Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness (Matthew 5:6)

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

 

Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

 

Today’s text is the 4th of the Eight Beatitudes that Jesus preached in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The main theme of this word is “righteousness.” Righteousness is one of the key themes of the Bible. In order to clarify the meaning of righteousness presented in the Bible, I read some reference articles. With regard to the “righteousness of God” described in the Bible, some explained it as God’s just character, some as the holy law God gave to his people, some as God’s rightful judgement upon sins, and some as God’s merciful forgiveness and redemption of sinners. These concepts of righteousness described using overwhelmingly theological terms and theories are not totally incomprehensible, but still they don’t look well-matched with the word of the 4th Beatitude. Jesus calls the blessed “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Jesus is saying that righteousness is something like food and drink that we take every day. As Jesus says so, we also would like to have such a vivid tangible understanding of “what righteousness is” so that we may feel hungry and thirsty for that and seek to eat and drink it to the full. Then we will be truly blessed.

 

It may not be easy to have a comprehensive understanding of “righteousness” found in the Bible. There is a verse in the Bible that mentions the righteousness of God quite concisely. It is Romans 3:26. “He did it to demonstrate his righteousness (justice) at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” This verse contains three words related to righteousness. One is noun “justice (righteousness),” another is adjective “just,” and the other is verb “justify.” The righteousness of God can be explained and understood with these three words. I would like to explain this metaphorically using “apple.”

There is an apple tree, and this tree bears apples as its fruit. And this fruit is given to people for their food. The orchard farmer grew the tree and harvested big, shiny, sweet, juicy, and crunch apples. From the great apples harvested, we can guess many things. The apple tree must be of an excellent variety. It must have been planted in fertile soil, and enjoyed perfect sunlight and rainfall, wind, and temperature through the seasons. The farmer must also have worked hard day and night in order to get quality fruit. If we name the choice fruit “justice,” we may modify all the good inputs with “just.” That is, all the good (just) inputs are condensed in the fruit (justice). Furthermore, this apple is not harvested purposelessly. The purpose of the apple is also righteous. It is harvested to be eaten by somebody. That is, only when the apple is eaten, digested, and embodied into the body of the consumer, the apple attains its rightful meaning. Through this, the good apple does good to the consumer. This is the meaning of “justify.” On the one hand, a good apple (justice) represents the goodness (justness) of its tree. On the other hand, a good apple does good (justify) to the eater. If any of these elements of righteousness is missing, the righteousness may be deviated from the biblical concept of righteousness. Without a good apple tree, we cannot harvest a good apple. And when the good apple is not consumed but trashed and trampled, the whole picture will be ruined badly. The righteousness of God is the fruit born of God’s justness, and it is also choice food that justifies those who eats the fruit. When we understand the righteousness of God, we need to comprehend all these together.

 

 

Righteousness is food and drink that we take every day like apple or water. In Genesis 2, God made man and gave him food. The food God gave to the man was fruit from trees in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:16 says, “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden……’” God gave the man fruit from all the trees in the garden as his food. These trees are part of the beautiful world created by God. Man can enjoy the benefit freely and fully. But the man was not merely a beneficiary of God’s goodness. God gave him a work to do. It was to take care of the world created by God, of course, not according to his will but according to God’s will. The man was not only the beneficiary of God’s righteousness but also its executor. And in order to carry out the work according to God’s righteous will, not his own will, the man needed to take “food of righteousness.” Like God gave fruit from the trees in the garden for the food of his body, God also gave him daily food of righteousness. Genesis 2:17 says, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” This is a command God gave to the man. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stands in the middle of the Garden of Eden where the man lives. Whenever the man eats from the trees in the garden, he will also see the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And looking up the tree, he will remember the command God gave to him. And he will trust God who prohibited the tree, and obey him. In this way, he is eating the food of righteousness every day. By doing so, he is joining God’s righteousness. In this way, he is being part of the righteousness. In the Garden of Eden, the man doesn’t have to work for food. In the same way, in the garden, he doesn’t have to work for his own righteousness. It is because he benefits from God’s righteousness, and is himself an executor of God’s righteousness.

