The Happy Life: E2 Those Who Mourn

Jacob Creighton: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Forms Podcast. We are back. We're back with episode two of our Happy Life series. ⁓ It's been good so far. So this is episode two jumping into the Beatitudes. We've been just breaking down each Beatitude that Jesus lists so famously in the Sermon on the Mount. ⁓ And this week we are talking about the second one. Blessed are those who mourn.

Chris: We're back.

Jacob Creighton: for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who mourn. Yeah, it is a sad podcast. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Great truth to sit and talk about, even better truth to experience. ⁓ Yeah, comfort in our mourning. So ⁓ we kinda wanna cut right to the chase with this one. So blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.

Chris: It's like the sad podcast today.

Jacob Creighton: Chris, do you want to kind of unpack that statement a little bit for us?

Chris: Yeah, there's just, there's so much that's involved in these. And that's one of the beautiful things I think about getting to study scripture is it's, you you look at it at surface level and it's shallow enough to bathe a baby and deep enough to drown a man. And it's fascinating to look at this, you know, blessed are those, the happy life, you as Jesus kind of explains this, he flips everything upside down. The people who mourn, Here what he's talking about is the people that mourn that essentially have nothing else that they can do They they don't have the capacity to fix whatever the problem is. They don't have the the Finances are the resources to address it They they're just the these are the people that are again at the end of the rope I love like Dallas Willard said last week. He was talking about poor in spirit spiritual zeros. These are people that are They're at the dead end They're at the bottom. There's a pit and they're in it and they can't get out of it. And all they can do is cry out. All they can do is yell out of the pit, someone help me. And that mourning is not a, it's not just some like vague sadness. It is a deep, like visceral, like from within kind of thing. hey, it's not, hey, I'm.

Jacob Creighton: Hmm. Yeah.

Chris: I'm stuck, it's hey, if someone does not come get me, I'm not going to make it. I am going to die. I cannot save myself. I cannot get myself out of this particular thing. And the promise here is, blessed are those who mourn. So it's not, it's the mourning is the action of what these people are doing.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: that are typically thought of as the least of these or maybe worthless or oh no, what did they get themselves into? But it's these people that will receive comfort. And that comfort's a crazy word. We pray a 10.02 prayer. I have an alarm set, 10.02, I pray Luke 10.2, beseech the Lord of the harvest, call upon the name of the Lord to send labors to the harvest. Well, that Greek word is also used here for comforted. They will be called upon, they will be drawn near to, they will be looked upon, they will be pulled towards God. And so it's just, it's kind of a cool just way to look at it, blessed, the happy life are the ones that are mourning, huh? For they will be comforted, they will be called upon. It's just kind of mind blowing as you, the more I've like rolled it around in my little head, the more I've been like, whoa, like what is going on with this?

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think the cool thing that we're seeing with the Beatitudes and I think in particular this one is that it's like a sentence of truth, but I think if you were to scope out and look at the Bible as whole, I mean, there's example after example of people who are mourning, they cry out to God and God hears their prayer. ⁓ There's example after example, but you honed in on one of them from Genesis, I think really kind of hit the nail on the head. ⁓ just drawing out what this looks like, that it's a blessed thing, and blessed are those who mourn, that cry out to God. ⁓ Yeah, tell us, what was the story?

Chris: Yeah, so we went to Genesis 16 and Genesis 21 is the two kind of short sections where we meet this particular biblical character and her name is Hagar. She is the Egyptian slave of Sarah or Sarah, you know, before she gets her name changed and Abram or Abraham. And, but she is specifically, as I say Jacob's name, Yaakov.

Jacob Creighton: Abraham you

Chris: But the ⁓ Hagar, I guess is how you would say it, maybe, I don't know. All you Hebrew nerds, you can put it in the comments how to say it correctly. Hagar, I don't know how to say it, but she was the Egyptian slave of Sarah. And obviously ⁓ by verse 16, Abraham and Sarah had been given the promise, the Abrahamic promise that their seed, they would have children.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ Yeah. How would a Yinzer say Hagar?

