Our study through beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) brings us to verse 4; “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” In last week’s message we saw that the Greek word for blessed, “makarios,” essentially means happy, but whatever the translation and whatever English word is used the juxtaposition of “makarios” (blessed, happy) with “pentheo” (mourning, lament) is provocative and also potentially confusing. Like water and wine, happiness and mourning seem to be mutually exclusive concepts that don’t mix well. A number of questions arise as we wrestle with what Jesus says in this verse-
Is it possible to experience a happy sadness?
Is mourning really the soil from which a blessed happiness springs?
What kind of mourning was Jesus talking about?
Mourning for what?
What exactly is Jesus calling us to be happy about?
And with what will we be comforted?
Is the promise of comfort a future hope or can it be a present reality?
Those are all good questions, and hopefully as we wrestle with God’s Word together this coming Sunday we will see and draw encouragement from what Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”