 

When the man committed sin, however, everything changed. Now he has to work for food through all the days of his life. Genesis 3:17-19 says, “To Adam God said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you will return.’” Even if we toil painfully to get food all the days of our lives, we cannot sustain the life long, but die in a few years and return to dust. In other words, we work hard throughout our lifetime, but all the works come to nothing. This is also the case for our “righteousness.” Like we work in the field to get our food, we also work for our own righteousness. We observe the law, and do good things for others, and offer sacrifices to God. Nevertheless, this righteousness cannot cover the shame of our sins, and cannot protect us from God’s wrath and His rightful judgement. In Isaiah 64:6, the prophets cries, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Prophet Isaiah says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean.” This means that we are far away from God’s righteousness. We are like dry leaves that cannot bear fruit. After all, we shrivel and are swept away by the wind of our sins. Apart from God, man alone cannot be

righteous at all. We can expect a good apple from a good apple tree. But we, who are unclean to the bone, cannot bear good fruit from ourselves. Even if we bear a seemingly fruit-like thing, it is not edible. As mentioned above, “fruit of righteousness” is like a choice apple, which is edible and is good for the consumer. However, people’s “self-righteousness” is not. It is like a toxic weed, looking arrogant and gorgeous outwardly, but piercing, condemning, and even killing others. In the Bible, we can see people full of self-righteousness, who do harms to others. Furthermore, this is what God hates. In Luke 16:15, Jesus says, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”

 

With regard to righteousness, man is like “wilderness.” There is no food and drink. It is even more impossible for the barren land to produce any food or drink. To us as such, God gives this invitation. In Isaiah 55:1-2, God says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.” Here, God demands us just one thing. “Listen to me!” This doesn’t mean “If you listen to me, I will give you food and drink.” Listening itself is like eating an apple. Listening, believing, and obeying God’s word is the same as eating and drinking the food and water of righteousness that God gives to us. God repeats the word “listen,” saying, “Listen, listen to me.” This means, “You listen to me carefully with all your heart.” Our attentive ears are truly our mouth to eat spiritual food. I have a friend. He is kind to me, and is always trying to give me something good. But he doesn’t listen to me well. When I am saying something, he is often thinking something else. He cuts into my word, or assumes my thought before listening to the end. When my saying is not understandable, he just forgets it without further questions. I would like to share good stories with him, but I can’t because he doesn’t listen to me patiently. To him, I am merely a “poor man” who doesn’t have anything to share. God has every good thing for us. He calls us, “Come to the waters!” “Buy wine and milk!” “Eat what is good, and delight in the richest of delicacies!” Even he says we don’t need to pay for all these great gifts. But in order to enjoy this rich grace of God, we need to have one thing. It is a “listening ear.” When we hear the word of God, we should listen as desperately as a thirsty deer pants for streams of water.

 

Let me read Romans 3:26 again. “He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” St. Paul says that God demonstrated his “righteousness.” With regard to this righteousness, verses 21-22 says, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.” The righteousness of God revealed to us in the last days is Jesus Christ. Jesus is like “an apple” that God produced in the land for us. On the one hand, this fruit demonstrates God’s righteousness. Jesus shows us God’s righteousness in every aspect. Jesus himself is Righteous God, the Holy Law of God, the Judge of Justice who uncovers hidden sins, and the Savior who forgives sins and redeems the sinners. And out of his love to us, he took our sins and offered his own body as a sacrifice for eternal redemption. In addition, through his life without blemish or defect, Jesus defeated the power of death and rose from the dead. Furthermore, he became our eternal king who is always with us, rules us, and leads us through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Christ is the restored Garden of Eden. It is God’s Kingdom and blessed heaven in which only God’s righteousness stands firm and governs. And surprisingly, this Jesus, who is God’s righteousness, is edible to us, so we can eat him “as he is.” It is believing in him “as he is.” Jesus says, “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (John 6:55). God rebuked the Israelites, saying, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” Self-righteousness that we seek in the world is not food and cannot fill us. A bigger problem is that it cannot give life to us. But Jesus’ flesh and blood are real food and real drink. One who eats the flesh and drinks the blood remains in Jesus, namely, “God’s righteousness” and has eternal life in it.

 

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” This is Jesus’ promise that he would give himself to those who seek God’s righteousness and satisfy him to the full. Many people in the world hunger and thirst for sin, not righteousness. With sinful desires, however, even their best achievement is vane, and their best satisfaction is empty. They are all under God’s wrath. Only Jesus, the righteousness of God, stands forever. How great is God’s grace upon us, giving his son so that we can eat and drink him! May the Lord bless each of us so that we grow in knowing Jesus Christ day by day until his righteousness become our righteousness, his life become our life, and his joy become our joy!!!