Hello and welcome to Van life Devotions. Leading up to Easter, we are looking at each of the Beatitudes – the incredible teaching of Jesus that was a part of His famous Sermon on the Mountain.
Last week we looked at the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”. Jesus then goes onto the next beatitude in verse 4, “Blessed are…”. What will it be? Based on how we often use this phrase “blessed”, how would you complete his sentence? Blessed are: those who get great jobs, your new house, when you something else great happens to you. I mean, let’s face it, many of us have used the statement “We’re so blessed” in reference to a great holiday or new jobs or new car.
Here’s how Jesus finishes it: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4 NIV). Hang on! “Those who mourn”?
What was Jesus thinking about when he uses the word mourning. The Greek words for to mourn, used here, is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language… It is defined as the kind of grief which takes such a hold that it cannot be hidden. As William Barclay puts it, “It is not only the sorrow which brings an ache to the heart; it is the sorrow which brings the unrestrainable tears to the eyes”.
A blessed life, as many of us would define it, is a life free from mourning, not a life marked by it!
Jesus though says that when we mourn—when life gets extremely difficult, when we experience the deepest suffering we’ve ever encountered, when we come to the end of our rope—then we are blessed. Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrases Matthew 5:4 this way: “You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you” (Matthew 5:4 MSG).
In surprising ways, suffering makes room in our spirit for us to know and experience the blessing of God’s peace and presence. Without suffering, we simply can’t know his comfort. In mourning, we experience the blessing of God’s presence.
Jesus isn’t recommending that you take up suffering as a thing to do. He just wants you to know that you can find an incredible blessing hidden in the shadows and the valleys. And that blessing might be visible only through your teardrops.
When disaster comes, we can’t see anything bigger than what we’ve lost. But the truth is, God can fill that space.
Everyone experiences loss. Everyone mourns. But those who follow Jesus find that their pain is not wasted. There is a blessing that seems totally illogical. But the blessing is there. Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NIV).
Let’s pray:
God of comfort, I pray for those who are deeply grieving. May they come to you and find rest, peace, and hope. O God, preserve us who travel; surround us with your loving care; protect us from every danger; and bring us in safety to our journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
David Moyes
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