“Wonderful news for the mourners! You’re going to be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).[1]
The beatitudes are hard to understand from the world’s perspective. The Fiesta Life is a paradox, that turns the principles of our culture upside down and inside out. To understand the proclamation of the new Kingdom Covenant we must understand the nature of what Jesus taught. N.T. Wright explains,
“This is an announcement, not a philosophical analysis of the world. It’s about something That’s starting to happen, not about a general truth of life. It is gospel: good news, not good advice.”[2]
I was a freshman in high school the first time I experienced the loss of a loved one. In the year that followed the death of my little sister Regina (pictured above with me in a leisure suit). I would traverse unknowingly through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and eventually acceptance. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross identified these stages in her book On Death and Dying in 1969. I met Dr. Kübler Ross via teleconference in a seminar held at my high school the following year. Today, more than three decades later, I may understand the theory of the grieving process better, but the act of mourning is still mysterious.
The stage I remember most was depression. There was a season that I was mostly numb. I didn’t feel anything. I was not sad, happy, or angry. I was just numb. Before I could reach a place of healing I had to return to the place of mourning and crying out. I remember the time when I once again cried from my belly until I was exhausted. And then the Holy Spirit ministered his peace to me once again. The Holy Spirit spoke without words. I remember a peace coming over me. And though I had no answers of why Regina died, I knew Jesus was alive, and God was present. I knew God was a good God and He cared. And I knew He was at work making all things new.
The paradox of the Kingdom of God is that it is already present and still yet to come. And so, the blessing that Jesus preaches is to be experienced today and, in the days, to come, especially when He returns. I experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit while I mourn because God’s presence is real. And I know there is a hope of the resurrection of life to come. So I would respectfully offer this amendment to Dr. Kübler-Ross’s stages. The final stage of grief is more than acceptance, it is comfort and hope because of the wonderful news that Christ has come.
[1] Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 34.
[2] Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 36.
