The Sermon on the Mount Part 3

[HKHaugan]

The Sermon on the Mount Part 3

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Mt.5:4).”
The second blessing has to do with mourning.

We usually think of it as mourning for the death of a relative or friend. That's one thing. But grief is far more. It's usually for one's self which entails guilt for not having resolved issues that dominated those relationships. It is really a mourning for self, one's guilt, one's unresolved experiences, things we can't change, undo or recover. So let's look at the blessing we get when we recognize we can't handle mourning very well. There are three kinds of mourning: grief, remorse, and suffering due to circumstance (You may have other ones to suggest.).
The first is the natural grief occurring when someone close to us dies, is suffering physically or goes through hardships or broken relationships.
The second is the guilt that stabs the heart, like regret and sorrow for thought and behavior.
The third is unjust suffering, like the innocent bystander who might be the victim of social, economic or psychological circumstance. It could be us. All three are the ones for whom Jesus has compassion.

All three have a common tie, control. These are things over which we have no personal control. In all three Jesus promises comfort. But when each of us goes through these personally it is hard to get outside of one’s self to do anything about the suffering at hand. There is no comfort in suffering. It consumes the moment, our minds dashing around calculating alternatives, emotions rampant and the consequent frustration turning into depression and claiming the day. It is facing the fact that there is no way we can control life’s uncontrollable realities. That is why the first Beatitude involves being blessed when we realize that we are spiritually impoverished, we lack spiritual sufficiency and the presence of God the Holy Spirit.

How can Jesus promise comfort in these deeply overwhelming pressures on the heart? The key of course in all human circumstance is the final step Jesus took for us to be the first step we apply in every situation, the Cross. The final reality for every human being is death that creeps into every aspect of life in this world. Bearing death on the Cross in our place was Jesus’ first step for our final encounter. What is the consolation, the comfort, the help Jesus gives in that final act? The reality of comfort comes through faith, faith seen in three ways:

First, it is His faith in His Father. “Not my will Father, but your will be done (Lk.22:42).”

Second, His faith in the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:16). It is the Spirit that brings Jesus and life everlasting.

Third, His faith in what the Word of God promised. He would not be consigned to Hades, that He would rise again on the third day (Mt.16:21).

These three, faith in His Father, in the Holy Spirit and in the Word were the substance of the Cross He bore. His Cross was the Cross of faith through every next moment. That's why on the one side He can tell us to take up our cross, the cross of faith, and on the other side the will of His Father is done in and for us.

It is in the reality of faith that Jesus was born into the flesh, lived His life on this earth, died on the Cross and then rose from the dead. It is by the same faith we too will rise above our own final death. Faith in Jesus is the defining reality of eternal life with God. Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die (Jn.11:25-26).”

Jesus’ faith was in His Father, His Father’s will and His Father’s Word. Notice, all three take us out of ourselves and into God. That's living the cross of faith. We leave the chaos of lonely anxiety and focus outside, upwards and give ourselves on the wings of faith to the One who really cares what happens to each of us. Whether it is the death of someone close, personal guilt and frustration or being victimized unjustly, it is God in Jesus who demonstrated that faith is the first step outside of self. It is faith in Jesus that brings the next steps of a renewed mind, a trusting heart and balance in our spirit through the Holy Spirit.

If we see our mourning in the context of Jesus, His presence and His Word, it is then His Spirit comes to restore and rebuild our true identity as a recovering image of God, a child of God and a witness to and for God. In Jesus mourning becomes morning, the beginning of a new day. Now that’s comfort. In everything from physical death, relational brokenness and feeling unfulfilled, we will be comforted. When we have become spiritually aware, spiritual comfort is right at hand in the Spirit, the Holy Comforter (Gk.-parakletos, paraclete).