Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 12 – March 1998

 

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn...!

 

Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on Matthew 5:4

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61:1-7; Romans 8:12-28; Matthew 5:1-12

Suggested hymns: BoW 302; 159;42; 426

 

Introd:            At first glance the BEATITUDES seem like sheer nonsense.

That’s especially true for the second beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn...”

That comes across as a real contradiction: Happy are the unhappy...!

No wonder someone once said:  “The beatitudes are about people who don’t exist”.

There aren’t any happy, mourning people.

We could even ask:  Doesn’t this contradict other teachings of the Bible?
Scripture often puts this tremendous emphasis on finding joy in our faith.
I think of Paul’s words in Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice!
And then we have here a special blessing pronounced on people who grieve...?

 

A]        THE BEATITUDE FOR THE GRIEVING.

1.         So what does Jesus mean by ‘blessed are those who mourn...’?

Some are quick to say: It’s a matter of mourning over our sin... over the evil in our life.
Happy are those who mourn over sin... because they will have the comfort of forgiveness.
Fine!  That makes a lot of sense.

But turn again to Luke’s version of the beatitudes in Luke 6... and we see it isn’t quite that simple.
In Luke 6 it is much more difficult to just apply it quickly to grief over sin.
            LUKE 6:21  Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh.
And then note verse 25 as well... where Jesus states the exact opposite.
            LUKE 6:25  Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
So we shouldn’t spiritualise this beatitude too quickly.

If we only apply this saying to grief over sin and evil we have another problem as well.
What then about all the ordinary suffering and sorrow in this world?
Is it all of that ordinary pain and grief meaningless...?
Is the gospel relevant only for grief over sin... and not for other kinds of grief...?

We live in a world that is full of grief and mourning.
Every family... every individual has sorrow and pain...
                        and if you don’t have you will... if you live long enough.
            Grief over sickness for which there is no cure...!
            Mourning because the death of a loved one...!
            Sadness because those busted relationships just can’t seem to be mended.

Examples of grief and mourning run right through the Bible too.
            Adam and Eve’s pain... as Cain kills his brother Abel.
            David mourning the death of his son: “Absalom, my son, my son...!”
            Hezekiah weeping bitter tears because he has to go put his house in order and die.

All that grief: bereaved partners... deserted wives or husbands... disappointed parents.
And now here in this beatitude Jesus takes our ordinary, everyday grief seriously.
And since grief is so very common to all of us this beatitude is so very relevant too.

2.         So I want to begin by saying: Let’s just stick for the moment with our ordinary sorrow and grief.

Just as in the first beatitude we didn’t begin with the poor in spirit but with the poor.

So I want to begin with our ordinary, everyday sadnesses.
The mourning you experienced because your hopes were dashed...!
The grief that is yours because the pain just doesn’t go away...!

When I read my Bible I get a distinct impression that God is biased towards those who grieve.

Time and time again God comes 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...
            Hezekiah... on his tear-stained pillow with his face to the wall...!

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.
He stated that mission clearly: He didn’t come for those who are cheerful and well.
He came to touch the lepers...  to raise 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...!

In the book of Ecclesiastes there is a similar teaching... something that seems strange to our ears:
Eccl.7:2: It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting...!
That’s weird!  Can you young people relate to that...?
What would you rather... be at a party or at a funeral?
But Eccl.7:3 says: Sorrow is better than laughter...!
There are lessons you can learn at a funeral that you will never learn at a birthday party.

This is also why Jesus invites precisely the sad, broken people to come to Him.

Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

3.         At the same time we know very well that grief is not blessed for its own sake.

It is not as if our tears earn us some special ‘brownie points’ with God.

As if we could save ourselves by just working up enough grief.
No!  It’s still a case of:  Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.
That would really just boil down to salvation by good works.

Blessed are those who mourn...!
But think about it: if Jesus meant that mourning in itself is blessed...
            then the greater the misery the greater the blessing.
And then the most blessed place in the universe would probably be that place we call ‘hell’.
Because there the grief and sorrow are at their greatest too.

Obviously Jesus did not mean that mourning is blessed in itself... automatically!

