The Hungry and the Thirsty
...preparing for the justice feast
Bottom’s Up is a weekly publication looking at the upside-down nature of the Kingdom of God and the ways of Jesus. How can we live in the midst of the kingdoms of this world while being faithful to the ways of Jesus? I’m trying to figure it out and would love for you to join me
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I had a fairly typical college experience with a slight exception. Going to a Christian college meant that on occasion the twentysomething concoction of angst, zeal, and restlessness was channelled in the general direction of Christianity. I can remember one such occasion where a group of friends and I were sitting around and were feeling generally unsatisfied with life. We were discussing what we could do to make our lives and the world better and I came out with a banger of a Facebook status. It quoted Matthew 5:6:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
And then followed it up with something like, “If I’m not satisfied, maybe it’s because I’m not craving the right stuff.”
I bet it even got a dozen likes.
There’s an interpretation of that I still agree with, but the way I meant it at the time I don’t think I stand by.
What Is it I’m Supposed to Crave?
In my college zeal, I understood “righteousness” as something like holiness, religious piety. If only I was hungry enough for avoiding pornography and lusting after my girlfriend, or if only I stopped sneaking into the cafeteria because I didn’t want to pay for a meal plan then life would be satisfying. Like so many religiously minded people, righteousness was about avoiding all the bad stuff and sprinkling in some good things, like doing my devotions and praying. “Righteousness” is something I attain. If I’m not satisfied, then I haven’t arrived and perhaps I just need to try harder. This is a trap all people, explicitly religious and otherwise, easily fall into.
But knowing what I know about Jesus now, I don’t think that can be what he’s saying. Fast forward a few more years and I remember learning that the New Testament words “righteousness” and “justice” are actually one word. The Greek word δικαιοσύνη or dikaiosunē is almost always translated as “righteousness”, but it can just as easily mean “justice.” In the noun form it means equity and it’s adjective form is simply equitable.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled.
While this reading may get Jesus in trouble for being too woke, it does help us with one of our goals. Righteousness can lead us to believe this blessing is something we achieve. Those who hunger and thirst for justice are not those who have achieved something, but rather those who are lacking. Jesus will satisfy this lack.
What Is Justice?
Justice is a word that is loaded with connotation in our current culture. It’s a bit of a Rorschach test. If you want justice to be a good thing, it is. If you want it to be something to fear, it is. “Law and order,” “social justice,” and “economic justice” all carry different connotations depending on your personal political leanings and life experiences. So while the correct application of justice is not always agreed upon, looking at God’s interactions with humanity can give us some common threads.
While you all know I love me some Jesus, you can see God’s justice prioritizes the poor, weak, and downtrodden even before we get to the New Testament. You are likely familiar with the story of Ruth. Ruth loses her husband and brother-in-law and since she’s young enough her mother-in-law encourages her to go back to her homeland and hopefully she’d be able to marry again. Ruth sticks it out with Naomi, the aforementioned mother-in-law, and ends up finding a husband and becomes the great-grandmother of King David. While Ruth and Naomi are trying to figure out what their lives will be, there is a scene where they are gathering wheat from the edges of someone else’s field. They weren’t hired workers. They were widows. They weren’t stealing. They were accepting God’s justice.
When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and resident alien. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:9-10
Things As They Should Be
Both the Hebrew and Greek words for justice have the idea of things being as they ought to be. Poor widows and orphans shouldn’t go hungry. Food shouldn’t be reserved for land owning men. So, God commands that His people leave the edges of their fields unharvested. Once again in the Beatitudes we are forced to recognize our perspective.
On the one hand, “It’s my field. I worked hard to get this field, to work the ground, to plant and feed the seed. I’m going to work hard to harvest the fruit of my labor. I’m going to use it to feed my family and sell it to ensure my family’s continued safety and survival! This is justice!”
On the other hand, poor widows deserve to eat. This, too, is justice.
When Mary, the mother of Jesus, finds out she’s going to give birth to the Christ she sings a song of justice:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
because he has looked with favor
on my humble condition of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations
will call me blessed,
because the Might One
has done great things for me,
and his name is holy.
His mercy is from generation to generation
on those who fear him.
He has done a might deed with his arm;
he has scattered the proud
because of the thoughts of their hearts;
he has toppled the might from their thrones
and exalted the lowly.
He has satisfied the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he spoke to our ancestors.
Luke 1:46-55
Looking upon the humble with favor, scattering the proud, throwing down the mighty from their thrones, exalting the lowly, turning the rich away while feeding the hungry…this is justice.
Jesus, understanding himself through the prophets, comes on the scene and declares what his justice will look like:
The Spirit of the Lord is one me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.1
Luke 4:18-19
All throughout Jesus’ ministry he is setting things as they should be. His harshest words are for the religious and political establishment (there was no difference in Jewish culture). He always showed compassion to outsiders (Samaritan woman, lepers, tax collectors, the bleeding woman, even to Roman centurions). This, too, is justice.
James, the brother of Jesus, would later write “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows…” Paul exhorts the church in Philippi to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.”
This, too, is justice.
Those who hunger and thirst for things to be as they ought to be will be satisfied by God. Those who have been wronged and seek restoration need not listen to the promises of political leaders to be their “retribution,” for it is the Lord who satisfies our desires for justice. Those who look at their own lives or out at the larger world and feel the pangs of hunger in their gut because this isn’t how it should be…a feast of justice is coming and you will be filled.
To those who look out at the world and see only how they can consume more power, more sex, more money, more, more, more…they shall be left wanting. When the lines start to form before King Jesus, those who have hoarded and grasped at power will be turned away empty.
Let us follow Paul’s advice and not look after our needs but instead look to the needs of others. If we all do this, all will be cared for.
Here Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2. What is as interesting to me about what Jesus quotes is what he doesn’t quote. If you’re reading Is. 61:1-2, you’ll notice Jesus stopped midsentence. The next words are “and [to proclaim] the day of our God’s vengeance…” Jesus came to bring justice, but not to execute vengeance.