Chapter 4: By Trials Furrowed
Those Who Mourn and Weep
Weeping, Mourning, and the prophet Isaiah
Matthew uses the work mourning; Luke uses the word weep. Most interpreters have assumed they mean the same thing.
Patience: the sorrow of repentance
Until the Reformation most interpreters viewed mourning as sorrow for sin.
Why? The early interpreters used Paul and James as sources.
Is it “wrong”? The interpretation is not ruled out. But other interpretations are excluded.
Is it “Salutary”? Does the interpretation have a pastoral function.
Reformation transition: additions
Luther and Calvin switched the emphasis on mourning from sin to everyday tragedies of life.
Divisions in the church.
Structural sin and injustice. a modern interpretion is that mourning is appropriate for sins that are structured in society.
Weeping with those who weep. Mourning becomes a form bearing one another’s burdens.
Loss. Mourning over death of a loved one is supported by scripture.
Eschatological mourning: grief over the fallen world
“The mourners are those who have caught a glimpse of God’s new day, who ache with all their being for that day’s coming, and who break out into tears when confronted with its absence…. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm of peace there is neither death nor tears and who ache whenever they see someone crying tears over death. The mourners are aching visionaries.”
They will be comforted/The will laugh
Comfort and laughter: joy. When will mourners get their comfort—both in this life and in the next.
Comfort now. The Holy Spirit will provide comfort in this life.
Comfort in the next life. Two passages from Revelation lay out the promise of comfort in the next life.
Quote from: Rebekah Eklund. “The Beatitudes through the Ages.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-beatitudes-through-the-ages/id1551836162