Matthew 5:4

Saturday, 9 November 2024

Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

“Blessed – those mourning.
For they will be comforted” (CG).

The previous verse spoke of the poor in spirit. Now, the blessings continue with, “Blessed – those mourning.”

The word translated as mourning, pentheó, speaks of mourning over death, particularly a close relationship. It is the type of grief that takes hold of a person and which cannot be hidden. It also refers to any great mourning on such a level, such as mourning over sin.

The type of mourning is not stated, but it seems unlikely that Jesus would make a general statement that could have applied to anyone at any time who lost a loved one. Rather, He is speaking to Israel, under the law. The first thing it says of Him speaking out in His ministry was in Matthew 4:17, telling the people to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

As such, it is likely that He is tying His statement about mourning with those who see the error of their ways and grieve over their wrongdoings. This seems more certain because it is His disciples to whom He is specifically speaking. They were to convey the message that the Messiah had come, and that would not be a message lacking a note about turning from their wayward ways.

It is true that the hope of the Messiah was the hope of restoration of life, but that type of mourning would be ended only for those who had turned from their sins and followed the Lord according to the precepts of the law, which included turning to the Messiah as referred to in the law and prophets. As for the blessing upon such, it next says, “For they will be comforted.”

If one sees a problem and corrects it, it can then be expected that God will restore his joy according to his faith. If a person realizes that he is offending God, in turning from his offensive ways would mean that he is no longer offending God. In believing that he is doing wrong, by changing his ways, he will then believe that he is doing right.

This alone is enough to comfort a person because he now has the hope that what God says concerning such things is true. What would be the point of turning from wrongdoing if you didn’t believe that you were doing wrong? And what would be the point of turning from wrongdoing if you didn’t believe God cared?

One can see that such mourning directly leads to the comfort of believing what God says when a change is made. This appears to be what Jesus is referring to as He speaks to Israel under the law, and who had not been faithful to fulfilling the requirements of the law.

Life application: The Bible says many times, both explicitly and implicitly, that the law is fulfilled and set aside in Christ. Now, in this new arrangement granted by God, men are asked to reconsider who God is and their relationship with Him.

Jesus has fulfilled the law that God set forth for Israel. We no longer need to mourn over not meeting its standards. Instead, Jesus has done that for us. What we need to mourn over is not honoring God by honoring the Son. When we realize how we have offended God by not living for Jesus, we should mourn over this and come to Jesus.

To not do so leaves us out of the promises of God because only in Jesus are the requirements of God fulfilled. When we see those in the church not living according to the standards of God set forth in the New Testament epistles, we should mourn over that, knowing that such conduct can affect others. Eventually, the body will suffer from the immorality displayed by those who are disobedient.

In correcting such deficiencies, we will be comforted in our hope and in our knowing that we are conducting our affairs in a right manner before God. Such things always come back to belief in who God is, in what He has directed, and how we should respond to Him and to what He expects.

Lord God Almighty, thank You for the hope we possess. We were once alienated from You, but now we are Your children because of faith in what Jesus has done. We realized we were heading in the wrong direction, and by faith, we reached out to You through Him. Now, we have the comfort of faith in what this means for our eternal souls. Thank You for the hope of Jesus! Amen.