C173 4/1/59 A communion message
© Project Winsome Publishers, 2000

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"THE RAINBOW AND THE RAIN"
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Mt.5:4

If there is one thing that almost immediately impresses even the most casual student of the Bible, it is the fact that again and again the teachings of Jesus seem to be diametrically opposed to that which is commonly accepted to be true. For instance, one popular approach to life is that of the man from Missouri who says,
"Show me and I'll believe. Seeing is believing.
But Jesus responds,
"No, that's wrong. Believe and I will show you. Believing is seeing."
Or, to use his words,
"Except a man be born-again he cannot see the Kingdom of heaven."

Another popular notion is that we must look out for "number one." "Happy are those who take care of themselves, for they get along in the world," is the way one ad man might put it. But again, Jesus says that's all wrong.
"He who hoards his life shall lose it," he said, "but he who spends his life for me
and my sake shall save it."

Nowhere is this trans-evaluation of ideas so conspicuous as in our text.
"Happy are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."
Nothing could be more foreign to our popular notion of life. Our attitude is,
"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

The emphasis is upon pleasure and amusement. Enjoy yourself. Live it up. Don't take life too seriously. Be a little hard-boiled. That way you won't get hurt. But cutting straight across the grain of this popular conception is Christ's key to happiness,
"Happy are they who know what sorrow means, for they will be given
courage and comfort." (J.B. Phillips)

The Meaning of Mourning
What did Jesus mean? Certainly he knew that in and of itself, grief is not good. Anyone who has ever watched the grey cloud of sorrow pass over a countenance knows that it disfigures and destroys. There is nothing blessed or happy about grief. And yet, our scripture stands. What then, did Jesus mean?

Perhaps we have a clue in Spurgeon's comment,
"Stars may be seen from a deep well when they cannot discerned from a mountaintop."
You see, there are many lessons to be learned in adversity which are not even hinted at in prosperity. Or, as John Vance Cheney reminds us so beautifully,
"The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears."

There are dimensions to life which can never be understood or appreciated apart from a lonely walk through the dark nights of the soul. There are qualities of character which can only be found by those who know what true sorrow means.

In his book Higher Happiness, Ralph W. Sockman reminds us of the way the Arabs put it: "All sunshine makes a desert." He then goes on to suggest that,
"If we are always bland, always placidly confident, always smilingly untroubled, if there are no shadows of untoward circumstances, if our world contains no difficulties to conquer, no pain to prick our pride, no suffering to call forth our compassion, no unexplained sorrows to accept in faith and love, if our days were all sunshine, our lives would become a desert, our streams of sympathy would dry up, our eyes would become spiritually blind, and our natures swinishly selfish."

It is the bleakness of the rain in sharp contrast to the brightness of the sun that produces a rainbow. If we are wise, we will thank God for our tears, because it is through them that we see life most clearly.

Mourning -- One of God's Best Gifts
Actually, the capacity for sorrow is one of God's most gracious gifts, and it only belongs to those who are sensitive to his slightest touch. The fickle, the foolish, the callous, the proud are insensitive to life at its best. For the most part, they are satisfied as they are. They put on the whole armor of indifference against the needs of others. They become hard-boiled lest they be hurt. They do not know how to mourn, and as a result, the secret of happiness is hidden from them.

On the other hand, the ear that is most sensitive to harmony is also most sensitive to discord.
The conscience which is most responsive to goodness is likewise most shocked by evil.
The person who loves most completely is also capable of being hurt most deeply. But, as one commentator has said,
"Who would be so foolish as to choose deafness to protect his ears from the
dissonance of an occasional discord.
Who would be so foolish as to anesthetize his conscience to avoid the mental
anguish which comes when all is not well with us.
Who would be so foolish as to paralyze his capacity to love and submit to a life
of loneliness to protect himself from the sting of parting which must inevitably
come to those who walk life's road together."

Now, please don't think I am offering you platitudes. There is more here then the oft-repeated truism that there is never a beautiful sunset unless there are clouds in the sky. That is too simple. Too passive. The great truth, the fundamental principle, I'm talking about this morning is that --
"Life's truest blessings are hidden from hardness and indifference."

And, when we courageously face up to our sorrows and dig into our difficulties, we discover "the treasures of the darkness." Or what someone has called, "the hidden riches of secret places."
"Only night can yield the silent wonder of a star,
The breathless sweep of meteors in flight.
The ruby's fire and the diamond's
Clear white flame once burned in darkness.
And the great moth's wings with colors
That never knew a name,
Emerged from darkness, glorious lifted things.
And so dear heart, whatever be the depth
Of thy despair, wait patiently,
For God has set aside his treasures
For your strength and comfort there.
A star of hope, faith's wings, his love's pure gold
And there revealed his hand for you to hold."
"Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Mourning As Bereavement
Certainly there is a word here for those who have been called upon to endure bereavement or tragic sorrow. Jesus was not aloof to the intimate anguish of the human heart. He, too, wept beside the grave of one whom he had loved. He, too, entered into the reality of human sorrow. And, to hasten by these words without reference to those whose sorrow is born of love, would be a grievous error. It would deny them the comfort which has been promised by him who "bindeth up the broken-hearted."

