“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matt 5:4
As I began considering this Beatitude, my first thoughts were of personal loss: family, friends, health, even personal aspirations that have never, and will never come to be. Certainly the loss of a child, a spouse, sibling or parent is cause for deep mourning, but as I pondered what and why we may mourn I realized that the scope must necessarily encompass the whole of life and not be limited to a self-circumscribed set of relationships or personal desires. We are, after all, social beings, an integral part of something greater than ourselves and our nuclear family. We are members of a community and social order that creates an environment that we experience as culture, the fabric of our daily lives. We are inescapably embedded in God’s creation, creatures of our Creator who sustains all and is in all. It is therefore unimaginable that we can avoid being touched and moved by the circumstances of social, political or natural events; both the uplifting and the devastating events that may touch only a few, or trouble the masses.
Jesus’ assurance that we who mourn will be comforted certainly applies to our personal loss, but I believe his promise and encouragement are meant to address the full scope of what we experience in this life individually and corporately as the human family. I believe it is worth considering that Jesus is speaking words of hope and comfort to those who have looked on the world as it is and realized the extent to which it differs from God’s desires for creation and humanity.
A Divine Vision
“Once upon a time there lived a sea lion who had lost the sea. He lived in a country known as the barren lands. High on a plateau, far from any coast, it was a place so dry and dusty that it could only be called a desert…How the sea lion came to the barren lands, no one could remember. It all seemed so very long ago. So long, in fact, it appeared as though he had always been there. Not that he belonged in such a place. How could that be? He was, after all, a sea lion. But as you know, once you have lived so long in a certain spot, no matter how odd, you come to think of it as home.” (1)
Our vision of what is deemed normal and acceptable depends on our deeply held values and expectations. Like the sea lion, we may come to accept that way of things are as they should be. But anyone familiar with the Divine vision portrayed in Scripture, Old and New Testament alike, and with the state of the world and human society, should be able to discern the discontinuity. Thomas Long eloquently articulates the deep pain of the world:
“On freezing a night, a homeless woman dies alone in an abandoned building. A family dispute erupts in violence. Children become the prey of drug dealers. A man gradually loses confidence and dignity as he desperately seeks work in vain. A manufacturing firm pollutes the earth with lethal chemicals. The creation is out of joint. Human life is broken in many places. Things are not the way they are supposed to be and the people of God lament, ‘O God, do not let your world hurt this way forever.’” (2)
Our current reality is starkly different from the prophetic vision of Isaiah (65:17-25) or of the kingdom modeled in Jesus’ earthly ministry: healing, forgiveness, feeding the multitudes, love and mercy to the outcasts and the marginalized. It is the power of the Spirit working in our hearts that cultivates empathy with God and his vision for the world: peace, abundance, mutual caring, health and wholeness, unity, mercy and justice. Without this Divinely inspired vision we can be blind to what is amiss even though we’re confronted daily with brokenness. When we look upon the world through the eyes and heart of Christ Jesus, we are inevitably moved to lament and yearn for the kingdom to be manifest. Come Lord Jesus.
I encourage you to take time to sit quietly before God and reflect on the state of our country and the world. Read and meditate on Isaiah 65:17-25. The burdens of the world are more than one can bare alone. Offer your thoughts, your pain and lament to God to be sanctified. Pray earnestly for redemption of all creation, peoples and nations. Place your trust in God’s faithfulness and find peace in His sustaining presence. And then go forth in the power of the Spirit to love and serve the Lord however he may lead you.
(1) J. Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 2000
(2) Matthew, Thomas G. Long, Westminster John Knox Press, 1997
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