The painful reality is that there is much mourning that will never be comforted.

There is certainly grief that receives no blessing.
The grief of a Cain in Genesis 4, who knows he has to go through life as a marked man.
The grief of a Judas, who knows he has betrayed innocent blood.
The grief of the arrogant atheist who knows he has to die without God and without hope.

There is an endless stream of human grief and mourning.
And obviously much of it does NOT come under the blessing of this beatitude.
Where then does the blessing and the comfort come in?

 

B]        THE GRIEF THAT BRINGS BLESSING.

1.         Does Jesus then after all just mean a very special kind of sorrow...?

Something along the lines of sorrow for our sin... and for the evil around us?
No!  I still believe that we have to do justice to the letter of what Jesus says.
And I still don’t want to spiritualise this just yet.

Mourning and sorrow can certainly be blessed by the Lord.
And that happens when our grief opens us up to look to God for help.
We reach our dead-end and we run out of answers.
We’ve tried everything else and nothing works anymore.
And in the depths of our grief there is nothing left.... nothing... except God.

There are many people who have come to faith in God through a crisis of suffering.

Their moment of deepest grief became for them a turning point.
Suffering and pain were like a purifying fire in their soul.
So that God used their distress to give them a glimpse of His love.

I know people like that and many of you do too.
People who had not the least interest in God or in religion.
But then one thing after another went wrong in their life.
Business failure, family difficulties, health problems...!
But in their darkest hour God came to them with His light.

True... some like that also become more and more bitter and resentful towards God.
But there have also been some beautiful conversions.
Conversions that began when God led someone thru a deep valley of darkness.
An unbelieving neighbour of my parents came to the Lord when his wife died suddenly.

It’s good for us to remember that God can use grief and mourning in that way.

So we ought to help and support those who mourn... and be instruments of God’s grace to them.

At times like that to speak gospel words of encouragement... or give a booklet eg. ‘Someone cares!”

2.         If mourning can be a blessing to unbelievers then even more so to believers.

And over the years there have been many lovely examples of that too.

Believers who lived superficial Christian lives without any spiritual depth.
Haphazard in their public worship of God... slack in their giving to the Lord’s work.
Christians who never had time for Bible reading and family devotions.

And then the Lord allowed some great grief to come into their life.
He touched them right where it hurt most... some pain or suffering.
But then through their tears they saw the Lord Jesus Christ more clearly.
And spiritually their lives blossomed into beautiful children of Almighty God.
My brother in law [Harry S] suffered a stroke but later said it was the best thing that happened.

Blessed are those who mourn...!
I think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane in agony sweating drops of blood.
And in his grief and anguish He prays... and prays yet again... three times.
But the blessing comes and the angels minister to Him.
And the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus learned through what he suffered.

Most of us are not all that comfortable talking to someone who just lost a spouse.
We’d rather talk to someone who has just celebrated their 21st birthday.
But there are lessons we learn at a funeral that we will never learn at a birthday party.

At parties we all try to impress each other with our status... our cleverness... our ability.
At parties we chatter about fashions... the new Toyota... the promotion at work...!
When we are faced with grief and loss other things suddenly become more important.
The smile and the touch of a hand... knowing God and being at peace with Him.
Heb. 12:6 tells us that in our sorrows and grief God in discipline is shaping and moulding us.

3.         But what then about those for whom everything always seems to go well?

Is this beatitude then only for those who have suffered some great tragedy in their life?

Do we have to have some terrible pain before we can experience this blessing?

No!  Here in the beatitudes we do not just have 8 different categories of people.
In a sense all of these are descriptions of one group of people.
Here Jesus especially sets out the character of a believer.
In the beatitudes He is describing what a Christian looks like.
They are people who mourn... who grieve... who cannot go along with the frivolity of the world.
Kingdom citizens... who are different.

Here then is a picture of the character of a believer.
And it shows not just what we do but what we are... mourning characterises every believer.
So there is also another level of mourning and grieving.

And then I don’t even mean only that we should mourn over our sins.
            Sure, we should do that too... grieve... because we offend our Lord so often.
            But I mean also that we know how to grieve over the brokenness of this world / church.
            That we mourn because marriages break up... and cancer cells invade healthy bodies.

