Week 10 - Matthew 5:4
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Once again, on first glance, it's easy to wonder why Jesus would call people who mourn blessed. It seems trite, doesn't it? It seems a bit too Disney.
If my logic follows, people who suffer mourn.
In the time of Jesus, suffering was a seen as a result of sin. The only doubt about the person suffering was which sin they might have committed. They certainly wouldn't have been considered "lucky!"
In our day, we keep death and mourning as far away as possible. Mourning isn't something we excel in.
Our churches also aren't equipped to bless worshipers who are in a place of mourning.
In fact, 40% of the Psalms are psalms of lament. But guess what percentage of the songs in our song books are songs of lament: 4%. That should alarm us and tell us something. Our churches aren't exactly equipping our people for times of mourning.
As you dwell in Matthew 5:4, here are a few questions to consider and comment on:
1) What situations of suffering do you associate with mourning?
2) Are there things other than the death of a loved one that we mourn? What are they?
3) What makes those who mourn blessed or "lucky"?
4) In the process of grieving, is it possible to skip mourning? What are the results of a failure to mourn difficult circumstances in our lives?
5) Is there any place for mourning in a positive transition in your life? Give an example.
6) What are some of the ways that Christians (those committed to putting the kingdom on display) might seek to implement this passage in order to proclaim the good news in 2012?
Interesting that I read your blog this mourning. Last night I was reading in Ecc. 7 and some of the stuff he says is confusing to me like, "better to spend your time at funerals than at parties". In the NLT it says in vs 3: "Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us." Maybe the answer to question #3 is that there are spiritual blessings that we can only get in times of mourning. I know that I tend to draw closer to God when times are rough and that seems to be when I grow the most in my relationship with him. That is sad (no pun intended), but it is the truth...at least for me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about mourning, while the obvious answer is we mourn when we experience death around us there are also other things in life that call us to a period of mourning. When you have something that you have wanted or desired your whole life… something that you have worked towards or pursued that you suddenly find is unreachable (at least in the way you had desired it) you can find yourself in a place for mourning. Think for example of an athlete who has worked hard their whole life to go professional only to injure themselves so severely and there in taking away any hope of fulfilling this dream. I have no doubt that this person SHOULD enter into a period of mourning. I say SHOULD because I am learning from firsthand experience that these things are devastating (even if you know that God has other plans for you, and you can take hope in that). Mourning is part of our natural way of working through these issues.
ReplyDeleteUnless you have been there you may not understand, but I went through a very real period of mourning in my journey of infertility. This period of mourning was a necessary means of processing and dealing with the heart break and loss I was feeling. It allowed me the opportunity to wrestle with God, process through my heart break, and come through on the other side trying to remember its about His will and not mine. Through this experience I truly learned that there is a very real purpose for mourning and that people mourn for lots of different reasons.