Sermon on the Mount
The Christian Character
Matthew 5:3 - 7:27
(Cf. Luke 6:20-49)
Part 3 - Beatitudes – those who mourn
This is Part 3 in a 14-part series of studies I call “The Christian Character” as described by Jesus to a crowd of people on a Galilean hillside as he delivered what is more familiarly known as the “Sermon on the Mount.” In this part we examine the beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn.”
The 14 parts are as follows:
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Beatitudes – the poor in spirit
Part 3 - Beatitudes – those who mourn
Part 4 - Beatitudes – the meek, and those who hunger and thirst
Part 5 - Beatitudes – the merciful and the pure in heart
Part 6 - Beatitudes – peacemakers
Part 7 - Beatitudes – the persecuted and insulted
Part 8 - Salt of the earth and light of the world
Part 9 - Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees; divorce, oaths
Part 10 - Eye for eye, loving neighbor and hating enemy, being perfect
Part 11 - Three things to do, not to be seen by men and a model prayer
Part 12 - Laying up treasures, eye is the lamp of the body, serving two masters
Part 13 - Do not judge, do not give what is holy to dogs and pigs
Part 14 - Ask, seek, and knock; the narrow gate; false prophets; building on the rock
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Part 3 - Beatitudes – those who mourn
Review
Last Sunday we examined the first of the beatitudes - “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We found that the words in the original language translated “poor” and “spirit” literally mean a beggar in a spiritual sense - One who is entirely dependent on the charity of another to sustain spiritual life.
We are beggars.
However much or little we have of this world’s goods, without Christ, we are poverty-stricken paupers before God, for there is no one who isn’t spiritually dependent on the charity of Christ. No one. We accept charity, or we die. The beatitude appears to ascribe blessedness with those who, realizing their wretchedness, accept the life-sustaining flow of Christ’s charity.
Such are blessed, because “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
We spent considerable time on this beatitude because it connects the blessed ones to the kingdom. What did Jesus mean by that clause?
The word “kingdom” occurs 10 times from Matthew 4:23 to the end of the sermon in chapter 7. We’re spending considerable time on it in the expectation that a robust understanding of what the scriptures mean when they express things in kingdom terms.
We read some passages of scripture about the historical / chronological scope of the kingdom.
First, the case for the proposition that the church is the kingdom:
Daniel 7:13-14 ESV “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion [i.e., the son of man’s] is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Unlike earthly kingdoms, Daniel foresaw an eternal kingdom.
At Caesarea Philippi:
Matthew 16:18-19 –And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Here, “church” and “kingdom” are used as sympathetic, if not synonymous terms.
Later in this sermon (Matt 6:10) and on another occasion in Luke 11, Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “your kingdom come,” for the coming of the father’s kingdom.
That would happen in their lifetime:
Mark 9:1 Some standing here who will not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
Wait in Jerusalem for power:
Luke 24:49 wait in Jerusalem till you are endued with power from on high (it would happen in Jerusalem and would be within a time one could wait for–very soon)
In answer to a question from the disciples about whether Jesus, having been resurrected, would now restore the kingdom to Israel, He answered:
Acts 1:8 - …you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
(The apostles’ reception of power was to coincide with the Holy Spirit coming on them in Jerusalem.”
In next chapter, they were in Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit came upon them with power, enabling them to speak in languages they had not learned, and the words they spoke were heard in multiple languages.
Acts 2:1-4 - When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (or, empowered them)
What was the message they heard? That they had crucified the Messiah!
What shall we do? They asked. In Acts 2:38-41 - Peter replied,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
What number? (At this point, they had a group identity. What was that identity?)
In Acts 2:47 they were…
…praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
“Their number” in the original is ekklesia [write on board], which means “a calling out, as in a popular meeting or community of members.
It the word in the original language that is most often translated into our English word “church.”
And so in the first view I am presenting the first beatitude means:
“To the blessedly poor in spirit belong the kingdom--that is to say--the church.”
I don’t suggest that this view is unreasonable or wrong. However, the perspective that the church is identical in every way to the kingdom does not answer to everything that is under God’s dominion, and satisfy all scriptures that refer to the kingdom.
Another (broader) view of the kingdom is that the kingdom has existed all along, and that the church is the manifestation of the kingdom in our age – the way God exercises his royal sovereignty and the framework of his subjects’ submission to it. Let’s look at some passages that suggest this view:
Exodus 19:5-6 ESV (A passage we did not read last Sunday) –
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
God was not speaking of the earthly kingdom with Saul as king.
Nor was he speaking of the church of our time.
God is speaking at Sinai to Jacob’s family – the children of Israel. He told Moses specifically to say that:
If YOU – not some people someday - obey my voice, keep my covenant (the Sinai covenant), YOU will be my treasured possession, and YOU will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Two verses later (19:8) the people there assembled pledged to keep that covenant. Plainly, the people assembled at Mount Sinai were to be to God “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Can this be anything other than the kingdom of God?
About 1,000 years before Pentecost, this was written (by David, it is believed):
Psalm 103:19 - The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
(In this Psalm the Psalmist considered the Lord’s kingdom to exist in his time.)
Matthew 19:14 - Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
(Jesus shows that the kingdom belonged to little children—for that reason he said to the people there present, “let them come to me.”)
John the Baptist was said by Jesus to be equal to the greatest of those born among women; yet…
He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Matthew 11:11
(Not he who will someday be least in the kingdom will be greater than now John is.)
It might be suggested that all these references to the kingdom, all the way back to David and possibly earlier, were in anticipation of the coming kingdom, as Daniel’s prophecies are.
