Lesson 2: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted

In continuation of the Beatitudes, we will go over the second statement by Christ, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

To recap, in order to be ‘poor in spirit’ means simply deny oneself from self-centeredness and self-dependent attitudes primary in the presence of God. One cannot do this by his/her own volition or self-will because God initiates it – much like our worship and salvation and God’s election. We also discussed that it’s not about literally being poor or giving false impression that you are humble before God.

So we turn to the second statement. MLJ states that this type of ‘mourning’ is entirely spiritual, therefore, it’s not so much the sadness of natural mankind just as “poverty of spirit” isn’t something that is related to financial matters. So why would anyone would want to mourn? And to what?

MLJ states that we “have to be poor in spirit before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit” Remember, emphasizing the negative or the bad news before intake of the good news. But here conviction precedes conversion where there is a “real sense of sin” that must come before “true joy of salvation.” But one must inevitably look the doctrine of sin seriously and copiously. So to mourn is “something that follows of necessity from being ‘poor in spirit’…As I confront God and His holiness, and contemplate the life that I am meant to live, I see myself, my utter helplessness and hopelessness. I must mourn about the fact that I am like that…A man who truly faces himself, and examines himself and his life, is a man who must necessity mourn for his sins also…” So it is to mourn over sin in reflection of self since we are terribly tainted with sinful nature before God, and we join with Isaiah saying, “woe is me!” as well as Apostle Paul who rhetorically says, “O wretch man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).

Additionally, a man who truly mourns also grieves because of “sins of others.” Such man/woman is “concerned about the state of society, and the state of the world, and as he (and she) reads newspaper he/she does not stop at what he/she sees or simply express disgust at it…” They mourn because they go beyond self-evaluation AND “mourns over the state of the whole world as he/she sees the moral muddle and unhappiness and suffering of mankind, and reads of wars and rumours of wars.” But most importantly, they mourn because they “know that it is all due to sin…”

Let’s stop here and reflect. This is a tough material to digest because it convicts me of ignorance to sins and the lack of “mourning” over the sins of others around me. I realize that for me, to mourn is not about venting or complaining over my tough and unlikable patients or difficult schedule for the day. It’s not even a matter of feeling sorry for myself because I’ve been wronged by others. Rather, it should be the deep realization of the effect my sinful nature and fallen world that once separated me from the Father God. Also, the effect of sin in this world that brings so much unhappiness and false joy that even the Joel Osteens of the world would inevitably lose hope in the face of sins around them.

However, this does not mean that we should remain in that state of mourning to falsely believe that would draw closer to God or we have inherent ability to fight sin through our act of mourning. We shall see later that the bad news is replaced by good news.

So what do we do? How can we mourn in the light of the Gospel? How does one really ‘mourn’ in the spirit and be comforted? The answer is really to reflect on the our Lord, Jesus Christ. He has mourned over the sins of this world while living on earth 2000 years ago and He still does now. The famous verses from Isaiah 53 paints a picture of our God – “the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He wept over our sins because he has understood what sin meant to God and of God’s utter abhorrence and hatred of it, “this terrible thing that would stab, as it were, into the heart of God, if it could, this rebelliousness and arrogance of man, the result of listening to Satan. It grieves him and he mourns because of it…” Jesus mourns because it affects directly to the Father’s heart, and therefore His heart. It grieves him most severely, enough so that Jesus had to be completely separated from the perfect, I mean PERFECT relationship with the Father on the Calvary. Sin is that serious and deadly in view of God.

So who does that look like practically? MLJ encourages us that someone who mourns is someone who is going to repent regularly as result of the work of the Holy Spirit upon him/her. But that great sorrow eventually leading to great joy! But without great sorrow, there would not be great joy. We have that joy as Christians because our sins are forgiven and that joy of reconciliation (as we heard from past Sunday’s sermon) “knowing that God takes us back when we have fallen away from Him; the joy and contemplation of the glory that is set before us; the joy that comes from anticipation of the eternal state.” This is why someone who mourns is truly comforted because of that covenantal promise by God, that we are no longer a slave but a Son and an heir of God! (Galatians 4:4-7).

MLJ does list those application questions but here are just few to start:

1. Are you mourning over your sins?
2. How about mourning over other people’s sins and sins of this world?
3. Do you repent regularly in the light of the Gospel AND experiencing JOY?
4. Is there any particular sins in your life that you have not repented of because of fear of rejection by God?
5. Do you joy in the Cross and look forward to experiencing Sonship? If not why not?