Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

When we take a moment to compare our life as a follower of Jesus versus our life before following him, we face an uncomfortable truth: Following Jesus opens us to the pain and heartache of our world. Recognizing this is the next step on the path of blessedness to which Jesus calls us. Being poor in spirit starts us on this path, but soon thereafter we find ourselves in mourning. Why? Because the world is broken. Too many of God’s children are poor, hungry, lonely. Too many are fleeing war or violence. Too many do not find comfort even in their own home, if they are fortunate enough to have one. There is so much pain in our world. When we open ourselves to it, how can we help but mourn? And what are we mourning? The very same things that Jesus himself mourned. When Jesus blesses those who mourn, he blesses those who mourn with him. And there are two places in the gospels where we find Jesus mourning enough to bring him to tears.

The first is when Jesus wept outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus. John 11:35 is known as the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept.” But so much is contained in those two words! Jesus is getting ready to raise Lazarus from the dead, but first he mourns. Why? Perhaps it is because of the tears he sees in his friends, especially Mary and Martha. Perhaps it is because his delayed visit led to the death of his dear friend. Perhaps it is because of the world that Jesus is getting ready to bring Lazarus back into. I suspect it is all that and more. I suspect that Jesus is weeping not just for Lazarus, but all who have died, and all who will. Our sin brought death into the world, and it is only Jesus’ death that will drive it out. When we open ourselves to the pain of our world, we weep with Jesus at every death, even while trusting in the promised resurrection.

The second time that Jesus wept in the gospels is when he approached Jerusalem in Luke 19. As he looks at that great city, where he soon will be arrested and crucified, he weeps. Jesus sees this holy city, the “City of Peace” as the name itself means, and foresees how much conflict it will endure. He knows that he will die there. He knows that soon the city will be overthrown. He sees in that city a microcosm of the pain and grief that sin has caused our world. He dies to forgive our sin, to heal our broken world. But first he weeps. And we weep with him. 

But something quite miraculous happens when we weep with Jesus: He comforts us. He blesses our tears, and offers us hope. He offers us a hope and a joy that is stronger than any pain or heartache in our world, because it has passed through the way of the cross. It is the hope and the joy that greeted Lazarus as he left his tomb. It is the hope and the joy that greeted the disciples in the Upper Room that first Easter evening. And it is the hope and the joy that greets us every blessed day we walk with Jesus. We cannot help but rejoice, even as we mourn, because we know how this story ends. Goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of this troubled life, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6). Or, as Revelation 21 reminds us, when Jesus returns in glory, “God himself will be with them, he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

Blessed are all who mourn with Jesus, and who find comfort and hope in this promise, that a day is coming when mourning and crying and pain will be no more. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!