In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6, ESV
Have you ever felt hungry or thirsty? I think I can answer for all of us and say yes. Even Jesus, the Son of God, knew how it felt to be hungry. Matthew 4:2 says, “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
Hunger and thirst are very discomforting and those who do so can’t wait to be be relieved. Jesus was aware of that, so he reached out to help those in need. On one occasion He fed about five thousand men, besides women and children, Matthew 14:13-2; and at another time, he fed four thousand more (Matthew 15:21-39).
But, the people of Jesus’ time, and especially in his area, were not only hungry for food but for justice. They were under the rule of the Romans who governed with an iron fist. Having mastered the art of torture, they were the ones who perfected death by crucifixion.
As Christianity.com puts it, “The Jews and Gentiles living under Roman rule were strongly oppressed by the leaders. Since the government was corrupt, justice did not prevail. The anxieties and stress that would have been over the individual people’s heads would have been overwhelming at times, and they were desperately seeking out justice.”
With that in mind,Jesus used those familiar terms, hunger and thirst, to teach some key spiritual lessons, saying“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6.
According to Barnes Notes on the Bible, both hunger and thirst express very strong desire. They are aptly suited to convey the strong desire which we ought to feel toward obtaining righteousness. No other needs are so keenly felt or essential to life itself. An ardent desire for anything is often represented in the Scriptures by hunger and thirst.
For example, in Psalm 42:1-2 the Sons of Korah wrote, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
David expressed the same thing in Psalm 63 when he was in the wilderness of Judah. He said, “1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory”. (Psalm 63:1-2, ESV)
And along those same lines, Isaiah wrote, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1, ESV).
While hunger and thirst for food and water are natural, the seeds of their spiritual counterpart may remain dormant. We must sometimes be stirred up, to long for the blessings of pardoned sins and peace with God. God wants us to long for relief from a deep sense of our sin, and spiritual wretchedness.
We would do well to pay close attention to Isa 55:2b-3 where God explains the conditions to be met in order to receive His blessings. “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David”.
That which God identifies as ‘good’ is defined by God. And in order to know it, we must incline our ears to what he says in his word.
But what about those who will not incline their ears and obey God – those who do not hunger or thirst after the things of God? These seem to be in the majority. As Coffman observes: “They don’t feel any hunger or thirst for righteousness because, like the absence of ordinary hunger, this spiritual lack of hunger is due to the awful cancer of sin gnawing out the heart of the victim.”
What is this thing called righteousness? What is the scriptural meaning?
- Righteousness is defined as keeping God’s word.(Luke 1:6).
- Righteousness is revealed in the gospel.In Romans 1:14-17 Paul says, 14I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
In God’s word it is an obedient faith that will make one righteous before God. All who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. This is the Savior’s promise. Despite our weaknesses if we listen to Jesus and obey him (Mat 17:5; Heb. 1:1-2), he will satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst.
In John 4:14 Jesus promised, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
What a wonderful news! Even more wonderful is the fact that salvation is offered to everyone. Jesus will bless all who come to him and will also make each one, a great blessing. As he promised in John 7:37-38 “….If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Those of us who have already come to Jesus, having been baptized for the remission of sins, must remain in Christ so that we can be found righteous in his sight at the last day. And if you are reading this article but have not yet obeyed the gospel, it is not too late. You too can be righteous before God as well by doing what Jesus says. If you wish to do so, let me direct you to the nearest church of Christ where we will be happy to assist you.