A Look at the Beatitudes (cont)

We are continuing to look at the Beatitudes:

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:2 (KJV)

To understand this, we need to define what it means to mourn from a biblical standpoint. The Topical Encyclopedia defines it this way:

Mourning in the biblical context refers to the expression of deep sorrow or grief, often associated with death, loss, or repentance. It is a significant theme throughout the Scriptures, reflecting both personal and communal experiences of lamentation.

While the Bible references mourning as a reaction to a deep sorrow or grief after a loss or death, it also refers to a deep sorrow over the need to repent. This repentance could be with the individual or in regards the nation. Cultural practices in the Bible could be the wearing of sackcloth and ashes by the individual or a corporate fast such as found in Nineveh when Jonah went to proclaim the city’s destruction without repentance. There was also many examples of prophetic mourning in the Old Testament when God’s prophets declared that there would be grave consequences for the people of God who had turned their back on Him and took to worshiping idols.

Whatever the type of mourning, and whatever the reason for the mourning, we see in Matthew 5:2 a promise that those that mourn, would be comforted. This is something we can all rejoice in, knowing that our Father in heaven knows the depths to which mourning can take and has promised to move in our behalf by comforting us.

Shouldn’t we likewise do so to one another?

Maria