Let’s be honest. No one likes mourning. Mourning that is, not morning (many don’t like that too). None of us looks forward to something that gives us a reason to mourn. Just hearing the word makes us feel sick. To mourn assumes one is already experiencing some kind of a deep grief, and he or she is expressing that deep grief outwardly.
Genesis 23:2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Matthew 9:15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."
We identify with grief when there is a significant loss in our life. For example, grief may come to us from the death of a person or pet whom we loved, a divorce, an end of a friendship, or the loss of a job, business or savings. The deeper the grief, the more intense the mourning. If the emotional pain associated with the grief gets out of control, it can affect even our physical health, making it difficult for us to sleep, eat, think straight, or even breathe. Even though it is said, “Time heals all wounds,” sometimes the loss can be so great for some of us that we don’t recover even after time passes, and the result is our mourning stays with us until we die.
This is why it is rather bizarre when we read in the Bible, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Isn’t that strange? Why did Jesus say it is blessed to mourn? What did the disciples understand when they heard this? In order to make it more attractive for people to consider the Christian faith, shouldn’t we give the appearance of being at peace and being joyful? Why would anyone be drawn to us if we suffer and we mourn?
James 4:9
Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
Jesus never qualified what he meant by mourning. There is nothing in the context of the Beatitudes to help us understand what is this that we should do. But if I am right, Jesus was talking about mourning due to the grieving over our sin. Sin is not as simple as making the wrong choices, although it most definitely includes that. When sin entered into the world in Genesis 3, every part of man—our mind, will, emotions and flesh—became affected by sin. Our lives were thoroughly polluted by sin. Why cannot I control my selfishness? Why cannot I be happy for others? Why do I not seek after God? Why is this happening in me daily? There is nothing lovely in us. All of this make us grieve and mourn.
This mourning is not limited to mourning over our sins only. If we are doing this right, we mourn also over the sins of others. We take a look at our own community, our city, our nation, and it is not hard to see what a thorough job sin has done. There is injustice and violence everywhere. People are unkind to each other. Homes burglarized. Cars stolen, and the tires picked off. We are tired of our own sin, and the sin of others. We mourn.
Galatians 5:19–21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. James 1:14–15 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Jesus says those who mourn over the sin of their hearts receive comfort. Those who feel the heaviness of their sin, and are broken over their sin daily, are blessed with comfort. Inversely, those who do not mourn over their sin do not experience such comfort. Why is there need for comfort? If we do not mourn that our sin is all that great, we will not feel the need for a savior to be great, and we certainly will not think we have a Great Savior in Jesus. Mourning has to come first. In the same way Jesus did not qualify what is mourning, he did not qualify what is this comfort, but I am thinking it is divine comfort. God is the one who comforts. At the same time we go through the feeling of hopelessness when we mourn, we look to the hope that there will come one day when there is no more sin because of Christ’s excellent work on the cross. God will wipe away every tear. There will be no more crying, fighting, pain, or mourning. And this gives us true comfort.
In the end, mourning is not mourning. It is not mourning, as in mourning over the death of a loved one. Mourning is spiritual mourning. No one likes to mourn. It is the last thing we want to experience in our lives. But it is good, even necessary for us to mourn. Mourning deeply over our sin must be who we are. We must be people who mourn daily. Let us learn together, you and I, how to mourn.