Scripture | Matthew 5:1-12 (NIV)
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Think about your favorite drink. Did you think of coffee? If you did, you’re with the majority of Americans. Many people we know just feel like their day couldn’t begin without coffee! According to statistics, coffee is America’s favorite drink. A study from Statistica came up with America’s top drinks. At the bottom was spirits, then wine, then beer; then tea at 47% of Americans drinking it regularly; soft drinks came in next at 53% of Americans drinking it regularly; bottled water came in second highest at 58%; and coffee topped the charts at 59% of Americans drinking regularly.
Another study by the National Coffee Association found that overall coffee consumption is UP by 5% across the nation since 2015. 7 in 10 Americans drink coffee every week; 62% drink coffee every day. The average American coffee drinker drinks just over 3 cups per day. That’s 68.4 gallons of coffee a year. The same study found that the total economic impact of the coffee industry in the United States in 2015 was $225.2 billion. Coffee-related economic activity comprises approximately 1.6% of the total U.S. gross domestic product, consumers spent $74.2 billion on coffee in 2015, the coffee industry is responsible for 1,694,710 jobs in the US economy, and that the coffee industry generates nearly $28 billion in taxes. All of this is to say that Americans love coffee!
We love it so much that we are willing to wait in very long lines to buy it in the morning. We love it so much that we are willing to put up with the sometimes really weak coffee that we get at church. We put coffee flavoring in our deserts. We put all kinds of flavoring in our coffee. We make it hot, we make it cold, we make it into pretty much everything. Going to get coffee is now one of the most common ways to spend time with someone else – even for people who don’t drink coffee! I hope that I’ve been successful in demonstrating how much Americans love coffee. Now, I know that coffee does not have a hold like this over everyone. But hold in the palm of your mind whatever your absolute favorite drink is – or your favorite food. Think of the thing that no matter what, you will always take and drink or eat. Think of the thing that you crave most often. Even if it’s plain old water – hold that in the palm of your mind.
I don’t know about you, but my mouth is starting to salivate as I think about mine. That’s because thirst and hunger are the strongest of bodily functions. They can have the greatest control over your thinking and actions. If you go to the grocery store while you’re hungry, you’re likely to buy foods you normally wouldn’t. Our hunger and thirst can be so strong that it leads us to over eating or over drinking. When we are really hungry for something or thirsty for something, there’s really nothing that can replace what we’re seeking after. When we go without we can get angry – angry for lack of food or lack of something to drink.
This powerful urge that we experience when we are hungry and thirsty is what Jesus is tapping into when He teaches His followers the next step into the Kingdom of God. He says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” What does that mean? Hunger and thirst for righteousness? If your mouth was salivating while we were talking about food and different drinks, then you know what at least the first part means. Just like being hungry and thirsty are the strongest urge your body can have, they are also the strongest urges that your soul can have.
Often, we are able to see the effects of being hungry or thirsty in our bodies, but our souls give off signals that we can sometimes miss. Our spiritual hunger and thirst is what leads us to look to the horizon. It is what makes us seek after the eternity of love and life that we have been promised by doing things like taking vacations and seeing the world, by making money, by having families, by seeking after achievement. It is this hunger and thirst which leads to addictions to drugs, to alcohol, to porn, to power – it is our spiritual hunger and thirst which leads to addiction period. Just as we can get angry when our bodies are hungry and thirsty, so too do we get angry when our spirits are without food and drink. We get angry at those around us, get angry at the world, we even become angry at ourselves. So the question becomes, what is our spiritual food? What is the coffee of our souls? This leads us to the second part of the beatitude – righteousness.
This is what hangs many Christians up. In fact, many Christians do not know what it means to be righteous. We know what it means to be self-righteous, but what does God-righteous look like? This is one of the great questions of Christianity. It is what should drive us as a people. We need to wake up and ask ourselves, what is righteousness? What does it actually look like for me to be righteous? What does it look like to hunger and thirst for it? Is my soul starving and dying of thirst as I ignore its needs? I can only get you started on the right path here today, but the answer to what is righteousness takes a lifetime of work. In fact, part of hungering and thirsting for righteousness is hungering and thirsting for what it means to be righteous.
Righteousness is at the core of Christianity. That’s why it’s so important to our souls. Righteousness, then, is the very image of God. It is what we have all been made with, but have also all had damaged in us. It is what was found to be perfect in Christ. It is every holy thought and every heavenly disposition in a person which comes from and returns to the perfect love of God as our Father, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Righteousness is a return to who we were created to be, and who we are able to become because of Christ.
So this brings us to the last part of the beatitude: We are blessed when we hunger and thirst for this righteousness, because we will be filled. Unlike the things that we hunger and thirst for here on earth, when we seek after righteousness, we will be filled. Filled up so much that we are completely full. Jesus describes this in His interaction to a woman He once met at a well in Samaria. John 4:7-13 says, “7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
All of the things we try to eat and drink to satisfy our soul can never do the job. We have a God-sized hole in our heart, and the only thing which can truly fill it is God. But when we do seek after God. When we ask ourselves and explore what it means to be righteous. When we choose not to ignore our spiritual need to be fed and watered. Then we will experience blessing and happiness because we will be filled. Fully filled. Filled to the brim and spilling over. Never in want or need again. This is the promise which is given to us. So, ask yourselves the questions. Never stop seeking after righteousness and living into who you’re made to be: images of the Living God. This is our challenge. Let’s take it on. Let’s seek after righteousness because it’s in our seeking that the blessing comes in. It’s in our hungering and thirsting for righteousness that we receive the blessing of being filled. Thanks be to God. Amen.