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Blessed [fortunate] are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. [1]

~Jesus (Matthew 5:4)

One might almost translate this second beatitude ‘Happy are the unhappy’ to draw attention to the startling paradox it contains. What kind of sorrow can it be which brings the joy of the Messiah’s blessing to those who feel it?

  • It is plain from the context that those here promised comfort are not primarily those who mourn the loss of a loved one, but those who mourn the loss of their innocence, their righteousness, their self-respect.
  • It is not the sorrow of bereavement to which the Messiah refers, but the sorrow of repentance.
  • Are we ready to mourn at work?
  • Will we, as a person of faith, show the sorrow of our repentance?

This is the second stage of spiritual blessing for our faith at work. It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another to grieve and to mourn over it. Or, in more theological language, confession is one thing, contrition is another.

We need, then, to observe that the disciple’s life at work, according to Jesus, is not all joy and laughter. Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continuously boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can one become? No. In Luke’s version of the Sermon Jesus added to this beatitude a solemn woe: ‘Woe to you that laugh now.’ The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.

Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Master, and He will exalt you.

James 4:9-10 [2]

Jesus wept over the sins of others. We too should weep more over the evil in the workplace, as did the godly men of biblical times. ‘My eyes shed streams of tears,’ the psalmist could say to God, ‘because men do not keep your law.’ Ezekiel heard God’s faithful people described as those ‘who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in (Jerusalem)’.3 And Paul wrote of the false teachers troubling the churches of his day: ‘Many, of whom I … now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of the Messiah.’

[1] New American Standard Bible. (2020). (Mt 5:4). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[2] New American Standard Bible. (2020). (Jas 4:9–10). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.