Chris: that would number the stars kind of thing. ⁓ And that child had not come, even though they were beginning to be advanced in age and Sarah longing to fulfill the promise, longing to be a mother took matters into her own hands. She gave Hagar to Abraham ⁓ as his second wife. ⁓ That's a problem, always called as a problem in scripture, although we see polygamy, it's never encouraged, it's always discouraged, it never works out the way that it's intended to. ⁓ You know, whenever we misuse God's design, it always messes it up. And so she gives Hagar to Abraham, Hagar gets pregnant. Well, what do you think's gonna happen? they, know, Sarah resents Hagar, Hagar resents Sarah, Hagar gets mistreated, she runs out into the wilderness ⁓ because of what she's having to endure.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: and she starts to weep, she starts to mourn ⁓ and God sees her and she actually calls God El-Roy, the God who sees and it's really kind of a cool reminder. Here we have the least of these come to the end of her rope, she's at the dead end, she's in the wilderness. I would say not just a physical wilderness, which obviously that was the case, but also a like emotional wilderness. ⁓

Jacob Creighton: Hmm.

Chris: a mental wilderness, a physical wilderness, and God sees her and she's restored back to Abraham and Sarah. And then we don't really hear anything else from her. I mean, you kind of assuming like, hey, she got pregnant, you know, like, isn't this the way it's supposed to be? Like, there's no way that it can get any worse than this.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: You know, she has, she names God, the God who sees, she has a child, Ishmael, you know, that Ishmael means for the Lord heard me. So mean, she's blessed now, right? I mean, there's no other problems. And you don't hear from her again until Genesis 21. And then all of a here she is again, the child of the promise comes, Isaac is born. Yes, Isaac, the promised child is here. Well, then Sarah,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: obviously is not happy about this because he or Hagar is still hanging around and so is Ishmael who's maybe around 16 or so at this point in time and it's not good. And so Sarah's like, this Hagar girl, she got to get out. And so does this boy. He is not the promised son. Isaac is, she's got to go. And so Abraham, I said in the sermon yesterday that Abraham basically hands him a water bottle and a loaf of bread and says, get out.

Jacob Creighton: Hmm.

Chris: And they're, you know, they're obviously in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness themselves. And so they basically banish them out and they walk until they run out of water and run out of bread. And they're that far away from any opportunity of civilization. And here they are dying. And I mean, the text is, is, is.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: pretty ominous in the way it describes it that she basically lays Ishmael down under a bush because he can't go anymore and she goes about a bow shot away, which was fascinating because he was an archer. was kind of you know, you know, previewing what he was, but he was a, she was a bow shot away, just far enough away. So she didn't have to see him die. And then she begins to weep. And then God shows up on the scene. And God comforts her and God reminds her that, yes, he made a promise. He will fulfill his promise, but he calls her back and provides for her and comforts her. ⁓ and so it's just a fascinating story, kind of a reminder of here. see a least of these morning because there's no way out of this situation. And

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right.

Chris: He cries out and God hears.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's ⁓ I mean there's so much to the that story ⁓ and I think there's there's as you kind of read through Genesis and this is I was kind of saying to you is like kind of even the the shtick of the story is like as you read Genesis you're like man God's got big plans for Abraham he's got a promised son he's he's

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: You know, and then as Abraham and Sarah kind of take things in their own hands and kick Hagar out, you're kind of reading, okay, well, I guess God's still siding with Abraham. And I imagine Hagar is probably experiencing the same thing. And that's even from the depth of her soul, she's crying out like, God, why is this happening? And kind of the shocking, but amazing truth that we learn is that You he hears Hagar, the, like you said, the least of these, that feels like they're cast out in the wilderness, yes by Abraham, yes by Sarah, but also maybe even by God. And yet he, like, hears her cry and says, like, nope, actually there's restoration here. It's like, it's not, you said it in your sermon yesterday, it's not some random Joe. This is Abraham, the father Abraham. Like, had many sons, father Abraham, who,

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, this is like O.G. Abraham. Yes.

Jacob Creighton: does this horrible thing to Hagar. ⁓

Chris: Well, know, Jacob, it makes me think too, like, she is such, in some ways, kind of an insignificant character for all points. You know, she's an Egyptian slave girl that's like a servant. She really has no agency other than her, basically, I think being more or less exploited by Sarah.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. All right.

Chris: to kind of get what they want and by Abraham. I mean, there's obvious power dynamics here. mean, this would be an ethical problem, even in America. And God hears her. It made me think just how many times does God hear and we don't even know it. Because so often he's not talking about the well-to-do that can write the book to talk about how God heard them.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: I mean, there's so many people that are downtrodden and beat down and at the end of their rope and, you know, struggling with various things that, that, that culture would say are, are not acceptable. And they're like, I don't want to put this needle in this vein one more time. God help me and God here.

