Blessed are those who mourn?

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I used to be confused about this verse. I used to think that we were blessed when we mourned because it meant that we had loved someone enough to mourn for them. This may be a secondary meaning for the verse but the primary meaning is something else. The primary meaning relates directly to the previous verse that we examined. If you remember our tax collector from Luke 18, he had sensibly come to the conclusion that he was a sinner. You have some options when you come to the conclusion that you are a sinner. My suggestion tonight is that the appropriate response is not to wallow in your sin; nor is it to be nonchalant about it. The appropriate response is to mourn over your sin.

When I first came to the realization that there was a God and that we could know Him I began to feel what could be best described as unease. This was probably not the typical reaction, but I could not help but feel uneasy at the idea of someone else other than myself knowing all of the really bad things that I had done in my life. As I learned more about God and His expectations for me and His holy nature, this unease grew to concern. I don't think that it ever quite got to outright terror, but that was probably because I was learning about God's mercy and love at the same time. As I learned more about God's love and mercy, my unease was transformed to shame.

I still had much to learn at this time (and still do), and one thing I definitely did not understand was that salvation was available to me. Strangely, this misconception was very beneficial to me. You see, I thought to be saved, that I had to be perfect. So I tried. Really Hard. Needless to say, I did not attain perfection. But as I pursued perfection I felt a longing for a relationship with Christ and I became more and more sorrowful over my past (and current) life of sin. Sorrow because I had offended a holy God. Sorrow because I had separated myself from Him. Sorrow because it was my sin that caused Him to die. Curiously, it was at this time that the thought of Christ's righteousness being sufficient to cover over my sins was made manifest in me. Perhaps some other time I will share the whole story here, but for now I will leave it at this: I have trusted that Christ is sufficient and I have been comforted.

I want to ask you tonight if you have come to the sensible conclusion that you are a sinner. I want to ask you if this realization has caused you to reflect on the nature of God. Do you know Him? Once you do know Him, I hope that you reflect on the effects of your sins. I hope that you do not simply ignore them or wallow them. I hope that you too can join me in mourning and perhaps you too can be comforted.