“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
Matthew 5:6 (NRSVue)
The original Greek word translated as "righteousness" is dikaiosune, which can also be translated as God's approval or divine justice. This expanded definition gives us a better sense that our human desire should be that for which God wants for the world.
We have a sense of this when we pray in the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." which Jesus will pick up later in the Sermon on the Mount.
This allows all of us to be theologians when we begin to ask, "What does righteousness and specifically, God's approval or justice, really look like?
Or in other words, if God's kingdom did come upon the earth like it is in heaven, what would that look like?
In Matthew's Gospel, we see this vision come to fruition in chapter 25 with the imagery of the sheep and the goats. God's kingdom in this context looks like the hungry being fed, the thirsty being given something to drink, the strangers finding welcome, the naked clothed, the sick cared for and the prisoner visited.
When I think of this beatitude in the (relatively) modern era, I think of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His work toward civil rights was a hunger and thirst for righteousness, was it not?
He saw this work as God's work.
His famous quote of "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" is sometimes critiqued as naive in that it could be interpreted that we'll get there without any work on our part. I would say that those who hold this view are taking the quote completely out of the context of Dr. King's life and work. In fact, he constantly called upon human beings of a wide range of cultures and resources to get on board with the needed changes in our country.
Rather, I think this quote is a faith statement. It says that God has an ultimate design for us. It says that God does not abandon us to do it on our own. It says that God will walk with us on this long, long road.
It also acknowledges that we may not see it come to fruition in our lifetimes.
But when God is working with us, the work is fulfilling even if at times frustrating.
As we move through Lent, which piece of God's kingdom, do you hunger and thirst for most?
Prayer for the day: God, help us to stand firm in our convictions for compassion and justice for all of your children in the world today. May we find that as we seek to share the love of Jesus tangibly, that it flows through us naturally because of our relationship with you. And at the end of the day, may we realize that as we gaze at the world around us, we are very full indeed. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Photo by National Park Service via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons License.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
No comments:
Post a Comment