“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be encouraged.”

Ordinarily, when we see these words, we reflect on them in the context of the larger pericope. In other words, those who recognize their own spiritual poverty (due to sin) will naturally grieve their sin and thus be comforted by our Almighty Father. And, indeed, there is great truth for the individual in this reading. Yet, remembering that Jesus is speaking to a large group of His disciples at this point — essentially the church — we also must ask how these words apply to the corporate body.

To understand that, we must look at the words translated here as “mourn” and “encouraged,” respectively. The word we render as “mourn” is the Greek word πενθέω (pentheo).  It can refer to someone being sad, grieving, or mourning (typically over a death that has taken place). Arguably, as a church body, there are two ways of thinking about this mourning. We certainly mourn the death of those who have died from amongst our numbers. This mourning is not for the one who has died, for their spirit has passed into the presence of Christ. This mourning is for our loss in their absence. The second way of looking at this language in the corporate sense is to reflect on our own nature and the sin we commit when we are tempted. Sin not only grieves the believer who engages in it, but sin grieves the body as a whole, for when one part suffers, the whole suffers.

The word found in the latter part of this verse puts the earlier part of the verse in context. Here we find the word παρακαλέω (parakaleo). The most basic definition of the term is to call or summon someone into your presence. It can mean “to invite” or “to summon.” It can also mean “to exhort, to encourage, or to request.” This may seem like a wide range of meanings for a single word until you realize that for someone to be encouraged or exhorted, they first must be present. So, in a sense, the picture we are being given here is that of the King summoning His people to Himself (John 6:44) and then speaking to them both to exhort and encourage. Furthermore, the people of God are comforted not only in the encouragement of Christ, but also in the exhortation, for indeed, God disciplines those that He loves (Hebrews 12:6).

Historically, one of the marks of the True Church is that they practice discipline for the chastising of sin. True, as Paul writes in Hebrews 12, none of us likes discipline at the time it is administered, but the fruit of discipline is holiness. If the church is indeed to embrace holiness, it must also embrace discipline. When churches reject discipline according to the Word of God, they reject the means by which they will grow and mature in godliness. Further, they disobey their King.