Sometimes we’re not very good at mourning with those who mourn.
            Especially not in circles where Christians act as if we should shout ‘Hallelujah’ all day.
            Sure we need to rejoice in the Lord always.
            But we also need to know how to grieve because we live in a less than perfect world.

Here we have a picture of the believer... showing that mourning is part of the Christian life.

In fact – the beatitudes are especially a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He was the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem.
Blessed then are we when we know how to weep over a lost and broken world on its way to hell.

 

C]        THE COMFORT THAT BLESSES GRIEF.

1.         It is to those who mourn that Jesus offers comfort... and that raises some new questions.

Comfort can seem a rather meagre blessing!

Comfort can seem terribly inadequate.

I wonder how often you’ve been called on to comfort someone.
A fellow breaks off with his girlfriend and she is shattered... how do you comfort her?
Your friend’s grand-mother passes away... what do you say to him?
A relative is diagnosed with a terminal illness... how do you handle that?

Of course at times like that we do say something... after all we don’t like silence.
So we come with our pet solutions.
            We say:           Well, of course there are others who are a lot worse off.
            Or:                   Don’t forget you’ve still got a lot to be thankful for.
            Or:                   Every cloud has a silver lining.... and... time heals all wounds.

If we are going to comfort that way we should learn from Job’s friends.
At least they sat in silence with Job for seven days and seven nights before speaking.
I mention this to show how hard it is to bring good comfort.

And there is another problem with comfort.  Comfort doesn’t change the situation, does it?

Comfort doesn’t take the problem away... we still have to live with it.

So how much of a blessing is comfort?

2.         Well, that’s the beauty of this beatitude.

This beatitude is gospel... good news...!

Because what is offered here is not just some empty slogans... not just words.

This is gospel good news... and then for three reason.

First of all, because this is a promise from God.

In fact there is a powerful promise in each of the beatitudes.
Here it is:  Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.  They will be...!
God gives His promise to meet our deepest human need.
And His promise is more than just empty words.  God comforts as only He can.

Secondly this is good news because this comfort is a special kind of comfort.
We tend to equate comfort with a pat on the head.
A soothing voice... a box of tissues... a shoulder to lean on...!
And we really can’t do much more than that... our comfort is so limited.

The comfort of the Bible is nothing less than the presence of our Saviour.
            And His presence far outweighs our problems.
            Because He doesn’t just pat us on the head.
            He makes us strong with His presence.
            He heals our hurts... He fills the emptiness that we feel, with His love.
            And He’s been doing that among us here in this church as we grieved our brokenness.

This comfort is summed up beautifully in Lord’s Day 1 of the Catechism.

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own but belong, body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

3.         But doesn’t that then still leave us with that other big problem we mentioned?

The fact that comfort can seem so futile because the problem is still there.

Okay comfort helps... but it doesn’t deal with the real problem, does it?

Think for example of Paul.
Paul had this thorn in the flesh... whatever it was.
And he prayed that the Lord would take it away and make things right.
Three times he prayed and three times God refused.

God didn’t comfort Paul by taking the problem away.
God did say: My grace is sufficient for you...!
And that was a wonderful thing... but what about the problem?  The thorn was still there.

Well, there is a third aspect to the gospel promise in this beatitude.

But here we do need to learn take a long term look at our problems.

We must see the big picture of the gospel.
Not just me here and now... not just me over against my big difficulty!
But rather that the work of Jesus has the ultimate answer for my deepest problems.

The blessedness of this beatitude is ultimately the comfort of a restored creation.
I do not have to live forever in this groaning creation broken by sin.
Jesus died to forgive the sins that so often make me mourn.
But Jesus died too to deal with the suffering and evil that so often brings me grief.
One day this creation will be set free from its bondage to decay.

Only for a little while will we still have to live with our problems.

Your comfort and mine is that every tear will be wiped away, pain, suffering and death will be no more.
On that day Jesus will give us a crown of beauty instead of the ashes of mourning.
The garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair... so that He might be glorified.

Amen.