Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. - Matthew 5:4

…mourn with those who mourn… (Romans 12:15)

One of my (many) favorite scenes in The Chronicles of Narnia takes place between a boy named Digory and Aslan, the lion king of Narnia. Digory carries a great weight of grief in the reality that his mother is dying. He believes that Aslan could heal her but knows that Aslan is not one with whom you can negotiate. Finally, in desperation, he simply bursts into tears and makes his request. What follows surprises him.

“Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great front feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. "My son, my son," said Aslan. "I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another.”

Here we have a word that speaks to the second Beatitude. We don’t only mourn for ourselves. We proactively and intentionally join in with the mourning of others. We come alongside. We make it our own. It is why God chose to place us into community. It is a way in which we bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

The temptation is to look at our own griefs and heartaches and determine that we can’t handle someone else’s. That we will be overwhelmed. And yet this is the pattern that has been set for us. Our Savior is a suffering savior, not only because of his death on the cross but also because he joins us in our suffering. And his response is not trite or cliched words of positive thinking. He weeps, he cries out to His father, he leans into these places. Perhaps because he knows that there is some bit of relief that comes in a shared burden.

Saints, let us heed Aslan’s words and let us be good to one another. Every single one of us is mourning someone or something. Don’t carry these burdens alone. It is not God’s way for us. Take the risk to be vulnerable with someone and share your grief. And when someone trusts you enough to share their heart with you, treat it as a sacred moment, lean in, and invite the Holy Spirit to meet with you both as you mourn together.