Bible Text:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.                                                                                   (Matthew 5:6)

Three men were trudging across the desert. One held a loaf of bread. One carried a jug of wine. One carried an old car door. The first man said, “If I get hungry, I have something to eat.” The second man said, “If I get thirsty, I have something to drink.” The third man said, “If I get hot, I can roll down a window.” 

Three senior men were walking together one day. One of them said, “It sure is windy.” The second one said, “It’s not Wednesday, it’s Thursday.” The third one said, “I’m thirsty too. Let’s stop to get something to drink.” 

Have you ever really been hungry or thirsty? I’m not talking now about the occasional missing of a lunch, where you become grumpy and irritable as the afternoon wears on. I’m not talking about coming home to discover that supper will be 30 minutes late. I’m not talking about being invited to a festive dinner that you find out doesn’t start until 9:00 p.m. and hors d’ oeuvres don’t start until 8:30. And I’m not talking about teenage hunger—the kind that raids the refrigerator one hour after a full dinner. 

We’re talking here about real hunger, intense hunger. I speak of the burning desire for something substantive. It becomes a total preoccupation. You want food or drink so bad it hurts. You ache. This is the force of the next beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are you,” says Jesus, “when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be satisfied.” 

Righteousness is not a word in our common vocabulary. But it’s a very important word in the Biblical vocabulary. And we need to know it. There’s an old story about two mice who were out for a walk one morning. They rounded a corner and were confronted by a huge tomcat. Just as the cat was about to have the mice for breakfast, one of the mice barked at the cat. The cat was so startled he turned tail and ran. The one mouse turned to his friend and said, "At times like these, it’s nice to know a second language.” A disciple needs to know some of the language of Scripture. 

The closest parallel meaning to righteousness in Scripture is justice. I might even create the word “rightness.” Blessed are those who hold an intense passion for rightness or justice to prevail. 

This is more than simply the “common good.” John Gardner had a Christian citizens’ lobby a few years ago called “Common Cause.” This is a higher form than Common Cause. This is much more than civility—a word much bantered about today. This is the ultimately highest form of justice to which Jesus speaks. 

There is much news these days about the Supreme Court of the United States. At some point the president will appoint one or more new justices to that court. One of the justices will be selected as “chief justice.” He or she will become “chief justice” of the “supreme” court. 

That’s an impressive title! Yet even this concept does not adequately portray Jesus’ words. The justice to which Jesus points is much higher. This is God’s justice—that for which the heart of a disciple yearns. 

How do you measure up to this beatitude? How much do you want righteousness or justice to prevail? How much do you hunger and thirst for it? 

Not long ago I read something I had forgotten. The United Methodist church is the most evenly distributed denomination in the United States. It’s not the largest denomination. It’s not even the largest denomination in Pittsburgh. There are more Presbyterians in Pittsburgh than there are Methodists. In fact, Pittsburgh has more Presbyterians per square inch than almost any other city in the country. But the Methodist church is more evenly distributed. There is a United Methodist church in almost every town in America. There are more United Methodist churches than there are post offices. 

Does that not suggest that we have a special calling? Ours is not the calling to change the world. We wilt under the pressure of that kind of call! Ours is not the responsibility to take on the world. To some degree your Peace with Justice offering today will do that. The insert with your offering suggests where your offering will go: to teach people alternatives to violence, and to provide resources to foster global justice. 

We cannot individually or as a church take on the whole world. But we are called to stretch ourselves toward rightness. We are called to take goodness to the limit. We are called to have a passionate persistence toward the good. 

What might that look like? Let me offer a few examples. 

THE SLOTS 

Radio and television ads plead with you to write state officials these days. Write your state senator or your state representative. The ads say we must stop losing Pennsylvania money to West Virginia, or New Jersey, or Canada. We need casinos and slot machines in our own state. In other words, the rationale for allowing them in Pennsylvania is to stop benefiting other states. 

Nonsense! Pure nonsense!  A beatitude disciple knows that a few people will get rich if the slots come in. Those who get rich will be the owners. A large number will succumb to avarice and greed. An even larger number lose modest to meager resources at the slots. And 5-10% of those who use them will become compulsive or addicted gamblers.  

Slot machines are for those who were never very good at math. Slot machines are not simply another form of entertainment. They are a societal injustice, and they are wrong. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the right to prevail. 

