The Beatitudes – Those who mourn

The Beatitudes are among the most well-known passages of Scripture. The name, the Beatitudes, is borrowed from Latin. It means “blessedness” or “happiness”. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Yet Jesus turns our usual picture of happiness on its head with the second beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matt. 5:4).

It sounds like a contradiction. The Good News translation was translated for English speakers who have had little to no exposure to Christianity. The contradiction sounds even more stark in their rendering: “Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them.” How do we make sense of this?

Much of the Western world pursue happiness as the greatest good. The United States Declaration of Independence claims that all men have been endowed with unalienable rights: “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Some African countries have followed suit and enshrined the right to happiness as a core value in their constitutions (like Liberia, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Egypt). Our own country, South Africa, did not.
 
Do we have a right to be happy? Some would argue that we can’t be happy while there is so much suffering in the world. Thousands die in wars across the globe. Millions are suffering because of malnutrition. Dictators rule with an iron fist. Yet even if we acknowledge that, we aren’t keen on walking around in sackcloth and ashes.

We mostly try to avoid mourning or people who mourn. It makes us uncomfortable. We want to be surrounded by people who are upbeat, happy, and enthusiastic. As DA Carson points out, “The world does not like mourners; mourners are wet blankets.” Yet Jesus says that those who mourn are truly blessed. He even warns those who are happy: “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:25).

What does it mean to mourn? Jesus used a weighty word to describe mourning. It was used for the desolation we experience when we lose a loved one. It was used in Greek translation of Genesis 37:32-34 to describe Jacob’s mourning when he thought he had lost Joseph. It is also the word that Mark used to describe the disciples mourning after the death and burial of Jesus in Mark 16:10. The mourning that Jesus referred to was deep, heartbreaking grief.

This beatitude is wonderfully comforting when we suffer, and its message is consistent with the rest of the New Testament. We find comfort knowing that God can sanctify us through our suffering, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). We are comforted when we remember that we are God’s children and therefore fellow heirs with Christ, who will not only share in his suffering but in his glory too (Rom. 8:17-18).

There is also the promise of the resurrection (John 11:25-26) and the hope that God himself will comfort us in glory: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4). These heavenly truths comfort us in our earthly suffering. “A moment is long if we look at the things round us; but once we have raised our minds to heaven, a thousand years begin to be like a moment.” (John Calvin).

These comforts do not spare us the mourning, but they help us endure. There is much to hope in and to look forward to, provided we mourn for the right things and in the right way. More on that next week.
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Because of Christ,
Pieter