Blessed are the Hungry

You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘ You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.

Matthew 5:21-26 NASB

I’m beginning to realize as I teach on the this passage every year that the key to understanding the sermon on the mount is actually in the last part of the chapter.  Jesus is putting everything into context.  He’s taking the entirety of their experience with God and highlighting for them what was important in those interactions.  In the scripture above Jesus is saying the Law says that you shouldn’t murder and if you do you will be legally liable, but I say if you are angry with your brother you will be guilty before the court.  Did you see what He did there?  He said forget murder, if your’e angry with your brother you need to deal with that emotion before it every reaches he level of murder.  He’s saying the standard is what’s going on in your heart, don’t reduce it down to what the law says.  

Another important aspect of this scripture is the value Jesus places on our relationships.  Jesus says that if you are offering something to God and you remember that you have something against your brother go and make it right with your brother before you give your offering.  That’s huge, he’s saying your vertical relationship is as important as your horizontal relationships.  Be at peace with others inasmuch as we are at peace with Him.  

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

Matthew 5:6 NASB

Kingdom=Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness is often seems to be hard to define.  I’ve heard it means being rightly related to God.  Jesus said that if our righteousness didn’t surpass that of the Pharisees then we couldn’t enter the kingdom of god.  Seemed like an odd statement considering Jesus had the harshest criticism for the Pharisees.  Israel understood righteousness to be how skilled you were at obeying the law.  If that were the case then the Pharisees were fairly skilled at that, maybe that’s what Jesus was referring to.  However, our ability to be righteous is actually self-righteousness true righteousness was modeled for us by Jesus.  He did only what He saw the Father doing.  In other words His relationship with the Father was the greatest influence in His life.  He did this, on the earth, by staying tuned to the Holy Spirit.  We have the same opportunity, as we talked about last week, according to the book of Colossians we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God.  We now have the opportunity to do only what we see Jesus doing to bring glory to the Father.  

We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus because…

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. '

Romans 8:3-4

Just like Jesus our ability to stay in tune with the Holy Spirit helps us to walk in the righteousness of Jesus.  Our hunger and thirst comes from a deep commitment to that relationship above all.  As God jealously desires for his spirit to live within us (James 4:5) so we should desire to grow that relationship.  We were born for this, we have a metabolic function within us that tells us to get food or water and we also have a deep desire to be connected with our creator.  

The good news is that the promise is that we will be satisfied.