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Hungering
for God's Righteousness
February
2/3, 2008
Fr.
George Smiga
Matthew
4:1-11
The
eight Beatitudes, which we have just heard in the gospel from
Matthew, are some times called the Magna Carter of the Kingdom
of God , the foundational principles of the gospel. One could
give many homilies on each of them. But today we have time
for only one homily. So let us pick one of these Beatitudes
and look at it from a single perspective.
The
beatitude I wish to consider is the fourth beatitude; “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they
shall be satisfied.” The first thing to notice about this
beatitude is that it does not call us to an action but to
a feeling, to a desire, to a hunger. It asks us to hunger
for righteousness. Now what does it mean to hunger for righteousness?
We should appreciate that the righteousness in question is
not our righteousness but God's righteousness, not our goodness
but God's goodness. Another word for righteousness is justice.
So this beatitude tells us that we are blessed if we hunger
for God's righteousness, for God's justice in our midst. It
is becoming clearer what this beatitude means. We are called
to yearn for the righteousness, the justice, and the goodness
of God to be present in our world. We are called to hunger
so that injustice, violence and hatred are eliminated. This
beatitude is very similar to the petition in the Our Father,
“thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
We are called to yearn for the coming of God's kingdom, to
hunger and thirst that God's righteousness and God's justice
cover the earth.
So
far so good. But you say, “Isn't it important that we not
only hunger for God's righteousness but work to produce it?”
It certainly is. We are all called to act on behalf of God's
kingdom and there are several beatitudes that cover that responsibility:
Blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are the merciful. But
this beatitude recognizes that there are times where the injustice,
the sinfulness, the evil that surrounds us, is of such a kind
that we cannot even think of an action to undertake. Evil
is bigger than us. No simple action on our part will deal
with it. In those circumstances, where clear actions are not
visible, we are called to feel the injustice, to hunger for
God's justice and God's righteousness to come.
Common
wisdom says, “If there is nothing you can do, just forget
about it. If there is nothing you can do, don't worry about
it. Don't feel anything.” This beatitude pulls in another
direction. It says even in those circumstances when we cannot
identify a specific action by which to build the kingdom,
it is still valuable for us to hunger for that time when God's
righteousness and justice will be present.
This
beatitude invites us into a compassion for the brokenness
of the world. It invites us to feel the pain of those who
suffer injustice, of those who undergo violence and evil.
We are called to feel with them and to hunger for that time
when the evil of our world will be removed.
This
Wednesday, we begin the season of Lent and this beatitude
could serve as a beneficial Lenten practice. What if we approached
Lent in an effort to deepen our compassion for the brokenness
of the world? What if we were called to feel more completely
the incompleteness and the injustice and the violence that
is around us. We can do this on a personal level. We can identify
a brokenness, a dysfunction in our families, with which we
have tried to deal unsuccessfully. And even in that lack of
success, we can thirst that God's righteousness might come.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in my family.
We
can also hunger on an international, worldwide level. What
if we took up an article from the paper each day and prayed
over it. Take for example, the terrible things that are happening
in Kenya , hundreds of people being killed because of political
instability and racial violence. I do not know what I can
do to make that situation different, but I do know that I
can deepen my compassion for those who feel that injustice
and that violence. I can pray for the day when God's justice
will reign. Thy kingdom come, they will be done in Kenya
.
Now
as we try to deepen our thirst and hunger for God's righteousness,
let me warn you. God is perfectly capable of presenting to
us with an action that we can do. God can lead us to a specific
deed which can build God's kingdom. If such an action emerges,
we are obliged to follow it. But even when such a specific
action is not apparent, it is still valuable to yearn for
the kingdom, to pray for God's righteousness. This is why
Christ calls us to compassion over the brokenness of our world.
This is why we are called blessed when we hunger for God's
righteousness, when we pray that God's kingdom come!
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