Beautitude 2: Happy are we, though we mourn the murkying of life's stream

First Beatitude: Lifelong felicity (birthday cake word for daily happiness) and fortune (spiritual, sometimes physical, more so eternal) belong to those bold enough to brave the compartments of their lives, which cry not just for attention but careful improvement.

Happiness is in God's promise to us as we attend to the neglected areas in our lives and in others' too; this happiness rises on the comfort God bestows for our having the audacity to preen the dirt out of our life spaces. 

4. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted—This "mourning" must not be taken loosely for that feeling which is wrung from men under pressure of the ills of life, nor yet strictly for sorrow on account of committed sins. Evidently it is that entire feeling which the sense of our spiritual poverty begets; and so the second beatitude is but the complement of the first.  Jameison Fausset Brown Bible Commentary

Taking an honest inquiry into where we truly are in our private lives can be painfully revealing-it can make for tears and sorrow, which run deep. Many times we may feel  beyond repair in those areas, where we need to grow. But as our position is one of repentance, we can know assured that God values our inclination to improve. His is strength to be more; his is comfort as we follow through on cleaning house in our lives.

The mourning here is primarily the spiritual kind over sin in us and others but can apply to mourning we meet in loss and affliction as well. Loss and suffering can leave quite the stain.

Sin and its stain do leave indelible blotch marks in our lives; but Christ's comfort and happiness give power to rise and thrive again.

Comfort (counsel), pardon, peace, purity, and freedom is ours in our Paraclete the indwelling Spirit as we mourn our neglect and sin.

They shall be comforted.—The pronoun is emphatic. The promise implies the special comfort (including counsel) which the mourner needs; “comforted” he shall be with the sense of pardon and peace, of restored purity and freedom. We cannot separate the promise from the word which Christendom has chosen (we need not now discuss its accuracy) to express the work of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, still less from the yearning expectation that then prevailed among such of our Lord’s hearers as were looking for the “consolation”—i.e., the “comfort”—of Israel (Luke 2:25). Ellicot's Commentary for English Readers

Matthew 5:4. Blessed [or happy] are they that mourn — Namely, for their own sins and those of other men, and are steadily and habitually serious, watchful, and circumspect; for they shall be comforted — Even in this world, with the consolation that arises from a sense of the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, clear discoveries of his favour, and well-grounded, lively hopes of the heavenly inheritance, and with the full enjoyment of that inheritance itself in the world to come. Benson Commentary

Heaven is the joy of our Lord; a mountain of joy, to which our way is through a vale of tears. Such mourners shall be comforted by their God. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

Blessed are they that mourn - This is capable of two meanings: either, that those are blessed who are afflicted with the loss of friends or possessions, or that they who mourn over sin are blessed. As Christ came to preach repentance, to induce people to mourn over their sins and to forsake them, it is probable that he had the latter particularly in view. Compare 2 Corinthians 7:10. At the same time, it is true that the gospel only can give true comfort to those in affliction, Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18. Other sources of consolation do not reach the deep sorrows of the soul. They may blunt the sensibilities of the mind; they may produce a sullen and reluctant submission to what we cannot help: but they do not point to the true source of comfort. In the God of mercy only; in the Saviour; in the peace that flows from the hope of a better world, and there only, is there consolation, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 2 Corinthians 5:1. Those that mourn thus shall be comforted. So those that grieve over sin; that sorrow that they have committed it, and are afflicted and wounded that they have offended God, shall find comfort in the gospel. Through the merciful Saviour those sins may be forgiven. In him the weary and heavy-ladened soul shall find peace Matthew 11:28-30; and the presence of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, shall sustain them here John 14:26-27, and in heaven all their tears shall be wiped away, Revelation 21:4. Barnes Notes on the New Testament

I remember too well my time as a counselor on the Mercy Ships vessel Logos, where a lady, who had just experienced the pain and stain of a divorce took solace in the comfort of this passage. Every divorce has two guilty parties. Bewailing her sin and those of her husband; she lay hold on the promise in Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV with passion.

1The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,^a

2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord

for the display of his splendor.

The world is mistaken in accounting the jocund and merry companions the only happy men; their mirth is madness, and their joy will be like crackling of thorns under a pot: but those are rather the happy men, who mourn; yea, such are most certainly happy, who mourn out of duty in the sense of their own sins, or of the sins of others, or who mourn out of choice rather to suffer afflictions and persecutions with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. Though such sufferings do excite in them natural passions, yet it is a blessed mourning, for those are the blessed tears which God will wipe at last from his people’s eyes, and such are these. Matthew Poole's Commentary

Second Beautitude: He is pardon, purity, peace, and new-found freedom to live and love fully. Though we'll be stymied by sin and suffering we and others face; He is our strength (com-fort) to live happily.

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Happy are those who know they haven't arrived Part 2

Sure happiness is the porterhouse of those who own their need to improve daily. #Blessed Matt. 5:3 #Godsparadoxes

Happy are we, who know we haven't yet arrived. We walk into the doorway of the kingdom of heaven and are filled with joy to understand our new-found position in Christ, for seeing the "New Creation" sign on the lintel of the doorpost. However, with time soon pride steps in and we are overcome with a sense of over-significance. We look back to see the "Under Construction" sign. Moral poverty, which led us to cry with the publican "Be merciful to me a sinner," soon gave way to over-confidence and a bloated self-concept. God used life to drop kick us into knowing once more our spiritual poverty and need to improve in so many dimensions. Poverty revealed in so many compartments of our lives makes us reckon with our moral helplessness apart from God's grace and is a conduit God uses to help us just as he can use riches to similar end to help us improve our state of affairs and happen on abiding happiness for our due diligence.

The poor in spirit are those, who aren't overcome by a sense of over-significance because of their place in God's economy.


They know they haven't arrived; they know moral bankruptcy in different dimensions of their lives and live committed to living more wholeheartedly for improving in those areas.

those who feel within them, the opposite of having enough, and of wanting nothing in a moral point of view; to whom, consequently, the condition of moral poverty and helplessness is a familiar thing,—as the praying publican, Luke 18:10 (the opposite in Revelation 3:17; 1 Corinthians 4:8), was such a poor man. Meyer's NT Commentary

The greater part of mankind are insensible of this their condition; but think themselves rich, and increased with goods: there are some who are sensible of it, who see their poverty and want, freely acknowledge it, bewail it, and mourn over it; are humbled for it, and are broken under a sense of it; entertain low and mean thoughts of themselves; seek after the true riches, both of grace and glory; and frankly acknowledge, that all they have, or hope to have, is owing to the free grace of God. Now these are the persons intended in this place; who are not only "poor", but are poor "in spirit"; in their own spirits, in their own sense, apprehension, and judgment: and may even be called "beggars", as the word may be rendered; for being sensible of their poverty, they place themselves at the door of mercy, and knock there; their language is, "God be merciful"; their posture is standing, watching, and waiting, at wisdom's gates, and at the posts of her door; they are importunate, will have no denial, yet receive the least favour with thankfulness.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Blessed are the {a} poor in {b} spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(a) Under the name of poverty are meant all the miseries, that are joined with poverty.(b) Whose minds and spirits are brought under control, and tamed, and obey God.
Geneva Study Bible

Verse 3. - Blessed (μακάριοι); Vulgate, beati; hence "Beatitudes." The word describes "the poor in spirit," etc., not as recipients of blessing (εὐλογημένοι) from God, or even from men, but as possessors of "happiness" (cf. the Authorized Version of John 13:17, and frequently). It describes them in reference to their inherent state, not to the gifts or the rewards that they receive. Pulpit Commentary

They may not know gift or reward till the afterlife; but their blessing in this life is that in their improving daily they become permanent possessors of happiness.

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope" Matt. 5:3 MSG

Good living should be rewarded. Knowing grace should breed responsible living in us; Christ's conversation in Matt. 5 and 6 lightens our way as he provides his proven recipe for bubbly living. The disposition of those desirous of lasting happy: the diet of those envied for their life-joy and satisfaction regardless of life's press is developed here in Christ's conversation to his own.

Christ doesn't legislate this lifelong path to his friends; rather, he graces them with positive teaching to enrich their living.

He seems, as it were, to lay aside his supreme authority as our legislator, that he may the better act the part of our friend and Saviour. Instead of using the lofty style in positive commands, he, in a more gentle and engaging way, insinuates his will and our duty by pronouncing those happy who comply with it. Benson Commentary

First, happy people are humbled people schooled in their needs, ones taught to no longer bluff or blow hard but be real regarding their need for others and help from heaven.

Here the blessedness is that of those who, whatever their outward state may be, are in their inward life as those who feel that they have nothing of their own, must be receivers before they give, must be dependent on another’s bounty, and be, as it were, the “bedesmen” of the great King. To that temper of mind belongs the “kingdom of heaven,” the eternal realities, in this life and the life to come, of that society of which Christ is the Head. Things are sometimes best understood by their contraries, and we may point to the description of the church of Laodicea as showing us the opposite type of character, thinking itself “rich” in the spiritual life, when it is really as “the pauper,” destitute of the true riches, blind and naked. Ellicot's Commentary for English Readers

Jesus... transports the idea of the poor (les miserables) from the politico-theocratic realm (the members of the oppressed people of God, sunk in poverty and external wretchedness) into the purely moral sphere... Meyer's NT Commentary

Les Miserables are meant to know a morality, which elevates them to new planes of pure, unadulterated happiness.

True happiness is by no means trite or cotton candy; it has grounding-its foundation is in others-centered, other-worldly living. Happy living is artful living. It is living knowing our place and acknowledging the help we'll need to thrive in our space.

We're more than likely to be humbled into right living, if we're to know heart-lifting happiness in our experience. Where the world system tells us things, experiences, and promotion make us happy; his word tells us the way up many times is down.

As an old writer remarks, “All the beatitudes are affixed to unlikely conditions, to show that the judgment of the word and of the world are contrary.” Benson Commentary

The valleys of life do well to get us away from the vista experiences, which blind us to the true state of our lives many times. They help us change, acclimate to our true inner state, so that we can wrest from heaven the pasture or soul prosperity in God's plan for us. To thrive is to be the right moral tool in God's shed-a tool he can use to coach others well into knowing God's best in their experience. A tool you say; yes, a valued one meant to man its mission well-one at times used even abused, one reduced to love Joyce Meyer but rewarded with uncommon happiness each day.

There's a character we're called to begin with and continue in if we're to live in the blessedness or happiness of God's kingdom here on earth.

3. Blessed are the poor in spirit] The beatitudes—so called from the opening word “beati” (blessed), in the Vulgate. Mark the Christian growth step by step. First, spiritual poverty, the only character which is receptive of repentance, therefore alone admissible into the Kingdom. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The more we're willing to own our blindsiding wretched desires to have more, be more, and do more than others: the more we're open to seeing ourselves for whom we truly are: the more we'll seek help to live well and own the living state of happiness in God's plan for us.



 

Well adapted soil

http://bible.com/8/mrk.4.8-9.amp And other seed [of the same kind] fell into good (well-adapted) soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing, and yielded up to thirty times as much, and sixty times as much, and even a hundred times as much as had been sown. And He said, He who has ears to hear, let him be hearing [and let him consider, and comprehend]. Bible.com/app

Romans 15:1-5, 13 AMP

WE WHO are strong [in our convictions and of robust faith] ought to bear with the failings and the frailties and the tender scruples of the weak; [we ought to help carry the doubts and qualms of others] and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us make it a practice to please (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually]. For Christ did not please Himself [gave no thought to His own interests]; but, as it is written, The reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me. [Ps. 69:9.] For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope. Now may the God Who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and Who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.

He walks our mile "just because"

Luke 24:13-35

On the Road to Emmaus

13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles^a from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.

17He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Nothing refreshes a relationship more than surprise and show of concern; even stern correction from ones we love lets us know they care. Why? They care enough to be there to say and do what's needful rather than what is expedient.

Journeying to Emmaeus, two travelers replayed in lively discussion the timeline of Christ's passion. They'd heard it all, the women seeing the empty tomb along with firsthand accounts of Christ's appearances to the Eleven and doubting Thomas. Whether they were part of the seventy or mere fringe followers, we don't know; but from their lively back and forth regarding Christ's Passion (They reasoned, doubtless, about the probability or improbability that Jesus was the Messiah; about the evidence of his resurrection; about what was to be done in the present state of things Barnes Notes on the Bible), doubt and fear pervaded at least one of them regarding the truth of this Anointed One. Was it all a myth? These unsettled travelers needed Christ to give them eyes to believe his words.


The imperfect voice used here tells us Christ was fully human to them as his presence, walking and talking with them, seemed nothing out of the ordinary Meyer's NT Commentary. He walked and talked with them as they expressed their doubt, fear, even despair over the things which occurred during Passion week. His part was first to listen earfully (new word in the making) to the concerns that made for their increased heart palpitation. Walking their mile and hearing the blemish and blight circumventing pure faith; he opted to upbraid them verbally. "Fools" (harsh translation) is what he called them Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. His point was that they were slow to place believing confidence in his promise to rise. Meyer's NT Commentary Like a wife, who speaks lovingly but is first to give her husband an earful; Christ admonished them, knowing their knowledge of the OT and its anticipation-Christ. Matthew Henry puts it best, Our weak faith keeps us from accessing the comfort Christ offers. Christ's part here before the Promise (Spirit) came was to be their strength; he wills us into believing his words and is careful to ensure that he illumines us in a time and way that lasts a lifetime. His words to them echoed his heart to see them live by the life in his words. Senseless even stupid were they to believe that Christ could be held by death. His words to them were to warm their faith, underscore their unbelief, and express surprise at their doubt/questions regarding his resurrection.

His way with them had evident impact. The moment he came into view as not mere man but bread from heaven; faith-life filled them once more. Having eyes, they saw the star of OT prophesy, the very Prophet of Deuteronomy. With illumed eyes and awakened souls, they marched back to Jerusalem and with breaded excitement told the Eleven,
“It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

Luke 24 NIV
27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

In our doubt, he shadows near us
When we wander, trudging with us
When our feeble hearts spurn him
He seek us constant, yearning his
Yes, we threaten, despise, desert him
But his eyes for us unflinching
Will to keep us in his fold
So he comforts, chides, and scolds
When time is ripe he says,
How could you? I'm the one, who never left you, calm wayfarer, comfort, still
Abide in me-trust my will

May the life ours for his rising from the dead meet us in our doubt, despair, and desperation and fill us with grace to trust him with the details of our lives, knowing his hand is on us to deepen our faith, broaden our reach, and keep us on path to making real his resurrection and reign in us.

 

Wallow in his words to not wallow in willful sin

Luke 24:1-12 New International Version

 

The angels, who appeared to the Shepherds, first to hear and see Christ, boy King, in Bethlehem; had a important reminder in message to these women, first to hear and see the empty tomb of the resurrected Christ.

 

 

Jesus Has Risen

1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8Then they remembered his words.

9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
24:1-12 See the affection and respect the women showed to Christ, after he was dead and buried. Observe their surprise when they found the stone rolled away, and the grave empty. Christians often perplex themselves about that with which they should comfort and encourage themselves. They look rather to find their Master in his grave-clothes, than angels in their shining garments. The angels assure them that he is risen from the dead; is risen by his own power. These angels from heaven bring not any new gospel, but remind the women of Christ's words, and teach them how to apply them. We may wonder that these disciples, who believed Jesus to be the Son of God and the true Messiah, who had been so often told that he must die, and rise again, and then enter into his glory, who had seen him more than once raise the dead, yet should be so backward to believe his raising himself. But all our mistakes in religion spring from ignorance or forgetfulness of the words Christ has spoken. Peter now ran to the sepulchre, who so lately ran from his Master. He was amazed. There are many things puzzling and perplexing to us, which would be plain and profitable, if we rightly understood the words of Christ.

Biblehub.com

Remember his words

LUK 24:1-8 MSG

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus. They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

One of the most important realizations we must come to in the wake of what happened after Christ rose from the grave is the onus on us to remember his words.

The Evangelist Luke tells that woman came deep in the morning or at twilight (Meyer). They came, with hearts broken and eyes bloodshot, to meet the one they'd known as life, who'd been taken from them at the hands of me-driven men.

The Evangelist tells us they came at the cracks of dawn.

"Sorrow and love are light sleepers, and early dawn found these women on their way." (MacLaren's Expositions)

The possibility of his rising alive from the death was "heard, but not heard" (MacLaren) and in their mind theirs was the obvious duty to show love, though Joseph of Arimathea had already taken on himself the duties of embalming Christ's dead corpse.

"These women's love gift was as 'useless' and as fragrant as Mary's box of ointment. [But] whatever love offers, love welcomes, though Judah may ask 'To what purpose is this waste'?" (MacLaren's Expositions)

With heavy hearts and legs they came early to the tomb to add their part to his intricately embalmed body. Though these actions were somewhat darkened by their failure to remember well his word that he'd rise to life on the third day; the very angels, who rolled the stone away to evidence Christ's rising from the dead at his word (Christ had already walked right through the tomb door) would serenade them as they did others at Christ's birth in Bethlehem.

Interstingly, their message to these winsome women, first to the tomb, was half a rebuke, [but] wholly a revelation. Though they'd forgotten that this subject and star of prophesy-Christ-could not be held indefinitely by death but would break its shackles in time, rising alive; God's way was to affirm their good intentions and honor them with the distinct privilege of being first witness to the empty tomb and the angels, who rolled the stone away at his rising from the dead. God's way in growing us is to affirm us even while revealing to us our sin.
God bedazzled these woman into a more fervent belief in his word, he emboldened their faith to receive his words by faith as he does time and time again in our lives. The wonder of his work helps us better treasure his worth and word to us.

"The message flooded the women's hearts with better light than [the angels' garments] had spread through the tomb."
(MacLaren's Expositions)

God give us ears to hear your word. As the nickler, knows the sound of a rightly made nickel; may we live attune to your voice-ready to hear it, rejoice in it, and act on it consistently. May we be known as a people, who believe and live out your words. May we remember your words, for they are life and light.