“Blessed are those who mourn” (11/3/2021)

(Note: This is the third in a series of 10 articles on the Beatitudes in the Christian Life)

At the grave of Lazarus, he wept. Jesus understands mourning. He knows that we mourn because we have loved another authentically and well. That is the second of the greatest commandments and as such is essential for those who seek “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” who seek to come to the LORD through our belief and love of Christ.

Loving authentically and well sounds easy, but we know it is not. Love demands much of us and frequently involves sacrifices. Love requires a forgiving heart. When we do this, when we love others well, we mourn their passing from this life. Though we believe deeply in Christ’s promise of life in abundance beyond this life, because we love, we mourn even as we celebrate the life of the one who has passed and pray for their everlasting life abiding with the LORD.

And we are comforted in the hope of Christ buoyed by our knowledge of his victories over sin and death through his own death and resurrection. We recall his words to the disciples at the Last Supper, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may also be” (John 14:2-3). With confidence we pray in our moments of grief for those whom we love who have passed from this life; with trust in Christ’s promises we turn to the LORD in our grief.

And so, those of us who are trying to live Christ by following in his footsteps and living his love, look at the Beatitudes and realize that his path to eternal life in the presence of our loving LORD begins with the first step of admission of our dependence on the LORD and our loving the LORD with our whole being in praise and thanksgiving. And we see that the second step on the path Jesus presents to us in the Beatitudes requires the giving of ourselves over to the love of one another, following Jesus’ example and mandate, “Just as I have loved you, love one another” (John 13:34).

May we commit to the path Jesus has presented, the path of authentic and heartfelt love, the path that demands our whole being, knowing that the LORD is there in our need, especially when we mourn the passing of those whom we have loved. Let us trust in the LORD’s comfort, for truly, the LORD is trustworthy.

Until tomorrow, love well.