Doves On Distant Oaks

Whom Shall We Mourn?

To never be comforted sure sounds like hell and who wants to go to hell? So when Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" in Matthew 5:4, it's obvious we need to start mourning more often so that we will, indeed, feel comforted. The question is, what are we mourning?

Certainly we grieve for our lost loved ones, our friends, or people who have touched us in a special way. But that mourning is largely for our own loss. We are sad because they are gone from our lives.

While that's part of the mourning Christ is talking about, it's not the whole picture. He obviously wants us to take a more active role in mourning ... on a daily basis even. Yet, the people we know and love don't die every day, or at least we hope they don't. If we aren't mourning for our loved ones, for whom can we mourn?

The Greek word used in this context is pentheō, which means to be sad or sorrowful. So it's not necessarily to grieve for a lost loved one, just to feel sorrow. As a matter of fact, there are a great many opportunities to feel sad for other people's misery. If you doubt that, just drive past any hospital.

Once, I was in a hospital for an extended stay. When they finally released me, I was so happy to be leaving. Most of us are like that—so happy to be headed home from the hospital. But as we were leaving, my wife suggested we stop and pray for those who weren't headed home. In the midst of our happiness, we stopped and took their sadness upon ourselves.

Does that mean we walk around feeling sad and sorrowful all the time. What about the joy we feel as adopted children and brothers and sisters of Christ? Certainly we should not forget our joy, but how difficult is it to take a few moments out of our joy to remember those whose lives aren't going exactly as planned.

It's not just sympathy for others we should feel, its empathy as well. Sympathy and empathy are often used interchangeably, but are in fact, very different. Sympathy just means you're sorry another person has faced some difficulties. Often you may even say you're sorry they're going through what they are, while at the same time be happy you're not having to. Empathy is where you fully take on what the other person is going through.

The writer of Hebrews had this to say about fellow prisoners: "Remember the prisoners AS IF (emphasis mine) chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also" (Hebrews 13:3). To empathize, we must chain ourselves to the pain and hurt of others. That is what Christ demands.

It's not just people in hospitals. Do you pray as the ambulance or fire truck races past you, or even if you just hear the siren? How about the people at the nursing homes and old-age residential living facilities? Often, we see their names listed in our church programs every Sunday. Do we pray for them on Sunday and then forget about them the rest of the week? Do our hearts ache for them and empathize with their sorrow at being where they are?

It goes even further. In 1971, country singer Johnny Cash released the song Man in Black. That's a perfect example of building mourning into our character. He not only wrote about a man in black, but took on that persona. Recall why he wore black, the international symbol of mourning:

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town.

Are they not people we should mourn for? Jesus said the poor will always be with us, but that doesn't mean we should not mourn and pray for them, help where we can. Or how about those who have yet to receive Jesus Christ as their savior. Cash also wrote:

I wear the black for those who never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said.

I've heard Christians say time and time again, "I can't wait for the rapture to come." Certainly, we all want to be with Jesus, but we probably all still know too many people who have yet to surrender their lives to Jesus to want everything to suddenly come to an end. We need to mourn for those lost souls, rather than to see them left behind for our own selfish motives.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble.

— 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4)