1

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

(Matthew 5:4)
This Beatitude follows naturally from the one which precedes it.
Mournfulness indeed does follow a recognition of ones spiritual bankruptcy.
It can be understood as the emotional counterpart to poverty of spirit.
The world in which we live likes to laugh and that is quite rightly so for God
made us to be happy. But mourning is also a very essential part of life. But
the world does not like mourners, mourners are seen as wet blankets. Yet
Jesus said, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This
does not mean the Christian is to be perpetually morose, forever weepy.
Illustration: The Christian must not fit the stereotype in the mind of the little
girl who exclaimed to his father upon seeing a horse, That horse must be a
Christian; it has got such a long face.
The word in Greek for mourning is penthein which is one of the strongest
words for mourning and is used for mourning for the dead. There are 2
things about this kind of mourning.
a.
b.

It is the sorrow which pierces the heart; it is no gentle, sentimental,

twilight sadness.
It is the sorrow which is visible; which can be seen in a mans bearing,
a mans face and a mans tears. It is bound to be shown to the world
because he cannot help doing so.

What then is Jesus talking about? At the individual level, this mourning is a
personal grief over personal sin. This is the mourning experienced by a man
who begins to recognize the blackness of his sin. And this is all the more
obvious to him when he is exposed to the purity of God. God is the only
true mirror of ourselves.
Most famous penitent prayer is that recorded in Psalms 51 that of David
upon realizing what he had done after Nathan the prophet had confronted
him. There are many other such examples in the Bible. Isaiah cried out in
anguish about his spiritual deprivation upon coming into contact with God.
Isaiah 6:5 And I said: Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of
Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for my eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!
The apostle Paul also made a similar cry upon the realization of his sin and
the utter hopelessness of it all. Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death?
The longer a man knows Jesus Christ, and the nearer he comes to Him, the
more 2 things are bound to enter into his life which cause him to mourn.
a.
He is bound to see more and more clearly that standard of perfection
in Christ by which he must judge his own life. A man may think he is
a fairly good fellow as long as he compares himself with his
neighbours but no human being can ever have any cause for
satisfaction when the standard against which he sets himself is Jesus
Christ.
b.
Secondly, the more a man knows Jesus Christ, the more he realizes the
cost of sin. He sees the terribleness and the utter horror of sin as he
sees Jesus hanging on the cross the most lovely person that ever
lived on earth.
This Beatitude does however have a broader consideration besides the
mourning of ones personal sins. Mourning can also be stimulated by the sin
of this world, the lack of integrity, the injustice done, the cruelty, the sadness
and suffering, the selfishness, all these pile onto the consciousness of a
sensitive man and makes him weep.
Jeremiah, precisely for that matter was known as the crying or weeping
prophet for he wept over the sins of others (Israel). The whole book of
Lamentations is a record of his crying over the evil done in Israel. Jesus too
provided us an example of this sort of mourning when He mourned over the
impending destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-38).
The man who lives in the light of God and His love cannot but mourn over
what he sees. He mourns for the sins and blasphemies of his nation, he
mourns for the erosion of the very concept of truth. He mourns over the
greed, the cynicism, the lack of integrity. He mourns the fact that there are
so few mourners!

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

Mourning and sorrow indeed can be a blessing. There are thing which only
sorrow can teach. For that reason, it has been said that sorrow is the source
of the great discoveries in life.
a.
b.
c.
d.

It is in sorrow that a man discovers the things which really matter and
the things which do not matter.
It is in sorrow that a man discovers the meaning of friendship and the
meaning of love.
It is in sorrow that a man discovers whether his faith is a merely
superficial ornament of his life or the essential foundation on which
his whole life depends.
It is in sorrow that a man discovers God. In our blackest hour, the
light of God becomes brighter.

The Beatitude says that the mourners shall be comforted. In what ways are
they comforted? The Greek word for comfort is parakalein, a word with
a wealth of meaning. It does mean to comfort or to console but it is much
more than that. It is the same word used to invite someone to a banquet (e.g.
Prodigal son). ence, God does not only accept and receive the sinner back
again, he treats him not as a criminal but as an honored guest. God does not
treat him as if he could never be trusted again but one who has become his
friend, worthy of inviting to a banquet.
Indeed, Jesus promised that the mourners will be comforted. His comfort
comes from the knowledge that there is a God who loves him and would not
let him go despite all his unfaithfulness. He is comforted that it was for his
sins that Jesus died. That is why Jesus is called Jesus (Saviour).
As he weeps for other men in their suffering, he finds comfort and delight
that God is answering his prayers, very often working through him to help
others. But the greatest comfort of all comes with the gentle words of
reassurance from God who promised us all that one day in the near future,
this whole world will be remade. Revelation 21:4 God will himself wipe
away all tears from the eyes of those who mourned. There will be no more
death or mourning, or crying or pain for the former things are passed away.
Rightly paraphrased, this Beatitude reads, Happy is the man who is moved
to bitter sorrow at the realization of his own sin for through it, Gods love
and forgiveness shines out so brightly and warmly in his cold and darkness.
Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission