Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Susan Neder, and the Scripture is Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Luke 7:37-38,47 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. . . . I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
In the story of the sinful woman, we see two very different persons and heart attitudes. The Pharisee, Simon, was cold, satisfied with his own integrity, judgmental, critical and not even providing Jesus with the barest minimum of courtesies. "The woman who had lived a sinful life in that town was conscious of her sinful past, rejoicing in her forgiveness, and lavishing on Jesus the outpouring of her love. Simon does not cast himself at Jesus' feet because his proud heart was not broken. He sits opposite Jesus, confident and satisfied with himself. Yet, the woman is overflowing with lavish love for Jesus, bathing His feet with her tears and perfume, wiping them with her hair. Her repentance and sorrow for her sin (mourning) had led her to the joy of her forgiveness. The one who had the biggest debt canceled was the one who loved greatly.
The mourning Jesus speaks about is the mourning that comes from an awareness of our sin and a right understanding of the evil of sin. We need God's help with this as we have such a desire to excuse and defend ourselves. Today, we have a superficial and wrong conception of sin. We don't see it as the cancer that God says it is- a cancer which will destroy us. Therefore, we don't deal with it as we would as a cancer that we must be rid of.
We don't stop with the mourning, but we go on to the comfort? In fact, it is only out of this deep conviction of sin that the joy and the comfort of the kingdom becomes ours. This is true not just as we first come to Him but as a style of life. We recognize something in us as sin, and at first it gets us down (mourning). But, if we allow this awareness to drive us back to Jesus, then peace and happiness return, and we are comforted in the reality of His forgiveness and cleansing.
This is the astounding meaning of this Beatitude. Great sorrow over our sin leads us to great joy and comfort as we bring it all to Jesus. Dealing with our sin in this way brings us "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Not to live like this means that we have to hide much of who we really are from ourselves and each other. Let's pray for eyes to see ourselves and our sin as He sees it, and then let's respond to Him as did the woman in Luke 7 whose heart was overflowing with love and joy for the greatness of His forgiveness?
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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