BEATITUDE MATHEW 5:3-11
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled
By Joseph C Francis
The fourth Beatitude taken from Mathew ch 5:6 Jesus did not tell the Beatitude to a single person or to the disciples. He was speaking to a large crowd of people. Jesus spoke the Beatitude to the multitude, because their hunger and thirst to God was not being satisfied.
World can give social and economic freedom but the thirst and hunger of a person for God, the world cannot quench. What Jesus said to the crowd, He says to us and has been saying to all of us through the years.
" Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
We all can understand the word, hunger and thirst. When we are hungry or thirsty we all run behind a piece of bread or a bottle of water. We have all experienced sometime in our life the biting pain, the giddiness, the faint feeling due to intense hunger. We also know the dryness of thirst. So, quite naturally, we come to attention when we hear the words "Happy are they, which do hunger and thirst...
But dear brothers and sisters you might ask a question what happiness is there in hunger and thirst. It gives only biting pain, giddiness, faint feeling, and dryness.
Well, hunger and thirst is the sign of life.
Do dead need food, do they crave for water.
No, dead men do not need food, and they don’t crave for water.
They don’t have hunger and thirst because they don’t have life.
God has made us in his image and given his breath to us. He has blessed us with Hunger and Thirst, to maintain our physical body.
A hungry person is a normal person. Those who are sick and abnormally upset they refuse nourishment, but a normal person craves for food. Therefore there is blessedness in hunger.
So as our physical body is concerned beatitude tells us Blessed are those who hunger and thirst.
As human is made up of body and soul. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We were made for God’s fellowship, and our heart can never be satisfied without His communion. Just as iron is attracted to a magnet, the soul in it state of hunger for God is drawn to God. If we have the slightest bit of hunger in our heart for God, then it is a sure sign that we are alive and sensitive to the overwhelming love of God and His Voice.
Those who have no cravings for God, no longings for Christ, and no thirst for the Holy Spirit are not only dead in sins, but they are also insensitive to the Spirit’s promptings. They are like dead person and are in danger of remaining in a state of spiritual helplessness that will lead eventually to eternal death.
Happy are those who respond to the Holy Spirit. They alone have hope of being filled.
This
Beatitude says Blessed are those who hunger and thirst FOR
RIGHTEOUSNESS, for they will be filled...
The RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is disclosed in the GOSPEL message. The Gospel,
of course, is the message of the great salvation that God has effected in-and-through Christ's death, resurrection and righteousness. We become
sharers in the saving activity of God through faith and through faith, we share the righteousness of God.
The prophet Habakkuk was active at the time when the Babylonians were
besieging Jerusalem. To the prophet who had been lamenting over the plight
of the Israelites Yahweh says,
"The righteous shall live by faith"
(Hab
2:4);
Brothers
& Sisters, the only condition of salvation that is required of us is FAITH,
not any human work!!! . Our thoughts, words and actions should
reflect our faith in our loving God.
St Paul's letter to the Romans is a development of the theme of God's righteousness. The Gentiles and Jews were guilty of sin and therefore were
in need of God's righteousness, which was revealed in Christ (independently of the works of the law). God accepted Abraham, as righteous through his
faith; He was justified by faith. Justification is then described as man's
liberation from God's anger, liberation from sin, the law and death.
St Paul concludes that the divine promises are addressed to those who believe through faith only. Brothers and sisters, we share in the righteousness of God
The Bible teaches that God is holy, righteous and pure God. God cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Sin immediately breaks our fellowship with God. Sinful pleasure, secret sin, neglecting of our spiritual life will take away our appetite, for the righteousness, of God. Man becomes unrighteous, impure, and unholy in the sight of God. Many have tried to reform, in order to gain favor with God. Some have mutilated their bodies and tortured themselves, thinking thereby to gain favor with God. Some have thought that if they would work hard and live moral lives, they could somehow justify themselves.
Dear brother’s and sister’s there is absolutely no possibility of our manufacturing a righteousness, holiness, or goodness that will satisfy God.
Righteousness is something, which we do not possess as a natural gift, but it is a God given gift to be specially received. It is God sharing his nature with us.
That is the very true reason our Almighty God decided to provide a righteousness by giving His only Son Jesus Christ to die on cross.
Our longing for God must supersede all other desire, with a burning hunger and thirst and our Lord will fill us with His righteousness.
As we see in the lost sheep Luke 15:3-7 our Lord does not allows even a single soul to get lost. He puts them into the right path. We have heard this parable many times.
Dear bother and sister’s when we are lost or if we are three mountains away from God. God is always calling us. My son, my daughter do not get afraid I am with you. Come. If we are sensitive to God and respond and tell, here I am God, here I am Jesus, here I am Holy Spirit. How much ever feeble our voice is our loving Lord Jesus will hear and take us on his shoulder and will put us on the right path to lead us to father in heaven
Like iron particle gets attracted to the magnet, when it come to its attractive range. Like mobile phone gets signals when it comes to the receiving range.
Let us enter into the attractive range of God and get connected. Lets us enter into receiving range of God to get communicated.
Once we are connected and start communicating through our prayers our Righteous God Jesus Christ will make us righteous because it is the promise of our lord.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
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