to come” (Hebr. 10:1).
We respond to the constant presence of an unpleasant circumstance with a sense of resigned expectation. An unblemished lamb was offered in the morning, and another in the evening, day after day, year after year, in addition to the other sacrifices ordained for specific events and times. A river of blood traced the days of the calendar.
Numbness to the death and blood of the sacrifices was the human defense against the constant horror. The link between sin and sacrifice, our death and the death of the atoning sacrifice, was lost.
By the time of Jesus, the sacrifices had become self-focused rituals. In this post crucifixion age, have we become numb to the death of Jesus and His sacrifice, also?
The laver of the Courtyard reminds us of the purifying process. The washing of the hands and feet of the priests (Ex. 30:17-21) was symbolic of cleansing. We must wash ourselves and be clean.
We have made our offering on the Altar of Sacrifice, and this offering holds much that was once dear to us. To mourn is proper. The weeping is a cleansing process. The emotion of loss is complete with the washing away of the remnants of our old life with tears.
The Israelites, offering their animal sacrifices in the Courtyard, were to mourn their sin, as well as the loss of life that sin had inflicted upon their sacrifice. As with the Israelites, the followers of Christ also mourn the conditions that had led to His sacrifice.
The sacrifice of Jesus, the loss of His physical presence, caused these early followers to “repent,” to rethink Christ and His meaning for the future. No longer were there visions of a physical kingdom on earth. These illusions necessarily had been dashed by His Crucifixion. Indeed, their expectations had been crucified with Him, offered on the Altar of Sacrifice, and now they mourned their multiple losses.
Luke’s Beatitude expresses this concept well.
Luke 6:21b “Blessed are you who weep now,
For you shall laugh.”
Luke 6:25b “Woe to you who laugh now,
For you shall mourn and weep.”
Again, Luke’s brief blessing and curse can be misunderstood as a praise for all weeping and condemnation for all laughing on this earth. Neither the reality of this world nor the context support this.
Weeping and laughter are common to all of us, believers and unbelievers. The motive for the emotion is the key to whether one is to be blessed (happy), or cursed (not happy).
“Blessed are those who mourn.” Blessed are those who recognize the high cost of sin: “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” says the apostle Paul (Rom. 6:23).
Sin requires atonement, the restoration of oneness with God, which is not possible through the sacrifice of animals but was made possible through Jesus’ perfect sacrifice. More devastating is the sin of rejection of Christ by some, “since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame” (Hebr. 6:6).
The consolation of the mourner is the assurance of comfort. What is past cannot be undone, but it may be forgiven, regarded as if it had never happened. This, too, is part of the Good News.
To mourn and yet to be considered blessed sounds contradictory. God had promised: “’Return to Me and I will return to you…’” (Malachi 3:7). And this is the cause for blessedness and happiness, that we now have hope for a new future.
Conforming to the world is hard work. Values are shifting in a human-centered world. Goals, too, are arbitrary and shifting. There is constant striving, but no attaining. There is the promise of peace without the reality of peace.
To be in the Courtyard, not yet in the Holy Place but no longer in the world, is to be aware of God’s calling and our half-hearted response. Here, we mourn. We have acknowledged the poverty of our spiritual life (and, therefore, of our physical life), and we desire to begin anew. We are ready for the next step toward God.
Next article
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:4).
Blessed are those who mourn their spiritual poverty, who weep on account of sin and their lost relationship with God, for they shall be comforted.
Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 61:2, as referenced earlier. This verse assures comfort for those mourning their present condition. In verse 6, Isaiah declares that these people – the poor, the brokenhearted, and the captives – “shall be named the priests of the Lord…the servants of our God.” They will be restored to the original relationship with the Creator. In every age there is a remnant who are aware of what has been lost.
The sinner recognizes that he has left God rather than that God has left the sinner. This, too, is part of the Good News.
To mourn is proper when there is a sense of loss. In the physical world, there will always be much for which to mourn. Loss is always with us because death is an inevitable part of the departure from the rules of Eden.
This sense of loss upon entering the kingdom, the shedding of the incorrect beliefs, is as sorrowful as losing a friend that has proven unfaithful.
As with Paul, “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Phil. 3:13), we do not mourn what we have left behind so much as the momentary void between leaving and arriving, between casting off and replenishing.
