The Mourning Messiah
Last week we began to look at the Beatitudes that are found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We saw that they contain the attitudes and behaviors that shape who a Christian is supposed to because they are things that make us look more and more like Jesus. Last week we opened our sermon by defining the word that frames all the Beatitudes and that is the word “Blessed”. We saw that when Jesus used the word “Blessed” He was referring to God’s supreme and ultimate approval and we need to be reminded of this as we look at Jesus’ next statement in His Sermon on the Mount that is found in Matthew 5:4. Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." What Jesus is saying is God’s approval is upon those who mourn and they will be comforted in their grief. “Beatitude” is not what it seems on the surface because Jesus is speaking of attitudes that are in the lives of Christians and are not of this world, but of God. If we were to take this at face value, we will look at this as bereaving and grieving the loss of someone or something along with a promise of being comforted in those moments. It’s not that Jesus will not comfort those who are mourning over loss. As a matter of fact, we are promised that He does in Psalms 34:17-18, but how would this interpretation fit with our definition of blessed? After all this is a normal response for everyone in the world, so it would be hard to see worldly behavior to be behavior that brings with it God’s ultimate and supreme approval. In order to understand what is being said here, I think it’s best to look at the life of the man who knew all about mourning and was even called, “Despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” in Isaiah 53:3. When we look at the life of Jesus we can see 3 times in the “Man of Sorrow’s“ that He mourned and it's in those moments that we will see the types of mourning that Jesus is speaking of here. We will also understand the comfort that is promised in each of these situations. Let’s begin by looking at the shortest verse in the English Bible - John 11:35. Mourning with Others - John 11:35 35Jesus wept. The first time we see Jesus mourn in Scripture is at the death of His friend Lazurus. When Lazurus got sick his sisters did the best thing that they could. They called on Jesus to help him, but in His perfect wisdom and by His perfect plan, Jesus tarried and did not come immediately to their aid. As a matter of fact, when Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the grave for four days, and his friends and family had been grieving for just as long. When Jesus arrived at Lazurus’ home we are told that his sisters, Mary and Martha, were a little angry that Jesus had not been there to save the day just as they had planned. We are told that the sisters were weeping and others around were wailing and it’s then that Jesus wept. Notice that Jesus didn’t say anything in this moment. He merely wept as they wept. He was not crying because He was grieving the loss of Lazurus. He knew that Lazurus would be back before supper. Instead when Jesus mourned He was mourning because those He loved were hurting. This is what we are commanded to do as well in our Christian lives. In Romans 12 Paul speaks of ways that we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices daily before the Lord and one way He speaks of is to weep with those who weep. Our God is Father of all mercy and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) and when we follow Jesus, we are called to reflect those qualities and attributes into the lives of others. Jesus was showing the mercy and comfort of God first hand to those who had gathered there to mourn. Jesus was simply present with them, listened to them in their pain, and hurt with them. That is what we are called to do. There are times that well-meaning Christians try to speak truth into the life of someone who is grieving and they end up doing more harm than good when all they needed to do was be like Jesus and weep with them. We are promised comfort will come, but the comfort will not come from us. It will come from God working through us. The word for comfort in the Beatitude is from the root word where we get the Greek word “paraclete”. That is the word that Jesus used to describe and promise the coming of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus is saying is when we walk in obedience to put others higher than ourselves and hurt when they hurt and be God’s hand of comfort here on earth, they will be supernaturally comforted by the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. This truth reminds me of a very important Psalm in my life. It was a promise that King David experienced and you can too through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 30, David had struggled, he had grieved, and he had mourned, but he had also seen the comfort of God and he cried out to God with words like, “Though the sorrow may last through the night, His joy comes in the morning”, and “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!” Blessed are those that mourn with others because they will be used to comfort by the Great Comforter. Mourning over the Wayward - Luke 19:41-44 41But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you In the Old Testament we are told of the prophet Jeremiah. He was known as the “Weeping Prophet” because many times in Scripture we see that he was broken and weeping over the sin of the Nation of Israel. Jesus was actually confused with Jeremiah during His ministry (Matthew 16:14), no doubt because He was just as broken over the sins of others as Jeremiah was. Here in Luke 19, Jesus had just returned to Jerusalem for the final time. This was on Palm Sunday and as He approached Jerusalem He began to weep and mourn over them. Jesus knew their sin and how that sin had caused them to reject their only hope to escape the coming judgment - a judgment that was just 40 short years away. He was grieved because of their sin and where that was leading them. It led Him to pray for them, but it also led Him to action. Despite their rejection of Him, Jesus still died on the cross for them. And what happened? People were saved, the same ones He wept over and prayed for. They came to trust Him as their Lord and Savior. The greatest example of this is Jesus’ own brother, James. Three times in the Gospels we see that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Him. We see no mention of them at the cross or at all during Jesus’ final day, but once Jesus rose again and ascended we are told that Jesus’ brothers were among those who gathered in the upper room before the Holy Spirit came. Later in Acts we are told specifically that James the Brother of Jesus speaks on behalf of the believers when Paul and Barnabas come to Jerusalem with questions. Therefore, if we are to mourn like Jesus we need to be heartbroken over the sins of others, because when we are truly