Material Comfort

There are few things more comforting than my parent's house. Not only is it a place memories and nostalgia, it's a place in which my parents for decades now still extend material comfort to me. Over the years, they've always been prepared to anticipate and meet whatever need I may have:

• Was I coming in cold? There would probably be a fireplace waiting on me.
• Was I coming in exhausted? There would probably be a meal and bed waiting on me.
• Was I coming in under-the-weather? There would probably be medicine waiting on me.

It's important to note, there's a difference between verbal encouragement and material comfort. In other words, what they didn't say is, "Don't worry, you'll warm up" without also offering something physical to warm me up. They didn't say, "Don't worry, you'll feel better" without also offering something physical to help me recover more quickly.

When we get to Jesus in Matthew 5:4, he says "Those who mourn, will be comforted." He says this to his disciples as he is looking out at a crowd that is coming to him for real help, not just an encouraging word.

This is good news. Jesus recognizes that life is hard, it can be filled with loss, and in our human condition, we mourn some of these losses. However, Jesus doesn't invite us into a stoic sense of "don't let it affect you." On the contrary, he recognizes that loss affects us. Instead, Christ offers us more than an encouraging word - he offers us material comfort oftentimes in the form of that thing we have lost (think of Joseph from Genesis and Job from Job).

Are you in a season of loss? Comfort is coming.

Are you in a season of displacement? Comfort is coming.

Are you in a season of mourning? Comfort is coming.