Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
For they shall be filled (satisfied) -- Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who strive after righteousness with the same earnestness with which the hungry and thirsty seek food and water.
God's righteousness is His acts in history to save. That salvation grants His people the gift of acceptance before Him.
They in turn seek a life-style appropriate to the relationship granted to them as a gift. They will model their response after how God has dealt with them in His mighty acts on their behalf. That response will include justice and compassion for the weak.
The Beatitude concludes, "For they shall be satisfied." God is the One who will satisfy them.
Popularly understood righteousness is no more than adherence to an ethical norm. The person who keeps the law, follows the accepted standards of the community and has an admirable personal life will be respected and thereby satisfied by the community.
But if righteousness describes a relationship granted as a gift of God that brings peace, then only God can satisfy the longing for that righteousness and the approval or disapproval of the community is irrelevant.
We are not righteous to please our peers but to show gratitude to God and maintain our relationship with Him.
Each day, prompted by hunger and thirst, all people seek food and water, hoping to be satisfied. But for how long?
A few hours later the cravings return. This Beatitude makes it clear that the blessed are those whose drive for righteousness is as pervasive, all-consuming and recurring as the daily yearning to satisfy hunger and thirst. Hungering and thirsting for that righteousness can only be satisfied by God.
Everyone who wants to lose weight struggles to curb urges for food and drink. Pills, mind games, exercise, self-control, group peer pressure and the like are all enlisted in the battle against the urges.
Among the blessed, urges for righteousness are equally as powerful but need not be restricted, rather they can be indulged--and they are satisfied by a gracious God.
You can pig-out on righteousness with no negative side effects.
--From Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth Bailey.
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