Pastoral Ministry and the Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

We’re continuing our study of the Beatitudes in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. After blessing those who are humble and dependent on God, Jesus goes on to pronounce a second beatitude. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The parallel in Luke reads this way: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” (Luke 6:21). Jesus adds, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25).

While in Matthew, Jesus speaks in the third person (“those,” “they”), Luke records the direct address: “Blessed are you …. Woe to you ….” And while in Matthew, Jesus praises those who mourn and promises them eternal comfort, Luke’s version strikes a note of reversal, conveyed by the repeated use of the word “now”: “Blessed you who weep now …. Woe to you who laugh now ….” In other words: mourn now, or you’ll mourn later.

How can pastors exhibit and encourage the Kingdom virtue of mourning?

What does it mean to mourn, biblically?

The only other place in Matthew’s Gospel where the word “mourn” is used is in chapter 9. There, John’s disciples approach Jesus and ask why the Pharisees fast but his disciples don’t. Jesus’s answer: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15–16).

In that passage, mourning is contrasted with a wedding celebration. We mourn the loss of a loved one at a funeral, but celebrate a new marriage or the birth of a child. Jesus’s point here is that his arrival and regal presence were causes for rejoicing, not mourning. When the time came for his departure, his followers would grieve. Elsewhere, Jesus compares his disciples’ impending grief to that of a woman giving birth. It would be short-lived just like a mother forgets all about her pain once her child is born.

Both mourning and rejoicing are a normal part of life. As the wise Preacher wrote, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Similarly, the apostle Paul writes, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).

Practicing mourning and rejoicing

So, let’s look and see who in our congregation needs us to mourn with them and who needs us to join them in rejoicing. Who needs prayer, support, and encouragement, and who needs someone to celebrate with them?

Pastors, how good are you at mourning with those who mourn? What about rejoicing with those who are celebrating? Are you performing weddings and funerals with an equal sense of serving God’s people and coming alongside them as caring shepherds? There is, in our day, a commendable emphasis on pastor-theologians. But what about pastor-shepherds? Sometimes the need of the moment is not more Bible knowledge. In a time of sorrow and crisis, the need is comfort.

What does comfort mean, biblically?

My wife and I recently were certified as Christian leadership coaches. Until recently, we knew a fair share about counseling; we didn’t know much about coaching. In short, counseling is primarily past-oriented, helping people process a traumatic or trying experience that keeps them from moving forward. Coaching, by contrast, is future-oriented and forward-looking, coming alongside someone as they are trying to figure out next steps in a transition or changing season of life.

Both counseling and coaching can be useful and work in tandem. Both capitalize on the truth that we all need someone to listen to us and to show us they care. As we find a sympathetic and listening ear, we can often figure out the solution to our problem by ourselves! And yet, having a counselor or coach by our side can make all the difference.

Practice listening

If you’re a pastor or church leader, you are likely used to talking a lot and having people listen to you. But how good are you at listening to others? Cultivate the art of listening to the people in your congregation. There are so many needy people everywhere—and that includes your church! Isn’t this the role of a good shepherd? To know each of his sheep and to care for their individual needs? There are plenty of preachers, but what about shepherds?

How, then, can we comfort others? When writing to the church at Corinth, Paul states that “the God of all comfort…comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Ultimately, it is “the God of all comfort” who is the source of the kind of comfort with which we can encourage others. And it is our own afflictions, and the comfort we receive in them from God, that are the seedbed of the comfort we can extend to those who are grieving.

If you haven’t been afflicted in a particular kind of way, you may find that there are limitations to which you can comfort those who face that kind of struggle. That’s alright; there are others who may be able to do so. In the meantime, you can wholeheartedly pursue whatever calling God has given you, whether mourning with those who mourn or rejoicing with those who rejoice.

Blessed are those who mourn and those who comfort

As the Lord’s servants, we can lead our congregations in proper mourning and comfort those who grieve. There is an endless list of possible afflictions: serious illness, a natural disaster and loss of property, unemployment, broken relationships, and many more. As we comfort others, we can encourage them to grieve, but not as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Let’s inspire hope in those who mourn—hope of restoration, reconciliation, and a new beginning.

Rather than allowing adversity to lead to despair or discouragement, let us remember Jesus’s words, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Let us be instruments of the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate Encourager and Comforter (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). In this way, we will be a blessing to others and will receive a blessing in return.

©2024, 2025 Andreas Köstenberger. Used with permission.

Read part one here.