Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. – Matthew 5:4

Today's Scripture Reading (December 10, 2023): Matthew 5

There are two kinds of mourners; maybe we can call them the professionals and the amateurs. Another way of describing professional mourners is that they are perpetual mourners. They always seem to be able to find something to mourn over in this life. When we get through the current situation, we can always discover, or sometimes anticipate, things to mourn next. Professional mourners are never happy or comforted; there is always the next thing to mourn coming at us soon. In fact, I am convinced that mourning makes these people happy. Mourning has become their purpose in life.

Amateur mourners are always looking for a way out. Unlike professional mourners, they want to be comforted. And so, they actively look for an offramp for their grief. When Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," he speaks of these amateur mourners.

I heard a story a while back about a guy; we can call him Bob. Bob is a young doctor; in fact, he is an orthopedic surgeon. He is successful and has a lot of friends, but he hasn't met "the one" yet. Well, one day, he meets her, let's call her Susan. And, as is usual, Bob's friends have to meet the woman and make sure they approve of her dating their friend. Finally, Bob's friends meet Susan, and Susan passes the test after a grueling four-hour meeting. The friends finally say, "Okay, you can date our friend, Bob." Time moves forward, and Bob comes to that moment when he wants to take the relationship to the next step and gets engaged to Susan. Now, Susan has to pass a different test because Bob is not just going to just date Susan; he wants to marry her. Another lengthy session with the friends is scheduled, and Susan passes the test. Bob and Susan are now engaged. 

A few months later, Bob and Susan were out together on Bob's motorbike, and the unthinkable happened. Bob gets cut off by a driver who is not looking for a motorcycle, and he slides the bike into a pole. The pole cuts the bike in half, so you can imagine the damage the accident did to Bob and Susan. The ambulance arrives, and, amazingly, Bob and Susan are still alive, but they are not in good shape. They are rushed to a local hospital and then into surgery. Then, there was the second and third surgery. One of Susan's legs was broken in a few places. She had a floating knee because the knee was not connected to the leg, and the leg was broken on both sides of the knee.

Throughout this process, part of the problem was that the wedding was only a couple of months away, and there was no way that in two months, either Bob or Susan could walk down the aisle the way they had planned. Early in their recovery process, their Pastor shows up at the hospital for a visit. It was a Sunday afternoon, and he was between services, so he went to the hospital to see how they were doing. The Pastor arrives, and the families are also there, along with some friends who seem to have gotten the same idea. The hospital room was a little crowded, so the Pastor decided to say hi to the couple and then excuse himself so the friends could continue their visit.

The Pastor walks into Bob's room. Bob sees him, and he motions him to come over. And Bob says to his Pastor, "I want to get married." His Pastor says, "I know, and we will work through this. We are going to figure this out. If the date has to change because of what has happened, then we will change the date. We will get through this together." Bob looks back at his Pastor and says, "You misunderstand me; I want to get married right now. If we must go through all this stuff, I want to do it as husband and wife." So, the Pastor left the room and ensured everything could be done legally. He talked to the staff at the hospital, the administrator, and the chaplain. He arranged for the chapel and bought some flowers at the hospital gift shop, and then they moved Bob and Susan into the chapel. And with family, friends, and nurses that they had just met, they had a wedding.

They weren't professional mourners; they were amateurs. They were looking for an offramp for their grief; they were looking for comfort and found it in a marriage that had been planned for the future but had been moved up into the current environment.

There will always be things that we can't avoid in life, and sometimes we are messed up by the events of life, but we will not leave the things that we can change unchanged. Bob could do absolutely nothing about the mess that his and Susan's bodies were in because of the accident, but what he could change, that he was going to change. And here, the mourner was comforted.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted because if we allow ourselves to mourn, God moves us through the time of sorrow to the comfort that only he can bring. When we live repentant about the things we can change, our world transforms from a place of sadness to a place of joy and even laughter. Mourning helps us to separate what is necessary for life and what is not. Mourning helps us prioritize the essential things in life and allows us not to fret over what is not critical to life. It is a game changer for all of us who are amateur mourners.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 6