Hungry for what is right

Yesterday, the first three blessings. Today, the rest of the list, and together they sketch a kind of person the world rarely produces.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Matthew 5:6-9

Take them one at a time.

Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Not a casual interest in being a decent person. Hunger. A craving that will not let you rest. Jesus says people who want goodness that badly will be satisfied.

The merciful. People who release others from what they are owed. What they give out circles back to them.

The pure in heart. This does not mean flawless. The word means undivided. One thing. Not split between God and image, God and money, God and the crowd. Undivided people see God clearly because they are not constantly glancing sideways at something else.

The peacemakers. Notice he did not say peacekeepers. Peacekeepers avoid conflict to keep the surface calm while everything rots underneath. Peacemakers walk into the mess and do the slow, brave work of actually repairing what is broken. Jesus says these people look so much like God that they get called his children.

He finishes by blessing those who are persecuted for doing right, and then tells them to rejoice, because doing right has always cost something and always been worth it. He never promises his people an easy life. He promises a meaningful one.

Tomorrow: what he says you already are.