Matt. 5:4; Luke 7:36-50-Mourning Turned to Joy-1/18/15

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This is a great encouragement to us who sometimes reach those points in our lives when we feel like we cannot go back.

Maybe if we meet or know someone who feels that their whole life has been given over to a life of sin, who might think ”How could God ever love me?”

Friends, in the mercy of God, a sinful past is not a hopeless liability.

Forgiveness comes to those who truly love Christ. A wise man once said, “sinners make the best saints” Why? Because they can truly speak of the joy and peace and hope of having truly been forgiven by God.

We mourn and are sorry for many reasons: When we lose a loved one and we miss them, when we are sorry when we have hurt someone, when we see n the world the sin that breaks the heart of God.

So when Jesus says, “blessed are the mourners” which of these does he mean? All of them! They (and we) will be comforted.

In Luke 7, Simon does not greet Jesus as one typically would greet a guest. No kiss on the cheek or hand, no hug, no handshake, not even a head nod.

It would be the equivalent of being invited into a home, and your host does not even pay enough attention so as to offer to remove your coat.

I think Simon is trying to walk a tightrope and keep all of his bases covered.

“If Jesus is a prophet of God, well then he gets in good with God, because, hey, I did invite Him to a banquet.

…and if he is not a prophet…well, I can still save face because I did not really do all these other things for him.”

Friends, do not miss the irony here, Simon is a religious teacher, he studied the Bible, and he, more than most, was supposed to recognize Jesus, and yet Simon misses it.

He knew all about Jesus but did not know Jesus.

He was a fan, rather than a follower. Some people are fans of Jesus, while others are followers.

Many know a lot about Jesus, but His desire is to have us know Him, in a personal relationship, and that is what this woman is about to show us that she wants. That personal relationship with the Comforter of those who mourn

This woman seems like she has a great deal to mourn over. Some belief that she may have been a loose woman, a prostitute, a street-walker.

Suddenly, in walks this woman, and suddenly heads turn. Maybe she had to endure the glares and stares of those who would not associate with her, but as she beholds this man the call Jesus,

Something starts to happen. As she hears Him talk, she wonders, “Maybe this God loves me and wants to forgive me!”

She thought, “God may have given up on me, but I see Jesus and He tells me about God’s love for me. Maybe I can be a follower too!”

What she does next is reckless, and bold, and shocking, and exactly the kind of follower Jesus wants.

He gives her not a look of condemnation, but welcome, as if He is glad that she is here, like a daughter returning home to her father. And I can imagine as her gaze met His, the tears welled up, and she uses this hair to kneel and wipe his dirty feet, and she goes even further, she takes a jar of perfume, (her line of work needed this, so she would have used one drop at a time)

…and yet she pours it all out for she doesn’t care, she just wants to show her love to this, her Savior.

I don’t know if you have ever felt that you have reached a point in your life where you thought God could never love you anymore. I hope you have never felt that, but even if you haven’t, you probably know someone who has. Maybe that is why they say, “how could God want someone like me? I am too far gone”

No such thing friends, for Jesus says, “any who would come to me, I will never turn away.

When Jesus would heal someone, he would not only heal them physically, but he would declare that they are now made right with God.

This woman mourned, sought Jesus, and in doing so, felt that wholeness, that salvation, and that is what the Kingdom of God is all about. Blessed are you who mourn, and may you experience the peace and comfort of Jesus Christ today