Those Who Mourn

 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

 
Blessed are the meek. For they shall inherit the earth. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall be filled with mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called Sons of God

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Matthew 5:3-12

    "Blessed are those who mourn, For they Shall be comforted."- (vs4)

    This section of the Bible always feels a little backwards from what the world recognizes. The world says riches and pride are things to strive for, yet God says it is better to be poor than prideful. "You can't be sad as a Christian, didn't Jesus die to give you life and a joyful one at that?' In this second Beatitude, Jesus tells his followers that it is ok to grieve and to go through the process of mourning, but the beauty of Christianity is that we don't have to stay there. Even Jesus himself mourned for the world that rejected his teachings and choose to remain in their sin, but even above that, He experienced grief on a genuine level. John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible, shows this emotion displayed from Jesus. His friend, Lazarus, had been sick and this sickness lead to death. Upon arriving at the tomb, We can see the Heart of God on full display, "Jesus Wept." Jesus was fully God and fully Man. He had the power and authority by the Holy Spirit to perform miracles and heal the sick, restore the blind, deaf and mute, and even extend a hand that had once been deformed. But, he was also fully man, and with that came all of the emotions we have today. The beauty of Jesus is that even though he walked through all the feelings we have, it didn't stop him from doing what the Father called him to do. After He grieves for His friend, He gets right to work, performing the miracle of raising Lazarus back to life. Here is Matthew, Jesus is telling us it is ok to grieve for those we have lost, for we will be comforted. Not to say that whenever someone dies, God will raise them from the dead, for that is not his plan. What happens instead is that God the Father, filled with mercy and grace, meets us where we are and shows us that life will continue to go on, and the people we have lost along the way have completed their task on earth, and now it is our turn. For too many people, losing someone drags them so far into grief, that life cannot go on without them. I have experienced a lot of loss in my life, but thanks be to God, I don't have to live with the burden of grief on my back. The ones I have lost are in a far better place, and I know that one day, I will see them again one day when Jesus calls me home. It is my prayer that if you fins yourself in a state of depression from loss or grief, that you may find healing with the God who meets you where you are and guides to back to an abundant life, carrying the loss as a memory to carry you through, not a weight to drag you down. 

Adam Semple- A  Young Man on a Journey into the Sermon on the Mount