Mourning as a "Social" Attitude
But there is still a deeper meaning here. This beatitude goes far beyond any offer of comfort to those facing personal tragedy. In addition, it promises a blessing to those who enter into the anguish of others, who mourn the needs of others, who hearts go out in sympathy to others.
"The saddest thing in all God's world," writes James Reid, " is a soul that knows no sorrows; it is a heart so dull it is incapable of feeling grief at all; a heart so selfish nothing but what touches its comfort and its ease could move it to a twinge of feeling. To sorrow means to love. Mourning is indeed but another and deeper side of loving."

Abraham Lincoln put it this way,
"I feel sorry for the man who cannot feel the whip when it is laid upon another man's back."

Hugh Martin, the great English cleric says,
"The blessing of this beatitude are for those who, for Christ's sake, refuse to put on the armor of indifference. Who refuse to shield their hearts from the griefs and pains of others. Who feel the whip that is laid upon the shoulders of another man. Who might be sheltered, but who choose to face the storm that they may lend a helping hand to those that are caught in its fury."

Martin points out that Moses, who refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure the sufferings of his people, is a case in point. Our God, who spared not his own son, but offered him up for us all, is the most classic example of all. And, because God knows what it is to mourn, having lost his son, he is eager to bring comfort. And so, when we go out of our way to walk through the "valley of the shadow of death" with a friend, when we endeavor to share another's burdens, when we enter into the heartache of a brother, we come closer to God than in any other way or at any other time. It is in compassion for others that we touch hands with him, and in that silence too deep for words, are assured we are his and he is ours.

Mourning As Sorrow For Sin
But even more pertinent and pungent than these expositions of our text, is what I believe to be the deepest meaning of all. For Christians, the greatest sorrow is that which comes from an awareness of sin. That travail of the soul which lies like a heavy stone upon the hearts of those who are conscious of their unworthiness, their helplessness, their lostness. Here is the true meaning of our text.

The word "mourn" as used by Jesus comes from the same Greek root as "repentance." It speaks of those who are sorry for sin. Who mourn their lost condition. This is never more clearly seen than when we remember our text comes directly on the heels of the first beatitude which promises happiness to those who are aware of their spiritual poverty.

And yet, when we think about these words, "Blessed are they that mourn," do we think about sorrow for our sins or sorrow for our sufferings? I am afraid that all too often it is the latter. For far too many of us, sin is just a trivial affair. A psychological quirk. An unfortunate, but harmless kink of a human nature.

In that sense, we are to be pitied! Our inability to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and therefore to mourn it, is one of the saddest commentaries on our perilous condition.

Let me show you what I mean. If through some terrible accident your arm should be paralyzed, it would become impervious to pain, and this insensitivity would be a tragic and constant reminder that that part of your body was dead.

But, if by some miracle of surgery the feeling in your arm was restored and you could feel pain again, it would be a cause of great rejoicing for it would be proof that healing had begun. In much the same way, if you are unaware of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, if you could take it lightly and indulge in it without any sense of mental or moral pain, this is sad evidence of the fact that that part of your nature is paralyzed, if not dead.

But, if conviction should suddenly lay hold of you like a pungent medicine, if it should pierce your soul with sharp pain of bitter anguish, because of what you are, a poor lost sinner in need of God's forgiveness, then there would be cause for rejoicing. This would be evidence that healing was still possible for you and as you repented of your sin, you could be comforted.

That's why Christ calls the capacity to grieve over sin "blessed."
"Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they that care. That care to the point of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. That care to the point of being moved to repentance. That care enough to change, for they shall be comforted."

Oh, I know that this kind of preaching is not popular. It is not the message the crowd wants to hear today. As Sockman points out,
"Today the crowd craves the promises of God's blessings but without the pain of divine purging. It desires sermons that tell how to win friends and succeed in business. How to be magnetic personalities and likable companions. How to have peace of mind and forget your fears. Such prescriptions have their temporary value, but let them not be mistaken for the saving gospel. We do not cure sin merely by cushioning ourselves against its consequences. Christ came to make men good, rather than to merely make them feel good."

How desperately we need to return today to something akin to the old mourner's bench. Where people overcome with a consciousness of their spiritual poverty, sought the Savior's pardon.

We need that kind of mourning today. All too often our repentance is more like a change of clothing than a change of heart. We are too much like the man who wrote an anonymous letter to the department of Internal Revenue enclosing a one-hundred dollar bill which he said he owed the government.
"It's been on my conscience so much I can't sleep at night," he said. And then added, "If I still can't sleep, I'll send the rest I owe."

Well, you see, that is not true repentance, and we cannot find real happiness or peace on those terms. True repentance is "taking God's side against our sin." Unequivocally. Without argument. All the way. And, to the man who mourns his sin in that fashion, God promises comfort.

Not the comfort of an easy chair as if all battles of temptation were won. Not the comfort of a subtle soothing of the surface. Not a kind of aspirin that dulls the pain but does nothing about the basic cause of the pain. Rather, the comfort Jesus promises is that sense of release and relief which comes as a boil is lanced. The pressure is released. The putrefaction is expunged. The infection is stopped. And, we know healing is on its way.

The comfort Jesus promises is like the joy which comes when we see a rainbow through the rain, and know from this sign that the storm is past and the warmth of the sun will soon flood our hearts again.

It is taking the "u" out of mourning -- "m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g" -- and casting it into the ocean of God's forgetfulness, leaving morning -- "m-o-r-n-i-n-g!" A new beginning. Clean. Pure. Comforting.
This is the happiness Christ has for you. Not over there and then, but here and now.
"For happy are they that mourn, who care enough about their sins to change,
for they shall be comforted."