Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 5:4), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Mourning is a normal experience for those who live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. In fact, sadness is inevitable for those who love, who therefore make themselves vulnerable to relational pain and the reality of the death of loved ones. We prefer to close ourselves off from such pain and suppress our grief, which means the failure of our love. But Jesus is Love Incarnate, so he is the Blessed One Who Mourns. If you’d like to avoid mourning, if you can’t stand to weep in the face of the hard realities of life, then you’ll also have to avoid Jesus, the “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Do you find it difficult to let yourself be sad? Do you feel like being faithful means putting on a perpetual smile? Are you tempted to close off your heart so that it doesn’t hurt when people sin against you, or when people who are close to you die?

• The true blessing of life in the Kingdom of Heaven is knowing the King, relating to Jesus, communing with the Blessed One Who Mourns. We are blessed (“happy with God’s own happiness”) when we live with Jesus, even if it means experiencing sorrows like Jesus. And the ultimate comfort will be found when Jesus wipes away every tear and mourning is turned into dancing in the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:3-5; Psalm 30:11). Jesus makes our mourning new by making it an opportunity for sharing in his life. Have you known the comfort of Christ’s companionship, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, in times of mourning or sorrow? How does Jesus make a difference to your experiences of sadness in this life? What is it about him that makes the difference? Can you believe, or begin to imagine, that he will take away all sadness in your eternal future with him?

• Has a fellow believer ever extended the comfort of Christ to you in your sadness? How might you help others to stop living in distraction or denial when it comes to their mourning or sorrow? How can you comfort others with the comfort you have received (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)?

• FOR THE CHILDREN: Jesus knows what it’s like to be very sad, and he says it is good for us to be sad sometimes. Can you remember a time when you were sad? Did you want anyone else to know that you were sad? Did you talk to someone about what made you sad? Did you pray and ask God to be with you? How would you help a friend who was sad?