Jornada

Before the rooster crowed today, I was grinding the morning brew. I woke Maya by offering her a steamy mug of blessed java. We sipped our coffee together before I bolted for the bus station. My friend, Mark, met me there and then we traveled (in a Mercedes, no less) to a city four-hours away. The weather was only bad for the first hour. I forgot my camera, but my mobile phone captured a couple of images. Here is one of the Merc that we rode in:

The trip went fine. I went there because I had to change some airline tickets. I planned to fly this weekend to Moscow and meet with publishers about a translation project that I am overseeing. Because of pressing issues here, I had to postpone the trip for a month. The funniest thing is that it took me a whole day’s time (with travel) just to change the tickets. Since there is no airport in this city, it was the only way. Thankfully, we arrived home safe and sound, and enjoyed excellent fellowship on the road.

Update on B. Study and My Road Trip

Our fifth B. study meeting went great tonight. The attendees are still very interested in the material. Alya did not come for some reason, but everyone else (the three couples) were all here. The lesson was The Fall of Man. They ask great questions and they seem to be comprehending these important truths. We plan to host this month’s seminar (we meet every Tuesday night, plus one Sunday seminar a month, which meets for an extended time) on Easter.

Also, early tomorrow morning I leave for a neighboring city (eight-hour round trip, by bus) and I hope to return by evening. Please pr. for me on those slick roads. Maya is staying home. I’ll dig my camera out for the journey and maybe post a few pics.

The Happy Mourner

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

The first clause is a classic biblical paradox. Exceedingly happy (according to Kittle, that is what the word μακάριοι means; here translated blessed) is the person who is full of sorrow.

Here are a few others, just to sample Scripture’s Great Paradoxes:

1. To save a life it must be lost, and vice versa. (Matthew 16:25)
2. Rejoicing is manifest in suffering (Colossians 1:24)
3. A believer is the fragrance of life, and of death (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).

That last is one of my favorites, and deserves a post of its own; which it will get here later this week. How is a believer the fragrance of both death and life at the same time? Post forthcoming.

Now, two questions to keep the grey matter occupied. Why are they mourning? And why are they exceedingly happy?

Piper’s answer to the first question is that they are mourning their spiritual poverty and their sinful condition before God (from verse 3). That is probably true, but I can think of a few other reasons for their mourning. They might be lamenting their personal loss (e.g. most of the LXX uses of the Greek word πενθέω – to mourn), or mourning the world’s spiritual condition and the desperate multitudes without Christ; maybe they are suffering for Christ. Maybe it is because they are persecuted and hated. The text does not say exactly, just that they are filled with sorrow.

But the text does say why they are exceedingly happy: because they will be comforted. God, in all his glory, awaits them and will replace the sorrow with the oil of gladness. Isaiah sheds more light on the lot of the happy mourner:

…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… (Isaiah 61:1b-3 ESV)

Let’s not miss the grammatical time frames of the beatitude. His comforting awaits us, it will come; but the mourner is exceedingly happy now (blessed are they). Hope has been set before us and allows us to be happy through mourning. Perhaps, that is why Paul could say with such confidence:

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison… (2 Cor 4:17 ESV)

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Our Pretty Little Lama

I snapped this image a week ago, and Hannah’s hair has since grown a little. She is a tad less Lama-like now.