Monday, February 22
Scripture: Matthew 5:4-5

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

THE MOURNFUL & MEEK

It’s true that this life is a vast vale of tears (Psalm 84:6).  All humans experience some degree of personal pain, loss and tragedy during their lives. Tribulation has been one of the great subjects of art through the ages. Artists grapple with and in some cases endeavor to make sense of suffering. We weep and grieve when relationships are broken, when calamity strikes, when a loved one dies, when sin separates us from God, when our personal fears and failures hurt us as well as those around us. Artist David Robinson’s painting, Weeping Man, reflects profound anguish. He writes that the process required to birth this work was akin to Jacob wrestling with the angel. “It would not release me and I would not let go.” Grief is sometimes like that.

It’s easy for us to identify with and understand personal sorrow. However, when Christ blesses those who mourn, I think he is speaking of a grief that surpasses individual pain. The deep grief Christ refers to in the Beatitudes reflects those “groanings that cannot be uttered,” those profound, wordless sighs that viscerally wrench at our insides, or wake us up at night with heavy, uncontrollable sobs of heartache for the brokenness and dysfunction of the world. Author and theologian Richard Rohr says, “In this beatitude, Jesus praises those who can enter into solidarity with the pain of the world and not try to extract themselves from it.”

Do we know how to weep for the world? Are we able to mourn for and with the addicted, prisoners, the enslaved, the abused, the deserted, outsiders and misfits, refugees and the homeless, the mentally and emotionally distressed, those in despair, the persecuted, the poor and oppressed, the disabled, the dying?  Can we enter into the valley of grief with those who know no other way of life?  Can we fully embrace the vale of tears for an opportunity to weep with those who weep?

“Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Mourning and meekness strengthen each other. One is unable to fully enter into mourning without putting on the garment of humility. When we consider others better than ourselves; when we serve and give anonymously not wanting anything in return; when we empathetically walk in another’s shoes; when we advance the cause of our brother over our own ambitions; then we are more likely to be sensitive to the pain of the world. I have a colleague who as she puts it “has been grieving for 40 years.” While she is actively and creatively working to effect change in the world through various proposals she initiates, there are regular times when she withdraws to weep and mourn for the world.

Sometimes in the midst of grief I have temporarily fallen into the pit of depression and hopelessness.  My friend reminds me that as Christians “we do not sorrow as those without hope (I Thessalonians 4:13).” Instead “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord comforts all who mourn, and provides for those who grieve, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Those who mourn will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor (Isaiah 61:2-3).”

Christ has promised to one day wipe away all our tears. There will be no need for crying in heaven for He will make all things right. The next time someone says they want to cry but can’t or is embarrassed to be crying in your presence, remind them that the gift of tears is for here and now.

PRAYER

We beseech thee, Master, to be our helper and protector. Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly; raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly; restore the wanderers of thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted.
Amen.
- Clement of Rome, 1st Century

Barry Krammes, CCCA Staff