The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most familiar passages of all the Bible, and is certainly the most famous sermon ever given. It is rich in themes we all need to master, our calling to be salt and light, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that the law of God is not merely a matter of externals, but touches on our hearts. The Beatitudes are often looked at as a kind of second Sinai. The kingdom has come. The people of God are called to live in light of it. And so Jesus gives us His law for how to live well in the land.
There is truth to that, but a danger as well. When we look merely to the law that is delivered, that we should be poor in spirit, mourn, hunger, and thirst for righteousness we can too easily pass by the grace, the promises of God that follow each command. The promise to those who mourn is that they will be comforted.
It’s an odd juxtaposition, even before we get to the promise. Blessed are those who mourn? Isn’t it a lack of blessing that leads us to mourning? Isn’t blessing a good thing and mourning a bad thing? It is true enough that every citizen of the kingdom, every child of the King will find blessedness in the fullness of the kingdom. It is likewise true that each will experience hardship this side of the veil. It is precisely, however, because this is a truism that I suggest Jesus is getting at something specific, a specific kind of mourning and a specific kind of comfort. Jesus is not merely saying that those who grow through hard times will end up in the end in good times. Rather I would suggest that when we mourn our own failures, when we lament our own sins, we find the comfort of forgiveness. When we seek to cover our sins we receive not comfort, but the constant fear of exposure. When we confess to Him who knows all things, however, we are assured of His forgiveness and love- the one comfort we all ultimately need.
There is, however, a difference between merely acknowledging our sin and mourning it. It is a broken and contrite heart that He will by no means despise, not merely an honest one. We are called here to look deeply into the ugliness of our own sin, and to be broken by it. It’s a tough command. But oh, the promise. There is no greater comfort than the assurance of our forgiveness, no greater peace than the certainty that He will, if we will look at them, remember them no more. There is no better balm than the confidence that no matter how clearly we see the darkness of our hearts, His grace breaks into the darkness like the first day of creation. We cannot run far enough from Him to hide our sin. We can, however, by His grace, run to Him, and see our sin covered by the blood of Christ. What we hide, He will expose. What we expose, He will cover. That is the blessing of comfort that follows on the heels of the blessing of mourning.
“ There is, however, a difference between merely acknowledging our sin and mourning it. It is a broken and contrite heart that He will by no means despise, not merely an honest one. We are called here to look deeply into the ugliness of our own sin, and to be broken by it. It’s a tough command. “
Perfectly said. Perfectly true. God break us that we our dependence is on You alone.