heartbroken over their sin, it will spur us to pray over those who are lost in their sin. When we pray we become strengthened through the Holy Spirit to be His witness in the lives of those we are broken over. We begin to have a heart for the lost. Then when we share His Gospel in obedience, we will see that it is not our clever words or answers that have the power in a Gospel conversation, but rather it is the Holy Spirit who uses our insufficient words in ways we would never think possible. There is also a danger when we do not mourn the sin of others. When we are not broken by the sin of others, the sins of our community, and the sins of our nation, we will find ourselves becoming complacent. We will not speak up in opposition by standing on the Word of God and proclaiming His truth when God provides the opportunities. The world notices when we, “the church” start to act like this, and they take our silence as approval of their sin. We might even find ourselves being ones who enable the sins of others. We must speak the truth in love at all times because of our brokenness over their sins. Blessed are they that mourn over the sins of others, because God will give them a heart for the lost. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and through obedience they will see God work in the lives of those they mourned for. Mourning over Sin’s Weight - Matthew 26:36-39 36Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” There are nine different Greek words to communicate mourning in the New Testament. The one that is used in the second Beatitude is the most powerful one that is used in Scripture. The final place we see Jesus mourn in Scripture is evidence of the weight of this type of mourning. Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is grieved to the point of death. This is an extreme type of mourning. We see exactly what was causing this grief in verse 39. In just a few hours the sins of the world would be placed upon Jesus and the wrath of God would be poured out upon Him. Because of the seriousness of sin, Jesus would have to die. Jesus was not grieved by His sin, because He is perfect and sinless. Instead, He was grieving the sins that He would take upon Himself and the price that would have to be paid. This is the final example to help us understand what mourning is. Without a doubt, this is the most important one as well as the most difficult one for us to do because true mourning over sin is not something that comes naturally to us. 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us of the difference between God’s way of mourning sin and the world's way, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” That’s the kind of mourning God wants and blesses, It’s mourning that drives us away from our sin, to repentance, and to experience His grace. However many times we get confused. We confuse our tears for true mourning and repentance. We can weep at the altar. We can weep with our Bibles open and many times we weep, not because we are broken because of our sin and what it cost Jesus, but we weep over the consequences of our sins and that’s exactly what the world does. If you ever watched the 90’s TV Channel “Court TV” you could see this played out time and time again in our world. You would see people would cry and mourn at sentencing, not because they mourned what they had done, but they were grieved because they got caught and they were about to face the consequences. We see this in the Bible as well. Esau cried when he lost his blessing, but the New Testament still calls him Godless. Judas wept and returned the silver he received when he betrayed Jesus, but he never returned to Jesus for forgiveness of that sin! This type of mourning is self-deception and will make you feel better for a little while, but never once will it address the root of the problem - your sins. We might even try to address our sin by confessing we have sinned, but we just use that as an umbrella term to hide our pet sins that we struggle with. We can’t hide them. We must be specific when we confess them! We are told in Ephesians 5:11-14 to “Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” You cannot confront your sin unless it is brought into the light. You can’t keep it hidden. Then, once it is brought into the light there is only one way you can confront it in the light of Jesus. You must kill it! Romans 8:13 tells us this about sin “For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.” Colossians 3:5 tells us “So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.” That is the obedience that is required beyond tears to conquer sin when we truly mourn over it. Satan is not afraid of your tears and weeping over your sin, but he is terrified over your obedience. Heaven will never applaud your ache because of your sin, but it will applaud your obedience in dealing with it. When we truly mourn and are heartbroken over our sin, then we will be comforted. It’s in those moments of true mourning that we will cry out “Lord, whatever is required for this sin to die in me, let it be.” Is that your cry today? When we make changes that God calls us to in order to deal with our sin, we will make sure we don’t have access and opportunities to participate in that sin. When we come to Him for transformation, we will truly find comfort, not just relief from the grief of sin. This world will never find comfort going about sin and it’s consequences the way they do. If you truly want to find comfort from your sins, bring them into the light, bring them to Jesus and deal with them in obedience and you will no longer feel grief or shame, but you will feel that amazing grace that we love to sing about so much invade your life. It has been said that true Christianity is manifested in what we cry over and what we laugh over. This world has no problem laughing at sin and many times we find ourselves doing that same. However we cannot kill the sin in our lives that we continue to flatter with our words. We must grieve our sin. That’s the beginning of mourning like Jesus mourned. To see our sin for what it is - something so wretched and evil that it cost the blood of the Lamb, and when we start mourning it for what it is, then we can truly start being broken for the sins of this world. We can begin to weep with those who weep and show others the same mercy and compassion we experienced at the cross of Jesus. Isaiah 61:3 tells us that through Jesus and obedience to Him He trades our ashes of mourning for beauty. Joy will be given instead of sorrow and garments of praise instead of garments of heaviness. Some of this comfort might be partial, interrupted, or short lived because we still live in a world that is broken and devastated by sin. There is coming a day that those who follow Jesus will have every tear wiped from their eyes. Then and only then will we experience the fullness of what Jesus was speaking of. Blessed are they that mourn for they will be comforted.