Jacob Creighton: that are either told that they don't matter or that think that they aren't heard or seen and yet they're comforted in their mourning and their cries. ⁓ It's the very place that he meets us. ⁓

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cause I'll tell you, man, I feel the pressure all the time of like, I'm a pastor. I have to have it together. Like I have to have it together, right? I mean, do I, but, and do I have to have it and do I really have it together? Well, that, I mean, talk to my children, I guess, but it's just humbling to think, man. Blessed are those.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: who mourn, we never associate mourning and blessing. Like the equivalency there just is not in our contextual understanding.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, yeah, that's good. That story, I mean, has so much to shed light on what Jesus says and the Beatitudes. But it's also, I mean, that statement that Jesus makes, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. It's important that Jesus is the one that's making that statement. And, you know, not only does he say it, but he actually shows himself mourning along the rest of the journey of his life. ⁓ So I to kind of kick those around, like where are some instances we see Jesus mourning in the scriptures, but also like how is he actively comforting us in mourning?

Chris: Yeah, I mean, think, I mean, the two obvious ones are when he weeps over Jerusalem and the lack of faith in Jerusalem. And then another one is when he weeps in the presence of the people at the tomb of Lazarus before he raises Lazarus from the dead. And obviously, I mean, I think there was probably, not probably, there was some obvious mourning ⁓ within the garden of Eden as he's staring the cup of wrath in the face, ⁓ while also, you know, if you follow John 17, where he's praying for us and there's mourning and grieving of the brokenness that's within the world that he knows that those that love and follow him are gonna have to endure.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chris: even though he's gonna take on the consequences of sin right there on the cross in the next couple days. ⁓

Jacob Creighton: I think of like this and maybe reading between the lines of the gospels, but you know, if he were preaching to a crowd and then, you know, would go off and spend days alone with God, I would imagine that there would be some grief being like on display and poured out there that of like, you know, hey, this is the brokenness that's going on all around. I imagine he's taking that to the father. ⁓

Chris: Mmm. Yeah. Yeah. Well, especially after spending an eternity with the Father in essential, in imperfection. And here he is just in the midst of the muck and the mire of the slog that we call this existence. And yeah, I would have to imagine there'd be some mourning there as well.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's good. ⁓ I like the, yeah, comforting. Yeah, so how does he comfort us? Yeah.

Chris: Well, you asked something about comforting him, sorry. But just, God, man, like, how many times did he, how many times, like, I mean, in here, we see that, know, Elroy the God who sees and Ishmael is because God heard my cry. And so, you know, I think that's part of it is there's this, it's not just these like general words of comfort, like, hey, it's gonna be okay.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: Hey, I'll be praying for you. You're my thoughts and prayers or whatever we gotta do. But it's the piece where he sees us, the truth that we are fully known and fully loved. He knows us, this intimate knowledge of who we are. He touches us, he heals us. There's so many times in scripture where,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, yeah, no. Yeah.

Chris: people leave changed from an interaction with Christ. And there's this comforting interaction. There's a good chance that maybe their circumstances didn't necessarily change. Sometimes they do, but there's this like supernatural instance that happens ⁓ that just, that changes them.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Anytime in your own life where you've experienced the comfort of Jesus. as you've mourned. I can go first if you want. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah, I think of, you know, ⁓ an example that comes to mind when I was in college. My ⁓ grandmother passed and I was just, you know, grieving the situation and I was far away and then I wasn't necessarily close to my family to process like a lot of it.

Chris: Yeah, I mean so many. I go.

Jacob Creighton: And so, ⁓ yeah, I was just, I remember one night just praying broken, just like grieving the situation. And I mean, like you were saying, like from my like innermost being, just like crying out to God and grief and, ⁓ mourning and sadness and, ⁓ yeah, it's not like that was just left on the shelf and It was just like a prayer hurled up there. That's not what the experience was at all. It was like, man, as I'm doing that, somehow feeling the presence of Jesus near and giving comfort that He cares about my cries. think is a very real situation that I experienced that.

