Good Mourner, Happy Mourner
Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : July 17, 2007
I read this quote today on the website of Christianity Today:
It is impossible for one to live without tears who considers things exactly as they are.
–Gregory of Nyssa, De Beatitudine
We are told, in the Sermon on the Mount, that it is those who mourn that are blessed. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount isn’t offering a “strategy” for Christian living. Instead, he is calling his listeners to enter into a different way of seeing the world. The revolution Jesus started wasn’t primarily reactionary. Jesus didn’t say “the way things are sucks, I want to make things better…let’s go.” Instead, he began with a recognition of how things really are. He wasn’t primarily interested in tearing something down. Instead, he wanted to show people reality. As a result of that reality, things needed to change.
Those who mourn are blessed because they see things the way Jesus sees things. And because of their insight, they will receive the comfort of the Kingdom.
So much of modern spirituality tries to fit the teachings of Christ into an already-established paradigm. We already know how to be content and happy. We come to Jesus to aid us in this quest for happiness or meaning that we were on before we met Jesus.
Many of us grew up hearing that Jesus will take us as we are. And that is certainly true. But if our hearing of the Gospel ends there, then we are to be pitied. Our hope rests, not only in being accepted as we are, but being called into divine life, which consumes and challenges and transforms and wreaks havoc.
Good Mourner (by me)
Good mourner, happy mourner
Seeing the world as-is
Your belly aches for all the misery
Your throat catches for all the beauty
The King Mourner comes
Calling the tax-man to account
Wooing the whore to be his lover
Receiving the treasure of the poor
Good mourner, happy mourner
Your feet are sore from wandering
Your eyes swell shut to close out the lies
Your fists clench against injustice
The Chief Cynic twists the plot
Naming your enemies as his beloved
His feet glistening with smutty tears
The stranger becomes host
Good mourner, happy mourner
Your mouth curls up to giggle
Your ears embrace the word made flesh
Your fingers tap a song of ascent
Dancing in the retinue of the King of Fools
He knocks over the cash registers of the Christian bookseller
He puts the town slut on the deacon board
He gives the poor his crown
for further reading . . .
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I need some help understanding your distinction in the first paragraph. Jesus was not reactionary (this sucks lets change it) but he saw things as they were (mournfully because they… suck?) and therefore things needed to change but Jesus wasn’t interested in tearing anything down? I’m stuck because it sounds like a distinction of emphasis but I don’t understand the substance of what you are trying to convey.
Yep, that is a pretty vague opening paragraph. I was groping for words there and didn’t do a good job communicating.
Sometimes people provoke change simply out of dissatisfaction with how things are. They don’t know what the better way is, they just hate the current way. They think the “church” sucks and so they go out and do things differently just to be different.
Other times, change comes because folks see a better way. They have a vision of something beautiful and only challenge the status quo out of a desire to be true to that beautiful vision. Both involve some tearing down, but the latter makes it secondary, rather than primary.
mark,
like your insights and i got a question
is being poor and being in a state of mourning and being in a state of powerlessness good things in the sermon on the mount that we should try to do or become ?
or
are they the results of following christ and are signs of injustice that we cry out for a remedy from?
in other words, when we pick the cross do we find ourselves free from the fear of death but still find ourselves prisoners in the court of pharaoh in need of an exodus?
i like your line about kicking over the registers…convicting to me and my participation in the whole christian consumeristic sub-culture.
thanks,
shalom,
i’ve taken a little time to pray and reflect on your words. i really could use your help in understanding. i’m confused….
as far as i can tell, God asks us to love each other, help each other whenever and however we can, and spread the good news of Christ.
i’m confused as to why the king mourner thinks it’s his job to judge the world.
only God knows if the “slut” is also a crack addict
(and why you would choose such a vulgar word in the first place)
only God knows if the christian bookseller secretly gives 90% of what she earns away to the poor
only God knows the many many ways we all need to change inside
and only God has the power to make those changes
(if we’ll let Him, that is)
… so please, mark, i’m willing to understand…
am i missing something here?
Wow. I’m actually surprised someone read my poem. Seriously, thanks for engaging it with me.
I’m sorry for offending. The vulgar words are supposed to be from the perspective of the status quo. My goal is to highlight the profoundly loving and affirming way that Jesus embraces those that people would call a “slut or a whore.” I don’t mean to say that they are actually “sluts”–just that they are called sluts. I may have overdone the imagery a bit for the sake of provocation. I certainly meant no disrespect; quite the opposite actually.
Jesus told us himself that he came to judge. He is, in fact, the only one able to judge. He calls the empowered to account and calls the dis-empowered to join him at the table.
I’m not condemning Christian booksellers as a whole. Just like the Bible doesn’t condemn Pharisees as a whole. In poetry, sometimes you use the specific image to signify the larger issue. Here, I’m equating the money-changers with the Christian publishing/nick-knack industry.
You say:
Sure. I wouldn’t challenge that at all. Do you think that this also means that we should never speak out against injustice or unrighteousness? I realize we should be careful in doing this, but I don’t see Jesus simply going around being positive, there is also a prophetic, challenging, edge to his ministry that we are called to continue into (as we see in Acts). Certainly, this is never supposed to become hateful or cynical, simply prophetic. I confess that the line gets fuzzy to me. That is why I am exploring these things on a blog, where I can get some push-back.
While I am certainly a fan of simplicity, I don’t think that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us to become poor and powerless. I think it is a recognition of the place and status of the poor and powerless. Elsewhere, Jesus woos us into simplicity, but not here–at least not directly.
I think this hits closer to bullseye. I think following Christ should bring us to a place where we, along with the oppressed, cry out for injustice as we too, in solidarity, become oppressed. I’m not sure that is precisely what is going on here, but it is certainly an implication–especially in light of Matthew 25.
Matthew 25–where Jesus talks about the Sheep and the Goats–is mostly likely referring to followers of Jesus. While I think we should welcome any stranger in the love of Christ, the “least of these brothers and sisters of mine” are probably disciples. In other words, the call to follow Jesus results in dispossession and injustice. As a response, those who welcome the dispossessed disciple welcome Jesus. And since the Sermon on the Mount is the first teaching of Christ in Matthew and the Sheep and the Goats is the last teaching of Christ in Matthew, I wonder if they are “book ends” that relate to one another. Just thinking out loud.
thanks for your quick response. i will take your words to the Lord and pray on them some more.
also, thanks for your apology, although i actually wasn’t offended. i’m not easily offended. occasionally i use words much more vulgar than that. (less so since i have a toddler now) … i was just kind of surprised. i do get that it was a poetic power thing.
by the way, i LOVE that adorable baby picture of you (that is you right? with the glasses on?) SO funny!!!!!
Alas, it is not me in the picture. I would be fortunate to have been such a cute kid! The picture is of my little friend Mateo. He and his parents lived with my wife and I for a time. We still see each other regularly, since we’re a part of the same church community.
This picture was taken a few months ago. Mateo is wearing my glasses and seemed pretty happy about it!
mateo is a cutie!