Blessed are those who mourn . . . (Matthew 5:4)
One need not look far to find a book or sermon on joy. Joy has always been a popular topic among Christians, and why not? After all, anyone who can read the words of Psalm 32:1 — “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!” — and say, “That’s me!” certainly has the greatest of all causes for joy. And if, as Jesus, our food is to do the will of the Father (John 4:34), we will never lose our source of joy, even in the most trying circumstances. Jesus, you remember, even went to the cross “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:1–3). So Christians ought to be, of all people, most joyful.
But that joy ought to be mixed with a healthy dose of sadness. Again, let us take Jesus as our example, who lamented the rebellion of the people he came to save (Matthew 23:37, cf. Luke 13:34). This sadness ought never to be far from our minds. Where there is no sadness, there must be either ignorance of, or indifference to, the human condition.
Jesus was a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3), and we should be, too.
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