Jesus, just as His Father did before on Mount Sinai, is not, in pronouncing law in His Sermon on the Mount, laying burdens on us. He is instead instructing us in how we can lead a good life. He is telling us the pathway to blessing. Who, though, would ever think of suggesting that the way to have a good life is to mourn? Jesus would, and did.
We are a woefully woe-less people. That is, we are set on walking not the via dolorosa, the way of sorrow but the via media, the middle way, on staying steady, on avoiding looking too deeply into that which causes sorrow. This, however, will not lead us to the good life. It will instead lead us to a banal life, a useless life, a life that suffers from the unbearable lightness of being. Instead we are called to enter into mourning.
For what should we mourn? Not that our March Madness bracket has turned to rubble. Not that our name is being dragged through the mud. Not that our outgo is outpacing our income. Instead we ought to mourn over two hard truths. First, we ought to mourn over our own sin. We ought to enter into our sin, facing it squarely. When Jesus told us that a man loves more who has been forgiven more He wasn’t giving an invitation to sin more. Instead He gave an invitation to see our sin more. We need to know our sin. We can rest assured that however far we chase it, we will never catch up. No matter how deeply we enter into our repentance, we will never hit bottom. Nor will we ever outrun His grace.
The second thing we ought to mourn over is the collective power of our sin. That is, not only am I a sinner, but I live in a planet full of sinners. Not only am I destructive to the Eden God created for us, but so is everyone else. Here is my proof that we do not mourn as we ought. Today, in strip malls and offices on tree-lined streets across this land, more than 2500 mothers and fathers will hire doctors to murder their babies. Today more than 2500 hundred babies will be intentionally burned, vacuumed or torn to pieces. Each of us will go about our business, measuring our happiness for the day on the basis of whether we like the weather, whether our work is rewarding, whether our spouse speaks kindly to us, whether our side plays well in some twitter war, whether the traffic is light. All is not right with the world.
The end result of entering into this woe, Jesus promises, isn’t a life of misery. Instead He promises that we will be comforted. It is fair to suggest that a corollary to this promise is this- cursed are the blasé, for they shall be afflicted. Ignoring the evil, whether it be in the world, or in our own hearts, won’t make it go away. It won’t allow us to live in a fool’s paradise. Instead it drives us into a fool’s hell. Only entering into the mourning will bring us toward dancing. God forgives the contrite. God humbles the proud. Look away, and be scourged. Enter in, and be comforted.