Those Who Mourn (The sermon on the Mount)

 Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  Sermon on the Mount, It is the foundation for Christian living. Everything hinges on this. Jesus begins the Sermon with a blueprint of Christian character and how to be “blessed” by God. The Beatitudes stand as a gateway to the rest of the sermon. We will spend next few weeks of this sermon series meditating on what it means to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart, to be peacemakers, and to be persecuted. May our gracious King lead us into the fullness of life in His radically counter-cultural Kingdom! Note: There are a number of things that need to be noted regarding the beatitudes as a whole. Note that each beatitude has three elements:  (1) Each sentence begins with the word “blessed” (makarioi).  (2) There is a description of the person to whom this blessing applies.  (3) The beatitude ends with the reason or ground why the person is blessed.