“Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”  That’s another of those strange sayings of Jesus that seems like nonsense when we first hear it.  Someone has suggested that to be blessed is to be happy.  But if that’s so then we’re really saying: Happy are those who are grieving!  But what a cruel contradiction to say: Happy are the sad!  Are the sad really to be envied...?

Our world is filled with all kinds of grief: bereaved partners who still mourn many years after their spouse was taken from them; the grief of a deserted wife or a disappointed parent.  Grief and mourning are all around us and then Jesus comes and pronounces a special blessing on people such as that: Congratulations to those who mourn!  And please don’t consider this irrelevant for you and your situation in life.  All of us get to grieve or mourn if we live long enough.  If you haven’t done any mourning yet, stick around - your time will come.

So what does Jesus mean?  Some people are quick to spiritualise this saying.  They suggest Jesus is talking about mourning over our own sinful condition.  Blessed are those who mourn over their sins because they will experience the blessing of forgiveness.  There’s truth in that... but... it’s not quite so simple.  We mustn’t spiritualise this too quickly.  Luke’s gospel records this saying a little differently: Blessed are those who weep now for you will laugh.  But then a few verses later He states the exact opposite: Woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep.

If we only apply this saying to grief over our sins then we have another problem as well.  What then about all the ordinary suffering and grief in this world?  Is that ordinary pain and grief meaningless?  Does the good news of the gospel only apply to relieve the grief of guilt... and not other kinds of grief?

While this may seem a strange saying it is really quite profound.  It seems obvious to me that Jesus is certainly not suggesting that all mourning and grief is automatically blessed by God - as if there’s some special value in grief itself.  He rather means that sorrow can be a great thing when it draws us closer to the God who is the healer of broken hearts.  There is something special about sorrow when it drives people to look for comfort from God Almighty.

Today many people could testify that their grief has been a real blessing.  I’ve met Christians whose deep personal loss and sorrow led to a much closer relationship with the Lord their God.  I know of folk who were never interested in religion but then God brought some great grief into their life and that became a turning point for them.  God shone the light of his love into their darkest hour.

When I read my Bible I get a distinct impression of God’s bias towards the grieving.  Time and time again we see God coming to people in their brokenness.  He passes by the happy-go-lucky and He comes to the miserable.  Ruth and Naomi... in their bereavement and loss... Hannah... the barren woman who pours out her sad soul to God... King Hezekiah... on the tear-stained pillow of his death bed.  I see God’s bias to the grieving in the exodus story as God saves a slave people sunk in misery.  I see it in the life of Jesus who ministers to people in their hurts and pain.  In fact He stated that mission clearly: He didn’t come for those who are cheerful and well.  He came for sinners... to touch the lepers... to raise from death the brother of a grieving Mary and Martha.

Isaiah predicted that long ago in Isaiah 61: “He sent me to bind up the broken-hearted... To comfort all who mourn.... to provide for those who grieve in Zion...!”

One of our problems today is that we’ve discarded the Christian theology of suffering.  We need to recapture the truth that some of us will only look up when we hit rock bottom and come to God only when we realise we have no other answers anymore.  We need to recapture that teaching that God works in profound ways through our grief to grow us to Christian maturity.  When these things have happened in this way then it is indeed true what Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”

John Westendorp