We read in Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But mourn for what? We should be mourning for the current condition of the world, for the sins around us and for the sins in us. Instead of being attracted by sin, we ought to mourn because of its presence. And we ought to be in prayer because mourning is very often associated with prayer. The realization of sin is a mark of maturity in the believer, and this is especially in view in the writings of the prophets. They often wept for the injustices and for the crimes that would seem to go unpunished.
We find David weeping for the salvation of the people when he lamented, Steams of tears flow from my eyes for your law is not obeyed. (Psm.119:136). Jeremiah, who was called the weeping prophet, must have been one of the most affected and sensitive individuals to this realization of sin. He said, “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jer. 9:1. There is something very powerful in the words slain of the daughter of my people. It is written in such a way as if the Lord was next to him, weeping alongside for the sins of the people. After all, Israel was not the daughter of Jeremiah’s people, they are the daughter of God’s people.
This powerful passage reveals the heart of God who does cry with us when we weep concerning the conditions of this world. Have we come to this great level of maturity and intimacy with God to likewise mourn for the sins around us? When we partner with God in His love for others, we are then comforted. This is a fulfillment of the prophecy found in Isaiah 61when Yeshua read these words in a synagogue in Nazareth. We see in Luke 4, He began reading, saying, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor (vs 18). This corresponds to the first blessing of the beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit.
Yeshua then ended the reading with the words to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. What we note in the Isaiah passage are the beautiful words that go along with this reality, that is, to comfort all who mourn. Between these two passages then, we see the Great Comforter at work both at His First and Second coming. So, when we realize and mourn for the sins around us, expect Yeshua to come and touch your heart.
Twice in the Talmud of Jerusalem and that of Babylon, one of the names of the Messiah is Menahem, that is comforter. B.San.98b, y. Ber. 5A. This was a name delegated to the coming Messiah around the time of the Temple’s destruction and this name Menahem continued to have messianic connotations for many centuries, even up to today. This name is born out of the many persecutions in Israel’s history, as they desperately sought comfort during tribulation. And here in this synagogue of Nazareth, Yeshua was declaring Himself as their Menahem.
We then continue on to the next blessing/beatitude. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied Matthew 5:6. What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? The word righteousness comes from the Greek root word dikenoo, meaning to expose, to give evidence. This is what we hunger and thirst after; what is true and what is just. Biblically speaking however to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to desire God in our lives. And more specifically it is to desire Yeshua for the Bible presents Him as the Righteousness of God (1Cor. 1:30).
And this is a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53:11 where we find out how righteousness is attained; through the Messiah and only through Him. There we read, My Servant, will justify the many. That is, Yeshua will make many tzadik, He will make many righteous. He is the only judge and the only One who can satisfy the justice of God.
To thirst and hunger for God is now fulfilled through the Messiah who makes it possible for anyone to approach our Father in heaven. Note that the grammatical tense is present-active meaning it is ongoing, always in progress. There should be a constant hunger and desire for righteousness, and He will satisfy us through His Spirit.
The fifth blessing is found in Matthew 5:7, Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. This is the cream of forgiveness. Mercy is a divine attribute only God can rightly use and offer. Mercy has to do with justice. Justice requires that a judgment be applied in response to a crime.
Nothing can change this. When a judge in a court uses mercy, that is when he decides to forgive someone’s offense, it is at the expense of justice, for no one would be paying for the crime. However, because God sent His Son to die for our sins, by doing this, He fulfilled the law and the demands of justice. He can now apply mercy in the fullness of the word, because the judgment was already taken care of. In secular Greek, this word mercy was simply an emotion. They say that ἔλεος is a πάθος (eleeo is a patos) that is, mercy is a feeling, roused by contact with an affliction which comes undeservedly on someone else. (Kittel)
But the Bible took this definition and brought it beyond an emotion in that the Messiah, in His mercy, came and died for all offences and crimes, all afflictions, and so He became the Righteousness of God. This is why in Isaiah 53, right after the account of the death of the Messiah, we read that the Lord was pleased with this bruising (vs.10) because now, He can apply mercy on us.
And knowing these things, and having been saved by Yeshua’s death and resurrection, we are called to be merciful because we have obtained mercy through Him. The best way to be merciful, since we don’t have the power to obstruct justice, is to remit everything to Yeshua and to proclaim Him as the root of all true mercy.
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