You will find continuity among these references, but fully resolving them is beyond the scope of this study. The subject of the kingdom is worthwhile and can be extensive, but it is not our duty or ability to define all the boundaries of the kingdom.
To my mind, these and many other scriptures are strained to the point of being meaningless to the people who first heard the words.
Decide for yourself what this means in your thinking. These and other passages strain the proposition that the church is coterminous with the kingdom of God. To me they suggest that God has always been sovereign over his people and from at least as early as the time of the Exodus, and was their king when they demanded an earthly king.
That is why it cut across the grain with him when the people demanded a king like other nations had:
1 Samuel 8:5-7 NASB and they said to him, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." (6) But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the Lord. (7) The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.
My belief is that the day of Pentecost was not the day of creation of the kingdom of God – of heaven – of light – and so on, but the day the keys Jesus gave to Peter at Caesarea Philippi were used to open the kingdom’s gates for entrance by means of the gospel.
The kingdom is a subject that deserves much study. We will return to it from time to time in this series as the kingdom is mentioned in other contexts.
A large part of Jesus’ teaching was in parables, many of which he began by saying, “The kingdom is like…”
I encourage you to pursue a clear knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, of which you are a part, in your private or family studies.
For our purposes, it is enough to know that the poor in spirit are present-day citizens in the kingdom of heaven, are in subjection to Jesus Christ, our king throughout eternity.
End of review
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED (Matt 5:4)
A corresponding beatitude in the sermon in Luke 6:
Luke 6:21 - Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Luke 6:25 - Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Has anyone present here never mourned? (No hands up.)
Has anyone here never been comforted in your mourning? (No hands up.)
Everyone here has experienced this beatitude.
Do we need to say more about what Jesus said, than simply that he said it?
A definition of mourning is hardly needed. We’ve all suffered loss and mourned, sometimes bitterly in the aftermath. Everyone mourns. Some of you may be mourning now.
It’s a necessary element in the process of healing wounds in our hearts. We all understand it, but let’s look at some applications of it.
Scriptures are rife with narratives of people mourning loss.
• Pharoah and Egypt mourning the deaths of every family’s firstborn
• David mourning the death of his son Absalom –2 Samuel 18:33 ESV “And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’”
• David mourning the loss of sweet fellowship with God – Psalm 51
• David grieving for the unnamed son born to Bathsheba.
• Mothers mourning for their sons when Herod ordered the death of the boys in Bethlehem
• Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus
• Isaiah describes Jesus in this way:
Isaiah 53:3-5 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
• Mary at the cross of Jesus in his last hours, and as she left the scene, and later…
It is sometimes suggested that Jesus is talking about the blessing of mourning because of our sins, because there is comfort in knowing Jesus has taken them all away.
I can see that as one application, provided that one mourns over his sins prior to bringing them to Jesus. But once our sins are cast into the depths of the sea and remembered no more by God, there is no blessing in our clinging to past sins.
We mourn about other things, and the language of the beatitude does not specify sins as the object of mourning that leads to blessedness in receiving comfort.
The cause of the mourning to which blessedness is attached is not specified by Jesus. Does this beatitude mean we should seek to be in a mournful state at all times, in order to receive the blessing of comfort?
No. The beatitude means that for those who do mourn, whatever reason for mourning may be, there is comfort to be had.
We began this series by reading the mission of Jesus as prophesied by Isaiah, which Jesus told the synagogue was fulfilled by himself.
Isaiah wrote – and we read - in 61:2b-3a:
“… to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn IN ZION - to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes”
NASB says “giving them a garland.”
KJV says “to give unto them beauty for ashes.”
For some illumination about those mourning in Zion, let’s read about someone who was “weeping FOR Zion” -
Psalm 137:1–6 Read - (Weeping for Zion by the rivers of Babylon)
What’s happening here? What is this about? And does it bear any relationship to the mourning Jesus came to relieve?
As Isaiah said:
“…to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress [or beauty] instead of ashes.”
The Psalms were written over a period of about 500 years. Some - but not all - were written by David. Some may have been written during the captivity.
This Psalm was written either by someone who was in the captivity, or writing prophetically about it.
John Gill: …- their tears imitated the flowing stream by which they sat, and swelled it with their tears as they wept for their sins, which brought them here; and it increased their sorrow, when they called to mind what privileges they had enjoyed in Zion…
To complete the beatitude, the blessing is simply this:
“…they shall be comforted.”
In the opening verses of Paul’s 2nd Corinthian letter, he wrote:
2 Corinthians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
God is the provider of ALL comfort, regardless of the channel through which he sends it – a parent, spouse, friend, fellow Christian…
James goes so far as to say change your laughter to mourning:
James 4:9-10 - Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Question: What is the application? Is weeping a better thing than laughing?
We can be channels of the comfort Jesus spoke of.
Mourning is to be shared:
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
It’s not always easy for us to give comfort to someone in deep sorrow.
We say things like:
• I don’t have the words
• It’s God’s will (as though God is the driving force behind tragedies)
• He/she is in a better place
• Time will heal your wound
Don’t let the lack of words deter you from comforting those who grieve.
The words we say aren’t necessarily the best comfort we have to give (sometimes it’s best to leave words out of it), but the fact that the mourner knows his grief is shared by one who cares.
Caring is strong medicine. A little goes a long way. It’s less then 5 months since Robin and I lost a very dear grandson. We received great comfort from some who didn’t say anything at all.
In the end, all comfort comes from God – even as we serve as channels for it. As we read a moment ago:
2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
Thus, when we mourn with and comfort others in the best way we know how, we are not only channels of the blessing of this beatitude, but recipients of it.
