Today we look at the next verse in Matthew 5.
“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)
In our culture today mourning is not a blessing. If the characteristic of the believer means that we are to mourn does this mean that we should go around depressed? Well if that were the case there would be a lot of people who qualified for this category. Today there is a growing epidemic of depression. While I do recognize that some people are truly oppressed by this due to God’s sovereignty, I have to believe that many suffer from depression because they do not have the Joy of Christ in their life. Jesus is not telling us to be sad or depressed in this verse in order to be rewarded. The best way to see what Christ is saying is by using him as the example.
Jesus like Jeremiah the prophet lamented and wept for Jerusalem. It broke his heart to see the future suffering of the city. When Jesus saw the women weeping for him due to his persecution he said “weep not for me but instead your children” (Luke 23). You see Jesus could see the coming invasion of the evil Roman leaders and 70 AD slaughter. I also believe he is referring to the hundreds of years of wandering and scattering of Israel even up to the Jewish slaughter created by Nazi Germany. Even today there is constant war and threat of terror in the city as the Arabs and Jews feud over the land.
In verse 4 Jesus is saying blessed is the one who is not so entangled in this world that they cannot see the big picture. Blessed is the man or woman who mourns for the lost souls who continue to perish without hearing the gospel. Blessed are the ones who mourn for the persecuted brethren. Blessed are those who mourn for the heartaches and burdens of their brother or sister in Christ. The message in this verse is God’s people see needs and it burdens them. Our comfort should not come from secular books, music and media. Instead it comes when we are in the spiritual presence of the Father. We are to take to him our mourning heart and lay before him our tears. We are to go to the altar when the time comes and pray for the lost. We are too fast for the brother who is in the impossible situation and plead with God for direction and peace.
Finally “for they shall be comforted” is a reminder there is no peace like the Fathers peace. When we are broken he can fix us. Sometimes it takes a broken heart to fill the love of God, and whatever it takes it is worth it. Whether it is our burden or the burden for somebody else, God uses these occasions to bless his people.
Jesus Saves
RR
No comments:
Post a Comment