Jesus is sitting on a hillside teaching his disciples while a large crowd of people listens in. He begins his message by letting his followers know who will find true happiness in life. The happiness or blessedness that Jesus is talking about isn’t based on circumstances or money or success or possessions.
When Jesus says they are blessed, when he talks about this kind of happiness, he’s referring to an inner joy that circumstances can’t touch.
In the first of these “beatitudes,” Jesus said that the truly happy are those who recognize that they are “poor in spirit.” They realize that they are spiritually bankrupt, and only at that point can their sins be forgiven. Now he says this:
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)
Let’s be honest, on the surface, this makes even less sense than the first statement! I mean it was bad enough that I’m supposed to be poor, but now I have to mourn? Mourning is even worse than poverty. I’m doing everything I can not to be poor and not experience mourning. How can either of these make me happy? How can either of those make me feel blessed?
When you see that word “mourning,” your mind probably goes to a dark place, and you recall how you felt during a time of deep sorrow, especially over the loss of a loved one. Maybe you’re in the middle of a season of mourning right now.
When followers of Christ mourn, we have a God who brings us comfort and healing (see Revelation 21:4; Psalm 34:18; Psalm 147:3). Jesus, however, is talking about a different kind of grief here. The mourning Jesus is talking about is our grief over our sinfulness.
He’s talking about our arrival at the place where we finally see God in all of his holiness and ourselves in all of our sinfulness, and the result is mourning, the same deep mourning that you thought of when you first read that word. Jesus is talking about sorrow over the separation that we’ve created between us and God. We don’t just recognize our sinfulness; we mourn over it.
We have the same reaction that Isaiah did:
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!” (Isaiah 6:5)
We see our sin and realize that we need saving, understanding that we are inadequate to save ourselves. In verse 3, Jesus was talking about us recognizing our need for God. In verse 4, he’s saying that we should be so grieved over our sin that we can’t rest until we’ve found God. We see ourselves for what we truly are. We see our helplessness and realize that our only hope is in the grace of God.
The apostle John quoted Jesus as saying:
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:32-33)
When we see the cross of Christ, let us remember that we are the ones who put him there. Blessed are those of us who mourn over our sin. Jesus said those who do will be comforted. How? Through his forgiveness.
David knew what Jesus meant:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)
Paul knew all about this comfort:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
Have you come to the place in your life where you recognize your sinfulness? You understand that there is a grand canyon separating you from your Creator. You know that you need his forgiveness, but you also know that there is nothing you can do to fix yourself. You mourn because you are destined to live for eternity without God.
Take that sorrow to Jesus, and you will be comforted. Go to God in mourning, and he will turn your mourning into rejoicing. Admit to him that you have sinned, believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and choose to surrender your life to him completely. If you do that, you will be his child forever. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”