those who mourn

The second beatitude continues this initial theme of emptiness being filled:
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)

Again, the scene is Jesus speaking directly to his disciples gathered around him, and to the crowd. Just as he spoke to the believing poor, now he speaks to believers who mourn. He comforts those who trust in him and whose hearts are broken by grief and loss - and also those whose trust in him leads to or intensifies this mourning.

He is not speaking of requirements. These are not imperatives, but blessings - pronouncing the blessing of God on what is, and yet drawing us on to imitate him as the Blessed One. The beauty of them has an imperative impact upon us.

We mourn the brokenness and pain brought on by sin, ours and all around us; we mourn the loss of innocence, of joy, and peace. We mourn for those who are abused and for those who abuse. We mourn hardness of heart, and greed, and hate, and insecurity, and fear. And as his disciples we mourn at the cross. Bonhoeffer continues to bring us to the cross in his section on the Beatitudes in "The Cost of Discipleship."

It is very possible that Jesus and/or Matthew has Isaiah 61 in the background here. Isaiah 61 was the passage the Jesus used for his first sermon in Nazareth (Luke 4), and some of the themes addressed there show up here in the beatitudes - and none more than those who mourn being comforted.

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

There is mourning in Zion because the righteous suffer, wicked prosper, and God has not acted to reverse the situation. They mourn because their sins have brought this upon them. But one will come anointed with the Spirit of the Lord to heal, set free the captives, proclaim good news to the poor, and comfort those who mourn. What is devastated will be raised up and what is ruined repaired.

Why would the disciples of Jesus mourn?

I think it's for themselves, for one another, and for the world. In just a few verses we will hear "blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..." So we will mourn the pain and loss we will experience in following Jesus. But we also will mourn our own sins (James 4:9). We may mourn the failures and sins of those to whom we minister (2 Corinthians 12:21).

But I think we will also mourn because God's will is still not being done fully and finally on earth as it is in heaven, and so we are to pray (6:10). We mourn with those who mourn. We mourn with the hungry and the hopeless, with the poor, the persecuted, and the powerless.

Jesus promises that "they shall be comforted." Whereas the first and the eighth say, "theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (present reality, present blessing), this beatitude begins a series of them where the blessing promised is future. The comfort promised for those who mourn perhaps is promised for when the king comes to make all things right.

When we were discussing this in our group, one of the members shared that she was reading Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini's book "Christ Walks Where Evil Reigned." She was very disturbed that a child who was pulled out alive from under his parents massacred bodies, who still mourns and is deeply damaged, does not have, from this beatitude, the promise of comfort here and now.

As we discussed it, we realized that part of our calling in mourning with those who mourn is also to comfort those who mourn. In this way we become a sign of the inbreaking kingdom that does promise healing and hope and fullness when Jesus appears.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Finally, we see Jesus weeping for his dead friend (John 11), and lamenting a deaf and hardhearted holy city (Matthew 23:27-29). Jesus, who is the Blessed One, mourns the separation, pain and loss caused by sin, sickness and death. And as we watch him and listen to him, as we go to the cross and mourn with him and for him, we see the reality of the devastation and ruin that we have brought on ourselves, those we love, the world, and most of all, on the beautiful, holy Son of God. And yet, rather than retaliate and pour forth the judgment of God on us and cause more grief, he bears it. He continues to reach out his arms to us, he continues to bear the the blows and the crushing weight of abuse and sin and hate, he continues to embrace us, he continues to forgive us. Even on the cross he comforts his mother and his friend; and as he appears to the eleven he says, "Peace." Thanks be to God.