Good News for the Mourners

Last week we saw Good news for the poor in spirit - the broken. Well, this week sort of goes hand in hand with that theme. If Jesus’ first blessing was for those who realize their spiritual bankruptcy and their low position before the Lord, then it is fitting that his second beatitude - his second blessing - is for those who realize that, recognize it in themselves and also the rest of the world - and they mourn over that.

Now, if you are life me, you probably have read this passage - blessed are they that mourn - for years and years and thought of it in terms of the general experience of mourning. Mourning over the loss of a loved one. Mourning over a sad experience. Mourning over sickness. And while it is true that there is comfort in Christ, comfort in the God of scripture for those kinds of experiences, it becomes apparent when you study what Jesus says here and its counterparts in the rest of the bible that that kind of mourning isn’t exactly what Jesus is speaking of.

Just as Jesus made it clear in the previous verse that the kind of poverty he was speaking of was spiritual in nature, the same is true of this kind of mourning. They are two sides of a coin. Spiritual shipwreck and poverty, both personal and corporate, leads to spiritual (yet very real) mourning on the part of those who recognize it.

If spiritual poverty is the existential - the condition, then this mourning is the reaction - the response.

Maybe an example will be helpful before we really dive into this passage together. It may be July, and you may be sweating later on as you work in your garden, but let’s jump into Christmas for a few minutes.

Luke 2:25–32 ESV

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

This is a familiar text. Simeon was one of the righteous remnant of Isreal. He represents for us a group of people who we don’t read a ton about in the New Testament. Much of Jesus’ focus was on rebuking the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees for their legalism, their pretentious attitudes, their hypocrisy. But they did not represent all of Israel at that time. No, there were many, like Simeon, who were faithful, patient, and waiting.

What was Simeon waiting for? Well, Luke tells us clearly that he was waiting for the Consolation of Israel. Now, if you followed along in your own Bible, or read the words on the screen, you may have noticed that the word “Consolation” or whatever equivalent you had was capitalized. Translators do that for a reason, and that was because the word “Consolation” at the time of Christ was a common way of referring to the Messiah.

Simeon was waiting - waiting for consolation for his people, but not just any consolation - he was waiting for THE consolation. And of course, what is the opposite of consolation? It it sadness - grief - mourning. And that is just where the faithful in Israel were at the coming of Jesus. They were in grief - sadness - mourning for their own sin and the sin of their nation. Mourning over the state of disarray that they existed in at the time. Simeon knew what was promised, yet he also knew what he saw and experienced with his eyes and in his own life - and only when that blessed Consolation was there - the new-born King, Jesus - could he say “now you are letting your servant depart in peace.”

This is the kind of mourning that Jesus is speaking of. Simeon was a blessed mourner - a mourner who was consoled. And every person who finds Christ to be a Messiah - a Savior - is a blessed mourner.

Mourning over sin, evil, and their effects should be part of every Christian’s life; but it is a blessed mourning – a mourning with a perfect comfort to follow.

1. What is Blessed Mourning?

When you look at the concept of mourning in the scripture, you find that it is a varied topic. The Bible speaks of mourning in over 10 different ways. I think that gives us insight into just what a common life experience mourning is.

If we take the word that Jesus uses here and put a definition to it, its fairly simple. Mourning is “to experience sadness a the result of some condition or circumstance.” We do get the idea from this word that this mourning isn’t just a reaction in time - its not just a one-time deal, but its a continued state of mourning because of a continued condition or circumstance. A literal way to translate this verse would be “blessed are the mourners.” The ones Jesus is speaking of are so identified with mourning, it is such a common theme in their lives, that it could be given to them as a title.

Another way we can look at mourning is this. Whenever mourning occurs, it is because there is some state or condition that is worse than whatever the perceived “norm” or “standard” is. The mourner sees something awry, something missing, something that is not the way it was designed, something out of place in a severe enough way that it should cause grief - tears of sadness.

So these things define mourning, But the question is not simply, what is the definition of the word mourning, the question is, what is blessed mourning? You see, mourning is commonplace in life. Nearly every person who has lived any length of life has experience mourning to some degree. But the blessed life, the life that is spoken of in the beatitudes, is not commonplace, it is supernatural. So the mourning that Jesus speaks of must not be simple commonplace mourning - it must be supernatural mourning.