Chris: Yeah, I think I could easily talk about like my dad's passing last October and just other things that I've dealt with. I think one, I kind of brought up in the sermon yesterday and it's something that I'm getting better at. But I think it's grieving like circumstantial things that are happening around you. A brokenness is happening around you. And I think I'm allowing myself opportunity

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chris: to like mourn these wars that are not going anywhere and don't seemingly have a purpose or mourn ⁓ the stories that my neighbors tell of loss from addiction. ⁓ You know, I am a person that has trained myself to fix things, to address things, to get things done and

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: I think when I do that, I find comfort in my own ability. And so I don't often consider the things that are outside of my control because they make me nervous. They defeat me. Homelessness is one, for instance, that I struggle with. ⁓ Mental illness is one that I struggle with. ⁓

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chris: I mean, so many other, like hunger, like severe famish hunger in like third world countries I struggle with because I can't fix it. But there's this reality I find when I mourn and I grieve and I cry out to a God who hears me, sees me, knows me, whatnot. It's not a comfort of like, ⁓ it's just gonna go away.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Chris: but as a comfort, that reminder of the eternal truth of who the care, like about the character of God and what he can accomplish. So I think that's probably one.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, it's like if you turn on the local news and if you were trying to like Chris can you address every single situation that comes up in the news like you've got a million things to fix and a million things that like causes grief but I think so much what rises up within me and maybe even you a lot of us is like well it's either just to be like man that stinks if that's going on or like I'm just gonna avoid it completely but ⁓

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: It almost helps us as we see these things that like should break our hearts like to help us to actually feel that and to acknowledge that before God and not the sense that it like gets fixed right away but the fact that he mourns it too that it's broken and then it's you know

Chris: ⁓ yeah, yeah. I think about the exploitation of Hagar, for instance. I got almost angry at my desk reading that and realizing that that took place and realizing how many times have I just said, ⁓ the ends justify the means. Isaac came, we're good. And it's like, no, this is Father Abraham.

Jacob Creighton: yeah ⁓ Mm-hmm, yeah.

Chris: and God's chosen people, like this is God's word and there's so much depravity and brokenness. And I think this is what protects me from like anger and not a righteous anger, just like angry, like I'm mad that this is happening. I'm like, well, I'm mad in some ways because I'm almost mad I can't fix it. This like gives me a chance to open my hands and accept, you know, the work of the spirit in that, whatever those people are dealing with.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Chris: that I don't know, I can't help per se, ⁓ but also kind of within me, it gives me a chance to open my hands to what the Holy Spirit can do in me, with me, and through me.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. And it bubbles up kind of to the surface, every possible cultural thing that even mirrors that today. There's like, man, there's how many, you know, haggards are there in the U S or in our city. And I think it should drive us to do two things. One more than that, like we're saying, bring it to God and in grief and in prayer. But maybe too, it drives some action as well. Not saying that you can fix every situation, but there might be some that you can step in on or help in a specific way. ⁓ as we mourn that, we see our own limitations as well. ⁓ Any closing thoughts on mourning? Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Chris: Absolutely. I mean, I think this is like an invitation. don't think that the, I've said this multiple times in the sermons is that, you know, these beatitudes are not advice from Jesus. It's like a proclamation of the kingdom. The kingdom of God comforts, has a system where it comforts those who mourn. And it's not saying go mourn so you can be blessed per se. It's saying that the whole world has said those people that are mourning at the end of the rope,

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Chris: They need to pull themselves up while they're in bootstraps. They're worthless, they're not valuable, they're whatever. Christ is saying something very different here. And so I don't think it's just saying, hey, go mourn this week so you can receive a blessing from God. I think it's like a reminder for us to take a posture towards God where we're okay mourning these hard things because we know we serve a God who can comfort.

Jacob Creighton: right right right Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. One of my favorite quotes ⁓ is lament. I guess in this sense, mourning is like a prayer in pain that leads to trust. And why that is is because, yeah, you're not offering up prayers of mourning to a God who doesn't care. You're offering up prayers of grief to a God who cares. And actually, ⁓ over time,

Chris: Mm.

Jacob Creighton: is making all things new and there's hope in that as well. ⁓ yeah. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Yep, drop us a comment. ⁓ Could be anything, maybe a question, maybe something you're mourning as you're listening to this. ⁓ We'd love to hear ⁓ from you guys. So yeah, that's it. That's all we got.

Chris: That's That's good. They will be confident. Let's go to the forum podcast.

Jacob Creighton: We'll see you next week for week three of the Happy Life on the formed podcast by Steel City Church. We'll see you. We'll see yous. We'll see yous.

Chris: See you soon. See ya'ans.