Blessed are those who Mourn

NRS Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

As with each of the beatitudes the happiness in each of these is connected to a promise. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Mourning would not be a blessing without this promise of comfort. The Greek word for comfort literally might be rendered to come along side. The promise of comfort is not only the promise of a future when all tears will be wiped away although this surely is an element of the promise but it is the comfort of God’s Spirit present alongside us in the midst of our mourning. Any happiness that comes to us apart from God is short lived. It is a thing of this world quickly passing away. Mourning seems to be the enemy of happiness the interruption even the final end of happiness. Jesus words set us in a different direction. Jesus does not have a morose sense of enjoying misery. What makes mourning blessed is the promise of comfort. In the mourner we see the individual who has come to experience the joy from the purpose of human community. Inevitably we realize joy is severed by sin and death. We mourn because we realize that life is not what it should be. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.