Paul states, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Rom. 7:19). The recognition of this forces Paul to say, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me…?” (Rom. 7:24). Paul mourns his propensity to sin, his movement away from God. This is the natural reaction to the realization of our poverty of spirit.
In the courtyard of the wilderness tabernacle, the daily sacrifices were made both morning and evening. The smoke rising above the center of the camp was a constant reminder to all in the camp.
People of the world saw the sacrificial smoke as symbolic of sin. This required mankind’s pursuit of relationship with God by submission to the rites of cleansing.
People of the spirit saw the sacrificial smoke as symbolic of redemption, God’s pursuit of mankind and restoration to oneness with Him.
The sacrifice for sin was meant to include a more immediate sense of penance as the offender killed the sacrifice himself personally, This animal sacrifice was also symbolic of the offender’s own “loss of life,” estrangement from God by the offence. In essence, the animal sacrifice was a pleading for restoration of favor through an offering of a life for a life. All of this was but “a shadow of things to come” (Hebr. 10:1).
We respond to the constant presence of an unpleasant circumstance with a sense of resigned expectation. An unblemished lamb was offered in the morning, and another in the evening, day after day, year after year, in addition to the other sacrifices ordained for specific events and times. A river of blood traced the days of the calendar.
Numbness to the death and blood of the sacrifices was the human defense against the constant horror. The link between sin and sacrifice, our death and the death of the atoning sacrifice, was lost.
By the time of Jesus, the sacrifices had become self-focused rituals. In this post crucifixion age, have we become numb to the death of Jesus and His sacrifice, also?
The laver of the Courtyard reminds us of the purifying process. The washing of the hands and feet of the priests (Ex. 30:17-21) was symbolic of cleansing. We must wash ourselves and be clean.
We have made our offering on the Altar of Sacrifice, and this offering holds much that was once dear to us. To mourn is proper. The weeping is a cleansing process. The emotion of loss is complete with the washing away of the remnants of our old life with tears.
The Israelites, offering their animal sacrifices in the Courtyard, were to mourn their sin, as well as the loss of life that sin had inflicted upon their sacrifice. As with the Israelites, the followers of Christ also mourn the conditions that had led to His sacrifice.
The sacrifice of Jesus, the loss of His physical presence, caused these early followers to “repent,” to rethink Christ and His meaning for the future. No longer were there visions of a physical kingdom on earth. These illusions necessarily had been dashed by His Crucifixion. Indeed, their expectations had been crucified with Him, offered on the Altar of Sacrifice, and now they mourned their multiple losses.
Luke’s Beatitude expresses this concept well.
Luke 6:21b “Blessed are you who weep now,
For you shall laugh.”
Luke 6:25b “Woe to you who laugh now,
For you shall mourn and weep.”
Again, Luke’s brief blessing and curse can be misunderstood as a praise for all weeping and condemnation for all laughing on this earth. Neither the reality of this world nor the context support this.
Weeping and laughter are common to all of us, believers and unbelievers. The motive for the emotion is the key to whether one is to be blessed (happy), or cursed (not happy).
“Blessed are those who mourn.” Blessed are those who recognize the high cost of sin: “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” says the apostle Paul (Rom. 6:23).
Sin requires atonement, the restoration of oneness with God, which is not possible through the sacrifice of animals but was made possible through Jesus’ perfect sacrifice. More devastating is the sin of rejection of Christ by some, “since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame” (Hebr. 6:6).
The consolation of the mourner is the assurance of comfort. What is past cannot be undone, but it may be forgiven, regarded as if it had never happened. This, too, is part of the Good News.
To mourn and yet to be considered blessed sounds contradictory. God had promised: “’Return to Me and I will return to you…’” (Malachi 3:7). And this is the cause for blessedness and happiness, that we now have hope for a new future.
Conforming to the world is hard work. Values are shifting in a human-centered world. Goals, too, are arbitrary and shifting. There is constant striving, but no attaining. There is the promise of peace without the reality of peace.
To be in the Courtyard, not yet in the Holy Place but no longer in the world, is to be aware of God’s calling and our half-hearted response. Here, we mourn. We have acknowledged the poverty of our spiritual life (and, therefore, of our physical life), and we desire to begin anew. We are ready for the next step toward God.
Next article
