“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”
In the late 1980’s I was part of an honors symposium on “War and Peace in a Nuclear Age” at Saddleback College in Santa Ana, California. Once a week for 12 weeks we met for 3 hours, preceded by directed reading, to listen to a guest talk in their area of expertise about how peace might be preserved and war avoided. The cold War was still active, Ronald Regan was our president, and the Soviet Union had yet to collapse in failure and dissolution.
Our guests included a physician, an anti-war advocate, a judge, the commanding officer of the local Marine Air Station, an artist, an Islamic Imam and more…a varied and interesting mix. My interest was heightened when a local pastor was invited to be our guest. I anticipated an exposition of the 7th beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers…” The pastor, however, a Baptist, saw his opportunity to convert us all. He assumed that we were all liberal unbelievers and laid into us with a “Hellfire and Brimstone “harangue that lasted over an hour. When he was done we took our break and he left without taking the chance to participate in our discussion of his “presentation.”
I was deeply embarrassed. The class knew that I was a pastor. I had participated freely in our discussions. But their experience with my fellow pastor had simply confirmed their belief that the church was judgmental, condescending, and mean-spirited. Worse, they felt that if my fellow pastor was that way, God must be that way as well.
I asked for equal time, for the opportunity to present a more reasoned and balanced view. The class consented and I came the next week ready to share. I did not speak of war, or of peace or the nuclear threat. I talked about God and the Biblical record of his pursuit of our love. And I talked at length of Jesus and the way he had of saying something and then illustrating his speech with his behavior.
I talked about Jesus, who said, ‘I am the light of the world,’ and then delivered teaching that illuminated the way we were to live as God created us to live. Jesus, who said, ‘I am the bread of life,’ and then fed the multitude: Jesus, who said, ‘I am the good shepherd,’ and then gave his life so that those who followed him might live forever in love and joy. The group especially enjoyed the way Jesus illustrated his words, ‘Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’ by healing consistently and completely all through his ministry.
I was pretty warmed up by then, and took the opportunity to talk about Jesus’ teaching about the purpose of our lives…a purpose that would resolve the problems of peace, war, and the threat of weapons of destruction. In human culture we fight over food, living space, and security. But Jesus said, “…your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” I’m going to talk about what he meant by ‘kingdom’ in a later beatitude, but righteousness is the key to all.
We have reduced righteousness to describe living by keeping all the rules. We have made it legalistic and religious. It is not. Here it is…Righteousness is living in a right relationship with God, with his people, and with his world. It is not rules keeping, it is relationship. Jesus told us to pursue his kingdom and his righteousness…to live so “in” him and so “for” him and so “because” of him that we end up living “like” him. And when we do, he promises that we will be satisfied.
See, you thought I was really going to write about peace-making. We can make peace and still be far from righteousness. But if we make righteousness, somehow we are so wrapped up in God that peace, wholeness, and harmony result. It is in righteousness that we are brought together.
Prayer: “Great Father, bring us together under your love, under the forgiveness of Jesus, and under the presence of your Holy Spirit. Calm our busy minds and help us to refocus our lives on the pursuit of your righteousness. We crave to be at peace with you, with each other, and with your world. Only you can make that happen. We give ourselves to you in that great pursuit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”