Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
There are many difficult Beatitudes of Jesus. One of the most confusing might be the importance of mourning. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn.” But who does this? Does anyone like to mourn? Does anyone think mourning is a good thing?
There are certainly people who live in difficult situations that make mourning likely. They find mourning a more regular part of their experience of life. People are more accustomed to mourning if they are hungry on a regular basis; persecuted, disenfranchised, or mistreated in some way; extremely poor; in prison; or surrounded by impossible circumstances. The experience of mourning is a universal experience, however. Even those who live in more comfortable situations will, from time to time, mourn.
We tend to think of mourning as a bad thing to be avoided. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross reminded us, however, that mourning can be an important part of recovering from grief and loss. Her 1960s groundbreaking study recognized that to recover from loss in a healthy way, one needed to deal with the emotional stages of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression in order to get to the final stage of acceptance.
The Bible says that mourning is important and valuable because it leads to wisdom. It is our problems that often lead us to the acknowledgement of our need for faith. Those who deny their need of Christ have not sufficiently reflected on the problems of the human condition. The book of Ecclesiastes says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth” (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4).
One appropriate time for mourning is in our prayers. Just as the book of Psalms is full of psalms of lament, so our prayers should, at times, be prayers of mourning. This is the kind of prayer that Daniel prayed in chapter 9 of the book of Daniel. He set about to mourn for the people of God and seek God on their behalf. This is the kind of prayer that all of us can and should make part of our prayers.
Consider things about which we might mourn in our prayers: the state of American culture today; the persecution of Christians around the world; the crisis in the Middle East, including the hostages being held and the ongoing loss of life; our continuing racial troubles; the confusion among the young about sexuality; those we know whose lives are on the wrong path; and other concerns.
A prayer of mourning might take a form such as this: “O God, we cry out to you for help and mercy. Our sins are many. Our failures are always before your eyes. Hear these our humble prayers. Bring your healing. Bring your grace. Forgive our sins, for we are truly reaping what we have sown. We are deserving of your judgments. Let your mercy shine through, O gracious God. Bring help to those in need, so that your name will be praised and your people be refreshed.”