Mourning in this sense, must be in opposition to the levity and carefree view of life that comes from relativism. Much like the poor in Spirit are not just any poor, but those who realize their spiritual poverty, so the mourners are not just any who mourn, but those who mourn the things that God mourns - those who mourn with spiritual grief, blessed grief, blessed mourning.

Consider the kind of mourning that David exhibited in Psalm 119.

Psalm 119:136 ESV

My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.

Again, this is not natural mourning. Just like in Psalm 1, the blessed man was not a natural man, but one who had come to love the Law of God and meditate on it day and night. So the blessed mourner is not simply a natural mourner, but one who sheds tears over the breaking of God’s standards - the disregard of God’s ways.

A question about mourning that is applicable here is this - what gives you grief? Are you only grieved over personal losses, personal offences, personal mishaps? Or are you grieved over evil, sin, and unrighteousness? Do you long for the day simply when you will be in a better place, when your cause for mourning is over, when your offences are put to shame, or do you long for the day when all is made right in terms of God’s ways?

Consider also Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 7.

2 Corinthians 7:10–11 ESV

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

I would encourage you to go back and read the rest of this chapter for the full context, but just a snippet for now. Paul is speaking of that difference between godly grief and godly sorrow. Its the difference between contrition and attrition. That is, its the difference between feeling bad about sin because we got caught or because it negatively affects us, or truly sorrowing over sin and evil because our hearts and minds have been changed.

Godly grief, or we could substitute our term, blessed mourning, is that mourning that is over sin and evil. Yes, our sin and evil, but not just ours. It is mourning over the wholesale disregard of God’s ways. Like Simeon, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, so the blessed mourners are those who are longing and waiting for sin and evil - the breaking of God’s law - to cease. They are jealous over God’s law because they are those who love God Himself.

So Mourning, then, is over breaking God’s law. But not simply our personal breaking of God’s law, but as we saw in David, it is over the general state of God’s law being broken.

This mourning can be for Personal sin, it can be for the general state of sinfulness, it can be for the sin nature that we inherit, and it can also be for the effects of sin.

In a sense, this Blessed mourning follows perfectly being poor in spirit. If poorness of spirit is a state of being, then Godly mourning is the subjective outcome of recognizing that state of poverty. Really, mourning is that natural position, that natural condition that those who are self-aware of their poverty of spirit find themselves in.

2. What does blessed mourning look like?

There are many many places in scripture that we could go to find examples of what this kind of Godly grief, this blessed mourning looks like. We have already seen two, in Simeon and David. But a couple more i think will be quite helpful. For it is not just the lowly and unknown believers who are mourners - it is all, even the giants of the faith, like Isaiah, and Paul.

Isaiah 6:1–5 ESV

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

It is interesting here, because in this passage Isaiah has cause for natural mourning. King Uzziah, who, at his death was commonly revered as a beloved king, has just died. Naturally, the whole nation would have been in a state of mourning - perhaps natural, commonplace mourning. Then Isaiah receives this revelation, this experience of vision of the Throne of Yahweh. The experience was awe-striking for Isaiah, probably beyond what we could understand.

“holy, Holy, Holy,” the seraphim cried. There was shaking, and smoke. It was remarkable.

But notice Isaiah’s reaction to the holiness of God, to this whole experience. Look where his mind goes - look at his objection to being privileged to receive this vision.

“Woe is me!” And his woe was for two reasons - personal, and corporate. “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the minds of a people of unclean lips.” It was personal and corporate. Woe in Isaiah because of Isaiah, and woe in Isaiah because of the general condition of his people.

Yes, when Isaiah’s gaze met a glimpse of the Holiness of God, his utter poverty of spirit was recognized, and the response was this Holy mourning over uncleanness. He was unclean, and his people were unclean.

Do we mourn, in this way, because of God’s Holiness? Do we mourn, in this way, because of our uncleanness, and the uncleanness that our world dwells in? When we are privileged to view a glimpse of God’s holiness and God’s glory in scripture, do we say, “well, of course God would reveal himself to me. I’m one of his creatures, its only natural that he would give me this benefit.” Or do we say, “God, I cannot bear this privilege! I’m unclean! Woe is me! I Don’t deserve to see your beauty!”

Woe is me.

.......

What about another one, though? What about Paul?

