Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
Matthew 5:4
There is scripture in the Bible that has been misused and adapted for people use incorrectly. The verses from 2 Corinthian, though beautiful, is one such example. This beatitude from the book of Matthew is a second example.
Oftentimes, this verse is used during memorial services or in relation to a physical mourning a person might encounter, possibly over the passing of a loved one or other event. But this is not the type of mourning that Jesus truly meant when he said this second beatitude.
With the last beatitude post, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” I mentioned how uncomfortable I am talking about sin with children. In that beatitude, it helped in the understanding to change the word “poor” to “humble.” With this instance, Jesus was referring to those who look to God with humility and understanding that they cannot cure themselves of sin.
With this beatitude, there is a similar sentiment. Those who mourn are not those who are mourning the loss of anything physical, but rather those who are mourning their sin and seeking God through humbleness.
I think that, to some extent, this beatitude probably rang especially true with Matthew. In case you need a refresher on the story of the Calling of Matthew…
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
Matthew 9:9-13
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
As Jesus stated, He was here to bring salvation, to those who were sinners. He sacrificed Himself to bring comfort to those who recognized their sins, mourned them with a deep feeling of hurt, and sought Him out for help and salvation.
As I mentioned on Tuesday, there is something so incredibly powerful about coming to God and saying, “Dear God, I messed up…” and finishing it. There is something that lifts your heart when you admit your failures or wrongdoings to God and seek Him out.
What is comforting about this beatitude is not the idea of being a sinner, but rather that, as a sinner, because we are flawed individuals, we can seek comfort in our errors through seeking out God and Jesus Christ.
Discuss with your kids
Have you ever had a time where you messed up so badly it made you sick to your stomach? Maybe you agonized over it for days. You kept it bottled up inside, hoping that the mistake would just go away. You didn’t talk to anyone about it because you were embarrassed or didn’t want others to know.
Have you ever had a time where you went against a rule? You knew you weren’t supposed to do something, but did it anyways? Did you think you’d gotten away with it? Instead, though, it kept eating at you. You kept thinking about it, wondering when you would get caught.
Jesus talked about these feelings when he identified those who mourn. He refers us as sinners needing to seek God for comfort in our hearts and souls. What is amazing about this beatitude is that it leads us perfectly to the amazing act of the resurrection.
In the days between Jesus being crucified and Jesus being resurrected, there was turmoil in many of the hearts of the disciples. Peter denied being a follower of Jesus three times. You can imagine how heavy his heart must’ve been. You can imagine the guilt he felt and mourned when he heard the cock crow and realized what he had done.
However, by continuing to seek God and Jesus, by finding Him resurrected, by admitting to Jesus later, in Galilee, his love for Christ, his heart and soul were comforted.
When you make mistakes, when you break a rule, know that you can and should always seek God. Jesus died so that our sins are forgiven and as proof that, no matter what bad things we do, if we seek God, we will be comforted from the turmoil in our hearts.
Questions to ask
- How do you feel when you break a rule or make a big mistake?
- Why do we feel things like sick to our stomach or hurt when we do something we shouldn’t? How are those feelings similar to mourning or being sad?
- How do you feel when you confess your mistakes and wrongdoings to your parents or teachers? How do you feel when you confess these things to God?
- How do you think God feels when you sin? How do you think He feels when you come to Him seeking help and forgiveness?
Activity to bring comfort
Similar to “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” the way to bring comfort is to pray and to confess to God when we have wronged. When we pray, it is easy to do so when we need help or to just include the happy things, the things for which we are thankful. It’s much harder to remember to pray when our lives are going well. It is not easy to pray when we have sinned or when we make errors in our judgement. But we are only human. We make choices everyday and they are not always the best choices. Seeking God, praying to Him, will bring comfort when we mourn the poor choices we’ve made.
Jesus taught us to ask for forgiveness within His prayer. “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses…” When we say The Lord’s Prayer, we ask God for that comfort. We ask God for our “daily bread,” our forgiveness as provided through the death of Christ. By continually mourn the “human condition” of sin, to continually remind ourselves that we will error, and to continually seek out God and Jesus Christ, we will find comfort in His forgiveness.