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Presence Weekly 4/6/2026: Blessed are those who mourn

The Sermon of the Mount: The Beatitudes (Part 2)

A couple in London trying to find comfort in the midst of mourning tragedy.

[First Things]

  • New Cohorts (new date): We are launching two new discipleship bi-weekly cohorts using our 1 Peter: Whole Life Discipleship for the Public Square curriculum. Click here to request more information.

    • In-person Washington-focused cohort meeting bi-weekly on Wednesday mornings at 6:30 am near Metro Center station.

    • Online ministry leaders cohort meeting bi-weekly on Saturday mornings at 7:00 am via Zoom.

  • Look for our new branding and fully redesigned website over the coming weeks.

[The Devo] Mourning, Comfort, and Mission

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt 5:1–12.

When Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” he is, once again, intentionally provoking his audience to engage their Biblical imaginations. Comforting those who are mourning is the clear emphasis of these verses. But to fully grasp what Jesus is seeking to convey, it’s important that we are as attentive readers as Jesus expected his original listeners to be.

As we shall see throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not just invoking Scriptural references; he is reorienting their full understanding to include himself as the key. Here, the audience would have rightly heard a clear allusion to Isaiah, a prophetic text given to the people of God, living in Jerusalem, regarding their coming exile to Babylon. While detailed in Isaiah and other prophets like Jeremiah, the reason for their exile was simple: failure to live as the people of God in the Promised Land.

After David’s unification of the kingdom, Solomon increased Israel’s wealth while disregarding numerous aspects of covenant obedience (see: Deut. 17 and 1 Kings 10). The kingdom later divides, and all manner of sin and idol worship spread. The Northern Kingdom is destroyed by Assyria, and yet, the Southern Kingdom fails to repent. In response to God saying, “Who shall I send to these people who have disobeyed me and no longer live by my Law, Isaiah says, “Here I am, send me!” After hearing the message he received from the LORD, Isaiah perhaps reflected on his zeal to be the messenger. The message he is given focuses on the coming judgments of God that will bring about the fall of the Southern Kingdom, their conquest by the Babylonian Empire, and subsequent seventy-year exile. Chapters 40–66, however, offer the promise of redemption and return from exile, including the oft-read Suffering Servant passages, and this Messianic declaration of deliverance from oppression.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Isaiah 61:1–4

The Source of Mourning

The mourning experienced by those addressed by Isaiah would have had two sources.

First, their exile produced a profound sense of loss. Those living in exile had been forced from their homes, workplaces, and communities, which were then devastated by the Babylonians. The lavish Temple built by Solomon had been destroyed along with the walls of the once-flourishing city. Those who remained behind in Jerusalem were living in the ruins of a city without any functioning services. They all longed for a restoration of the flourishing kingdom they had once experienced.

Second, and more importantly, their mourning should have come from a deep sense of their own sin. Their sin was the reason for the exile. Rather than a Promised Land which proclaimed the excellencies of the God who called them out of slavery in Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey, filled with righteous people loving their neighbor as themselves and working together for the true flourishing of Israel, they had become an apostate people in a city of decadence.

Isaiah 10:1–2 provides a devastating critique of those serving and leading in the public square,

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,
to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

The prophetic indictment went beyond those in political power. The religious leaders are exposed as being self-interested, forsaking the important work of discipleship, and allowing all manner of religious accommodation to culture (Isaiah 56). The result of the shepherd’s failure is a people with no understanding of what it means to live as the righteous. We are told that God’s people were simply going through the religious motions, placing their real efforts into seeking their own prosperity, while still expecting God to bless them and “make their nation great again.” They were known not by their virtue, but by oppressing their workers, quarreling with each other, ignoring the poor and homeless, lying, and committing injustice (Isaiah 58).

As servants and leaders in the public square, we have plenty to mourn over. We can mourn over the continued abortions of the unborn, the violence in our inner cities, the contamination of water and air with all manner of chemicals, children growing up in homes without a father, inaccessible and unaffordable health care, the elderly living in poverty, and the trafficking of children. The mourning over these issues is not about one party’s platform or another, but about issues the Bible addresses directly.

After a devastating judgment for complete failure to live as God’s covenant people, Isaiah speaks of a coming comforter who will once again bring repentant people back to experience God's blessings and the foretastes of the coming kingdom, along with an opportunity to “build back better.”

The issue, as it always is, comes down to the assessment standards used to make a nation great again and to build back better—those that are man-made or those articulated in Scripture.

But Jesus has a deeper purpose. His words are intended not to those who can simply make cultural assessments of problems, but to those who mourn because they are fallen, finite, fragile, and fragged. Like Isaiah, Jesus pushes the hearer from the cultural assessment to personal culpability. As he loves to do, he invites a deeper, more personal assessment because that is where the comfort he offers will provide its intended benefit.

The Source of Comfort

Jesus is speaking to people who are back in the Promised Land, yet without any real political agency due to their Roman occupation. However, Jesus is connecting this passage to his present audience. We can say that with certainty because Jesus says so in a passage recorded by Luke, referring to an event that took place just before Jesus delivered the present sermon.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. Luke 4:16–22

Jesus makes it clear that he has come to provide a fuller restoration of what was broken and to address the spiritual, emotional, and relational implications of that brokenness. To the crowd gathered on the side of the mountain, Jesus says he has come to comfort those who mourn over what is broken and for their role in that brokenness. Just as Jesus is not looking for the proud but the poor in spirit, he is looking for people who see their own sin well enough to mourn over it.

