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

This second beatitude seems to comedirectly out of the first. The first sets the basic condition and attitude that one must have in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This second one almost asks 'so what?" of the first. If one has a deep sense of spiritual inadequacy, what does one do with it.

One mourns. It is the mourning of one who witnesses his own spiritual bankruptcy. This is mourning over sin. This is Godly sorrow which will lead one to repentence.

Such mourning is still described as 'happy' or 'blessed'. A blatant contradiction, one would assume. But these beautitudes take human assumptions that turn them upside down. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the mourners are indeed the happy ones.

Why? Such mourning leads to comfort. Not just a pat on the back ot an arm around the shoulder type of comfort. This comfort comes from God and turns mourners joyous. Paul calls God the "God of all comfort" (2 Cor 1:3).

Our comfort comes from knowing that our sin, our affliction is taken away and nailed to the cross. Our comfort is in Jesus. Our comfort is in the ultimate forgiveness for our sin