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 

Last Monday the Supreme Court rolled out a landmark decision on affirmative action. I’m not sure I completely understand the intricacies or the implications of that ruling. My early reading is this: we are to support affirmative action in college admissions—not mandate it, but support. But let’s do it right—let’s do it fairly—let’s not do it artificially. In other words, let’s be as just as we know how to be. 

A beatitude disciple says, “I want to be fair and I want to be just. I want to do this across all racial, ethnic, cultural, and economic lines.” 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the right to prevail. 

DOMESTIC ABUSE 

In the restrooms around Christ Church there are some posters and phone numbers clearly displayed. The posters and phone numbers tell people where to get help or counsel in cases of domestic abuse or violence. It’s a sad part of our society, but it is real. And it is a great injustice. 

The first four paragraphs of the insert in today’s bulletin say it very well. 

She may live next door or a continent away. Perhaps you work with her. She may be your mother, your sister, your daughter, you. No matter who she is, she knows the terror of domestic violence.

Strengthened and blessed by God, the church is urged to act. “People of faith should take the lead in calling for a just response by the community in the face of domestic violence…”

Addressing some of the most pressing social issues of the new millennium, delegates to United Methodism’s 2000 General Conference noted, “tragically, no church or community is exempt” from domestic violence.

“Abuse occurs in similar percentages in communities of every racial composition and every economic status, in rural areas as well as cities, in families adhering to every religion and to no religion…The facts are grim.” (The Book of Resolutions 2000, the United Methodist Church, Par. 177)

This church stands solidly against all forms of domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse—we are opposed to each and all. The Christian faith stands against them. The teaching of Jesus stands against them. 

Every staff member of this church has a phone number taped to his or her telephone. The phone number indicates where to call for help in the case of abuse or violence. The phone number connects with the Center and Shelter for Greater Pittsburgh. We do not know the location of that shelter. I don’t know the location. But we do know the number. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the right to prevail. 

We sometimes think of justice as the “big” issues. We can’t easily deal with the big issues of world scope. We can’t even deal with the big issues of national scope. But we can hold in our being a passion for the right to prevail; a passion for it to prevail around us, for the people we know, for the South Hills of Pittsburgh, for the greater Pittsburgh region. 

SOME GOOD NEWS 

Not all of the news is bad news. We’ve seen a lot of headlines recently on corporate greed. What does not make the headlines is that chief executive officer who keeps his or her pay at a lower level as a reflection of his or her concern for justice. It does happen. It has happened. 

I read an obituary this week for a man who headed the board of directors for the Fund for Theological Education in Atlanta. A small part of the obituary read this way: “His humility, his deep devotion to the church and to the Christian faith, his passion for justice and good were unmistakable traits of his life.”[i] That’s a worthy obituary for any believer. It’s a worthy obituary for every believer. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the right to prevail. 

How much good can God accomplish through us if we passionately, persistently, and courageously say, “We want justice, we want righteousness, we want it no matter what.” 

THE PROMISE 

And then there’s the promise. Don’t forget the promise! This is a beatitude with a promise. Those who hunger and thirst for the right to prevail “shall be satisfied.” Blessed are you if you hunger and thirst, for you shall be satisfied. I find this beatitude to be a kind of encouraging demand. 

Note what Jesus does not say here. It does not say that if you hunger and thirst for the right, you shall be successful. There is no gospel of success proclaimed here. Righteousness does not necessarily lead to success. Rather, it leads to satisfaction. It leads to an inward soul satisfaction. There is a world of difference between success and satisfaction. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the right to prevail, for they shall be satisfied. When we live this beatitude, the hunger of our souls shall be met. When we live this beatitude, we are in step with God’s work, with God’s purpose, and with the master. We are not battling impossible odds. We will be fed deeply. We will be richly nourished. 

We are reading the writings of Carlo Carretto this summer in our spiritual life study. Carlo Carretto was a deeply committed Roman Catholic Christian who wanted to be present to God and present to the world. He wanted to embody the two tensions in his life where contemplation of God and actions for justice went hand in hand. In that passion he was very Wesleyan and very Methodist! My early reading of Carretto is that he was one of the most deeply fed souls of all time. 

When in our quest for God we hunger and thirst for rightness to prevail life becomes full to overflowing. Meaning is reclaimed, restored and renewed. When we hunger and thirst for the right to prevail, we are deeply, finally, fully, and joyfully satisfied. 

Amen.