The Purpose of Comfort

While the comfort that Jesus is offering to those who mourn is not fully revealed or understood in this passage, the coming events of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection will make the source of that comfort clear. It is absolutely necessary to understand that the comfort Jesus is offering to those who mourn is the comfort that comes from knowing their sins are forgiven. The removal of shame and self-loathing is certainly a benefit that flows from the comfort of the gospel. The prophet declares the result of this comfort is, “to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.”

But to stop there is to severely truncate the message of Jesus in this sermon. The prophet says that the comforting of those who mourn also produces a particular sort of people,

“that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.”

If there is any doubt that this comfort is about Christians participating in Christ’s mission, Jesus makes this clear after his resurrection when he says, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” (John 20:21). What this means is that just as Jesus is applying the Isaiah 61 passage to himself in Luke 4, he is making sure that his followers understand that they should act in the same manner.

Those who are comforted become the oaks of righteousness who build up the ancient ruins, repair the ruined cities, and the devastations of many generations. In other words, comforting those who mourn is not just about providing personal spiritual, emotional, and relational healing; it is about producing people who can participate in Christ’s mission of making all things new through vocational, ideological, cultural, and evangelical means. Those who mourn are comforted so that they can encourage what is good, restore what is broken, create what is missing, and oppose what is evil.

Application Questions

1. How does the background allusion of Isaiah 61:1–4 and its use in Luke 4 enhance your understanding of “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”?

2. What are some areas where you mourn over what is broken, missing, or evil?

3. What are some ways in which the effect of sin upon your own life has contributed to these public square issues? How could your comfort contribute to encouragement, restoration, creation, and opposition where needed?

[Faithful Prayer] 

  • Cabinet Agency: The servants & leaders at NASA as they develop America’s space presence and oversee the Artemis II mission to the moon.

  • News events: For the hundreds of individuals who are daily monitoring and actively engaged in various aspects of the Artemis II mission, including those in Washington, Huntsville, Houston, and Cape Canaveral. The astronauts will be the first to see the far side of the Moon with human eyes and will be the first to travel behind the Moon. NASA is expecting to lose communication with the astronauts for about 40 minutes during a planned blackout period. The break will occur when the Moon blocks signals between the spacecraft and Earth via the Deep Space Network. When Orion reemerges from behind the Moon, it is expected to quickly reacquire contact with flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

  • Personal: For White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as she continues cancer treatment. For someone awaiting word on a significant nomination. For someone trying to make sense of their child’s interrupted sleep schedule. For someone navigating their defense contracting firm’s buyout by another firm, the uncertainty comes with such an acquisition. For a couple looking for a new church home. For someone watching others take credit for their work on a critical and nationally important project.

  • For Faithful Presence, as we work on several internal projects that will greatly expand our ministry capacity, including a soon-to-be-released website and significant rebranding.

[The Page, The Pod & The Stack]

  • LISTEN to this FIRST → The American Enterprise Institute published this article by Senior Fellow Danielle Pletka discussing American foreign policy under the second Presidency of Donald Trump.

  • READ this NEXT → The Lakelight Institute published this piece by their Interim President, Harold Smith, emphasizing that lasting purpose and identity come from a lifelong commitment to serving God and others, not just one’s career.

  • STACK this FIRST → Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) released their annual State of Liberal Democracy Index, showing significant backsliding across the Western world, and ‘unprecedented’ autocratization in the United States.

  • Fair Observer published this fascinating article on America’s gun culture and how recent domestic undertakings by the federal government will only perpetuate the mindset of guns as a political equalizer.

  • The Center for Pastor Theologians published this reflection, arguing that we, as Christians, do not change the world by reclaiming cultural power or influence, but by being inwardly transformed by Christ.

[What’s Happening]

This Week 

  1. Tuesday, April 7, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm, the Heritage Foundation is holding an online forum, Organ Harvesting: Communist China’s Hideous Shop of Horrors, examining underreported cases of forced organ harvesting associated with China’s ruling regime.

  2. Tuesday, April 7, 7:15pm - 8:15pm, the Aspen Institute is having an in-person panel discussion, Techno Humanism? A” A Debate with Anton Barba-Kay and Jason Crawford, exploring how technological advancement should fit into human society & ethics.

  3. Thursday, April 9, 2:00pm - 5:30pm, the Tax Policy Center is hosting an in-person conversation, Low-Income Families, High-Income Taxpayers, and a Looming Fiscal Crisis, discussing how to balance our federal budget while making tax policy more protective of families & taxpayers.

  4. Friday, April 10, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, Faith & Law is hosting an in-person Friday Forum, Restoring the American Imagination, inviting author Dr. Matthew Mehan to discuss how to reimagine and reinvigorate American culture.

Next Week

  1. Monday, April 13, 1:00pm - 3:00pm, the Center for Strategic and International Studies is hosting an in-person panel discussion, Are We in a New Era of Securing Strategic Infrastructure? regarding the importance of protecting America’s built-up resources in a new era of conflict.

  2. Tuesday, April 14, 10:00 am - 11:30 am, the Brookings Institution is hosting an in-person conversation, Global Democracy Under Pressure: Insights from Africa in Our Changing World, discussing global trends of autocratization through the lens of Africa’s developing governments.

  3. Tuesday, April 14, 2:00pm - 3:00pm, the American Enterprise Institute is holding an online forum, What Happens When the Social Security Trust Fund is Exhausted? discussing this important and often overlooked possibility within American public finances.

  4. Friday, April 17, 1:30pm - 2:30pm, the Trinity Forum is inviting one of the leading figures in Christian apologetics, author Amy Orr-Ewing, for an online conversation titled Forgiveness in a Culture of Outrage and Fear.

[Last Things]

  • We are recording podcasts, but posting is on hold while the website is being remodeled.

  • Please let us know how we can serve you, and any prayer requests, which are always kept confidential.

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