Teaching from the Mountainside - Pt. 3

 

[Jesus said] “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4 ESV).

 

Grief is universal. It is not restricted to a time, a place, or a people. We have all tasted the pain of saying good-bye to a loved one who has died. Maybe you have shed tears at the funeral of your spouse, or you have endured the unimaginable pain of burying a child. That walk through the valley of the shadow of death may have been last month or many years ago, but the ache never goes away. This picture of empty chairs on the Ellipse near the Washington Monument in Washington DC, was recently a stark reminder of the grief being experienced now by so many families who have had a loved one die of Covid-19 There are over twenty thousand of these empty chairs, each one representing ten people who have died after being stricken with the virus.

 

While the political debate rages, which I will not attempt to broach today, there seems to be a significant truth we have missed. People don’t always know what to do with those who mourn. Well-meaning folks may try to minimize the pain by using trite phrases or empty words. We might sentimentalize death, or deny the finality of it. Jesus cautions us that denying our pain is a dead-end road that offers little comfort.

 

There are two meanings in today’s Teaching from the Mountainside. First, it is essential that we understand the grief caused by our sin. There must be an understanding of the penalty we have suffered as a result of sin. It is death (cf. Romans 6:23). However, the good news is that Jesus has paid that penalty on our behalf. The second is the mourning we feel when those we love die. In Jesus’ kingdom, mourning is a reminder of comfort. Jesus himself, when confronted with the reality of the grave, wept (cf. John 11). He mourned. He grieved. And he grieves with us in the loss of a spouse, child, or other loved one. He stands alongside us in our pain, and he sheds tears with us.

 

But that’s not all. Jesus came not only to shed tears; he came to shed his blood. He faced death squarely, submitted himself to it, and conquered it. Because he triumphed over death, we can be assured that one day we will live in a world without disease, mourning, or empty chairs. Knowing that Jesus has overpowered death offers us comfort when we mourn. It should not marvel us that Jesus would tell these thousands gathered on the mountainside, as well as us who have read this account, that we “shall be comforted” (v. 4). That is the good news of our reading today. It is not a maybe-so, or hope-so. It is an absolute unbreakable promise of God. Take comfort this day… even in the midst of such trial as many of us have never seen before! Jesus comforts us with eternal life!