Our series on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29) continues this Sunday. This will be the first Sunday on the Beatitudes. Regarding Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted,” Luther explains:
So also a man is said to mourn and not be sorrowful — not if his head is always drooping and his face is always sour and never smiling; but if he does not depend on having a good time and living it up, the way the world does, which yearns for nothing but having sheer joy and fun here, revels in it, and neither thinks nor cares about the state of God or men . . . Therefore, simply begin to be a Christian, and you will soon find out what it means to mourn and be sorrowful . . . Outwardly, too, refresh yourself and be as cheerful as possible. Those who mourn this way are entitled to have fun and take it wherever they can so they do not completely collapse for sorrow (Luther, SM, 19-21, Quoted by Bruner, The Christbook, 164).
