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he Sermon on the Mount starts with the ten Beatitudes. The beatitudes describe the maturing, spiritual life of those who really follow Jesus. Yet, it is the Holy Spirit working in a Christian who causes the characteristics of the beatitudes to evolve and become a reality in the Christian’s life. The first beatitude that Jesus spoke was, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (NASB)” In our last study we discovered that the Greek word which is translated as “poor” referred to a beggar or someone who literally had nothing at all. The word described a man called Lazarus who was happy just to be able to eat crumbs from the table of a rich man. He had absolutely nothing. But Jesus used the word in a spiritual sense to tell us that His followers must come to Him as spiritual beggars. We must realize that we are spiritual beggars. We have nothing! We must come to God with eagerness to receive whatever He is willing to give us in a spiritual sense. We must come begging! Jesus started His sermon with a strong statement. If you want to enter the kingdom of God, then you must come as a spiritual beggar. Only spiritual beggars enter the kingdom of God.
2nd Beatitude. Jesus’ second beatitude was,
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (NASB) Matt. 5:4 Immediately after reading the words, it is obvious to us that Jesus did not literally mean that mourners are happy people. It is also obvious that almost everyone stops mourning and grieving after awhile. Jesus was not referring to the obvious such as mourning over the death of a loved one.
Just before Christmas of 1998, my father died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was diagnosed one year before his death with a most aggressive form of the disease, Bulbar ALS. His first symptom was difficulty in speaking. As the disease progressed, he had difficulty swallowing and eating. Eventually he lost the ability to speak or eat. In the summer of 1998, he started “eating” through a tube in his stomach, and eventually the disease began to paralyze his lungs. The things that he suffered were painful and at times embarrassing for him. It was a slow death. Finally, he went home to be with God just before Christmas. We rejoiced and mourned. We rejoiced because he had the best Christmas of the entire family. We mourned because we lost a loved one. But eventually our mourning ceased.
What Jesus Did Not Mean. Mourning eventually stops in most cases, and those who continue to mourn have other issues to deal with in their lives. Jesus was not talking about someone who is always unhappy and upset with life. He was not referring to those who have suffered the loss of a loved one. Mark 16:10 tells us the disciples mourned and wept over Jesus’ death. Jesus mourned the death of Lazarus (John 11:35), and King David grieved the death of Absalom (2 Sam. 18:19-19:4).
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | |||||
