The Beatitudes – Those who mourn (Part 2)

In the second beatitude Jesus again subverts our expectations. He said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). Jesus reminds us that even his disciples mourn. Following Jesus does not spare us the pain of living in a fallen world. Yet Jesus assures us that there is comfort.

This promise of comfort, it should be noted, is not given indiscriminately to anyone who mourns. Not all grief is godly. Consider Cain, who lamented the severity of God’s punishment for his sin (Gen. 4:13-14). He was more concerned about the pain that his sin caused him than the pain it caused his parents, not to mention his brother!

King Ahab is another example of ungodly grief. In 1 Kings 21:1-4 Ahab sulked because he could not get Naboth’s vineyard. He was angry and sullen because he could not have his way. He mourned, but it was motivated by greed and selfishness.

The most striking example of ungodly grief has to be Judas, Christ’s betrayer. According to Matt. 27:3-5 he acknowledged his sin and even tried to give back the money he was paid. Yet he never confessed his sin to God or sought his forgiveness. Overwhelmed by his guilt, he sought to rid himself of his accusing conscience by taking his own life. JC Ryle explains that it “is possible for a man to feel his sins, and be sorry for them, pricked in conscience, and exhibit much distress of mind, and yet, for all this, not repent with his heart. Present danger, or the fear of death, may account for his feelings, and the Holy Ghost may have done no work whatever in his soul.”

If we want to be comforted, we must grieve in a godly way. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 describes godly grief. It produces “a repentance that leads to salvation without regret”. It leads to earnest change, a hatred of sin, the fear of the Lord, and a longing and zeal for godliness.

Ungodly sorrow produces death. Godly sorrow, by contrast, is life-giving. John Blanchard put it well: “Nobody ever regrets godly, spiritual sorrow; instead, he rejoices at God’s gracious dealings with him and at the blessings he receives by his hand.” In the words of Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

In the previous beatitude we were told that the “poor in spirit” are blessed. We saw that their poverty is not material or intellectual, but spiritual – they know their spiritual need. This leads naturally into the next beatitude: “those who mourn”. We cannot separate the two, or any of the beatitudes, because they aren’t electives that we can opt out of, but describe the whole tapestry of Christian character. These are the characteristics of those who belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ
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Christians will experience godly grief, not just once but often. John Stott rejected the giddy faux-spirituality that fills so many of our churches today. He warned: “Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continually boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can one become?”

A Christian knows how to mourn over sin, brokenness, and how far we fall short of the perfection of Christ. “For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me… I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.” (Psalm 38:4, 18). Yet it is for such people that the Lord reserves his comfort.
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When the believer runs to the Father, instead of from him, he finds Him to be “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). He finds Jesus Christ the righteous, standing beside him as his advocate (1 John 2:1-2). And he will find that the Spirit truly is a help and comfort to God’s children.

No wonder Jesus calls them blessed.

Because of Christ,
Pieter