Romans 7:21–25 ESV

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Paul here is speaking about a condition. Remember our definition of mourning? It is sadness over a condition or circumstance. Paul here is speaking of a condition that he has, where he wants to do right, but evil is also right there at the door. Do you know that condition? (ha!) I think you do, I know I do!

He says, “I delight in the law of God in the inner man...” So again, we’re not talking about a natural man here but a spiritual man. But in his members, that is, in his flesh, there is a war waging between the flesh and the spirit. Sin still has a powerful influence over Paul’s flesh. Read the whole chapter of Romans 7 sometimes. “The good I want to do, I don’t always do it! And the evil I despise, I often do that!”

Paul finally reaches a crescendo of mourning his experience here, and he says “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

There it is. Mourning. Sometimes, mourning is loud. I think Paul would have exclaimed this. Wretched man that I am! Why am I stuck here in this evil place! Why am I still immersed in this war of sin and the spirit. Who will deliver me from this?

That, really, is the question of Godly mourning, dear one. Who will deliver me? We’ve all mourned for other things, haven’t we? We’ve all mourned for lost loved ones, sick family members, a wretched experience in life. What, in those moments, is always our first desire, if we’re honest?

We want the loved on back! We want the sick one healed! We want the wretched experience turned around, made whole again. Dear one, that is the cry of godly mourners. That is the plea of the blessed, grief stricken, poor in spirit. They see the condition of their own lives and of the whole world, they see the disregard for God and His ways, they see evil, and suffering, and sorrow, and heartache that all stems from this cursed world and they long for the new to come! They long for relief!

But, Jesus says these mourners are blessed. They are not just commonplace mourners, mourners without hope, they are the blessed mourners. They are in the good way. They are in the good life, even in their mourning.

3. What is the good news for mourners?

The Good news for these mourners is that they will be comforted. There is hope! There is peace! There is comfort for these mourners.

I want to go back, again, to Isaiah and Paul.

Isaiah 40:1–2 ESV

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

There is a blessed life for the godly mourners, for it is part of God’s very plan and design to bring comfort for the mourners. What is the comfort for Jerusalem in this prophecy? That the warfare is ended, and her iniquity is pardoned. Comfort for God’s people is really physical and spiritual, and those things go hand in hand. Every heartache and experience of grief in this life stems in some way from sin. It either stems from original sin, the curse and state of sin that we inherit from our first parents, Adam and Eve, or it comes directly as a result of some specific evil that has been commited.

Yes, there is warfare - but one day it will be totally ended. Yes, one day all will be made new.

But the comfort is also spiritual in a huge sense. The comfort in Isaiah 40 was also that “her iniquity is pardoned.” There is comfort in forgiveness, there is comfort in atonement.

That leads us again to Paul. We read the closing words of Romans 7. After Paul bemoans his state, his fighting the war between the flesh and the spirit. He cries out, “who will deliver me?” Of course, the answer comes back, Jesus can deliver us! And what is Paul’s big point that comes right after that chapter?

Romans 8:1 ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You see, the greatest cause for Godly grief is the general state of condemnation that the world exists in. But Christ has purchased our comfort from that state! Those who are in Christ Jesus by faith have that cause for mourning comforted. Do we still mourn over the fight, do we still have grief because of the ongoing effects? Do we still see evil in this world and disregard for God and His ways? Yes, but our future hope of all things being made new is pictured and brought near in the forgiveness of our own sins.

Yes, those who mourn shall be comforted. Just like Simeon could die in peace because He had seen Jesus, so the comfort for all our Godly mourning is found in Jesus.

Isaiah 61:1–2 ESV

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; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

Remember who fulfilled this passage? Remember who picked up the scroll and read it in the Synagogue? Yes, it was Jesus. Jesus has purchased comfort for the Blessed Mourners.

Dear one, do you find yourselves with this godly grief, this godly mourning over your own sin, and the effects of evil in this world? Has God given you a jealousy over His law, His ways? Do you grieve when you know God is grieved? If so, you are in the blessed way. Again, this is not just natural mourning. Of course, there is comfort for all of our mourning in Christ. But where does all mourning stem from? It stems from what was perfect being marred and stained.

The comfort is this, those marks and those stains have been taken on and paid for by Jesus Christ. And while the effects of them still linger for a season, for those in Christ, one day they will all be made new. One day, all mourning will cease for us. Does that promise seem good to you? Do you long for that kind of resolution? Then come to Christ! In Him, the broken are blessed. In Him, the mourners are comforted.