The Beatitudes: They Who Mourn
Sorrowful, mournful, melancholy….These words elicit memories of things gone wrong, accidents, missed opportunities, and bad decisions. These are not the best feelings to have. Then why does Jesus say that they are called blessed? Remember what I said in the part one, ‘happy’ can replace ‘blessed’ in all the beatitudes. Why are the mournful happy? What does this mean about the teachings of Jesus, and their message to us?
Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
The Greek word for ‘mourn’ is pentheo meaning “grieve and wail.” People in the time of the Bible mourned like mad people. They would beat their chests, scream, and tear their garments. Grieving is to feel sorrow unlike any other sorrow. Grieving means to feel an impassioned suffering and sorrow for something. These are serious emotional reactions, and they could last days, weeks, months, and even years. Sons and fathers killed in war and husbands lost at sea are grieved. However, grieving is not reserved for just a deceased loved one, but it can extend to the absence of that loved one, or the absence of a loved object or feeling.
But what is our cause to mourn? Should we always be blessed because we are mourning? What if the comfort doesn’t come? That is because the mourning action taken in those situations is not the action blessed by God. We are not blessed when we mourn over a lost loved one or thing.
Mourning over our own condition is the sorrow blessed by God…Not a ‘oh woe is me’ negative attitude, but a realization of the sins we have committed, and the pure heart sorrow we feel because we are doing things against God’s will. If we desire salvation, we realize that we are doing things that are evil, vile, dirty, sick, and dangerous! We are losing the battle against the devil and our own flesh unless we realize our sins. We must also recognize the sins in the world. However, it is possible for us to turn away from that evil, and that is by mourning our sinful nature and seeking God to change us, and by changing us, we can change the world.
Repentance (Greek: metanoya) means to have sorrow for anything done or said, or pain, regret, or affliction felt on account of past conduct. We feel the pain and sorrow of repentance because we are offending God and dishonoring Him. But what should we do with that sorrow? Should we just live life with this sorrow built up inside? All regrets and no changes to make it better? We must realize that God would tell us to take a step and change. This change is to repent.
Can you see the similarity in the meaning of ‘mourn’ and ‘repentance’ in the context of the verse and using the Greek word meanings? They can be swapped and the verse can read, “Blessed are they who repent…”
Mark 1:15
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
To Repent (Greek: metanoeo) means to turn away. Literally, turn away from past sins, past mistakes, and focus on a Godly life. It’s that simple. Read the Bible, seek out other Christians, and stop doing all those things causing pain and sorrow in your life.
Looking back at the beatitude again, from where does this comfort come? Does it come from the Kingdom? Jesus calls everyone to repent and seek the Kingdom. Maybe that’s the answer? That’s part of it, but here is a cool insight into the most literal meaning of the words said by Christ.
Comfort in Greek is parakaleo, which means “to call near, invoke, invite, beseech, implore.” In reality, not only is Jesus calling everyone to be happy in their pious sorrow, but also He is calling everyone to Him to have a personal relationship. Comfort comes from Jesus having a true presence in our lives!
We that mourn are blessed, because we will be comforted. We are comforted because we are called by Jesus. Not just called either; Jesus implores us. He stretches out His hand to touch our lives, and we can experience His presence if we are sorry for our past sins, repent from them, and take steps toward Jesus. In the end, the verse can be understood like this…
The Buzz Version:
“Happy are those who sorrow over then turn away from their sins, for they will be called by Jesus to have a personal relationship that will give them all the comfort they need.”
Buzz
