Matthew 5:4 NKJV “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
The world says people who ‘mourn’ surely cannot be ‘blessed’. Jesus says those who mourn are blessed. In the Holy Bible, blessed usually means ‘happy‘. In the context of Matthew 5, blessed most likely indicates ‘an enviable state.’ When do we call a person blessed? When they have acquired good fortune: a new house, salary hike, flourishing business, excellent health? Guess who Jesus calls blessed? Those who mourn.
The term mourn means ‘to experience deep grief’. It is an inner spiritual grieving of a broken and contrite heart. Those who acknowledge that their hearts are naturally evil can attain an ‘enviable state of blessedness’. That blessedness comes in the form of comfort from the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (Jn 14:16 & 26; Jn 15:26; 2 Cor 1:4).
In the Beatitudes, Jesus reminds His disciples—and us—that we cannot seek happiness the way the world does (trough selfish ambition, excuses, or self-justification). But we can enjoy an enviable state of blessedness when we acknowledge our sinful habits, repent of them, and overcome them by His grace. That kind of comfort can never be found in the world.
“But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2).
Dearly beloved, may we—who are born of God—continue to grieve over those in sin. May we grieve over our own sin. And in the process, may we continually seek the Lord in Spirit and in truth.
