Do You Hunger for Righteousness? Which Kind?

Note: A previously published version did not include the 8 principles at the end.  My apologies.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matt. 5:6)

First observation: anyone who has been really hungry or thirsty (as Jesus’ hearers almost certainly often were and as I have been only a few times in my life, but enough to remember what it feels like), such physical needs easily conjure in our minds tremendous desire. 

Second observation: “righteousness” is a puzzle, with several possible meanings.  Is Jesus talking about right relations with God, a righteousness that comes only by God’s grace through faith?  Many commentators on Matthew answer “no.”  Matthew’s context was more about right relations with other people.

Dale Bruner, in his two-volume commentary on Matthew’s gospel, summarizes:

“But to hunger and thirst for righteousness in this Gospel is very clearly to hunger and thirst to be a doer of the will of God as taught especially in Jesus’ commands. Righteousness in Matthew is not only a divine gift, or the divine vindication at the last judgment; it is also and especially right conduct.”

As in the other Beatitudes, so also in this one, people are blessed, not because of what they think they have, but because of what they know they lack.

Bruner explains it well:

“The meaning of starvation and thirst here is this:  these persons do not believe they can live unless they find righteousness.  These people long for what is right; they crave justice; they cannot live without God’s victory prevailing; for them right relations in the world are not a luxury or a mere hope, but an absolute necessity it they are to live at all. They long for the vindication of God’s justice in the world.”

The picture these words paint is deeply moving to me.  I think of Christians I’ve known whom I consider heroes of the faith, people who craved God’s justice so deeply they often sacrificed a great deal, more than I was often willing to sacrifice.

You might already be saying to yourself, “Yes. Yes. We need more people craving God’s justice!  Especially in these chaotic times.”  And, you might be almost certain you already know certain things about them, like their political party.

But, here’s the thing.  The Christians I was describing whom I most admire because they “long for the vindication of God’s justice in the world” are on both sides, are both liberal and conservative, are both Democrats and Republicans.

An Evangelical Call to Humility

The October 6, 2020 issue of Christianity Today carried the article, “Evangelical Witness Is Compromised. We Need Repentance and Renewal” by Walter Kim, President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).  NAE is the largest umbrella organization of evangelicals in America, with millions of members in over 45,000 local churches representing 40 denominations. His article begins:

Polarization is like powerful magnets placed throughout our ideological spectrum. They pull us apart and clump us into tribes. We have a hard time breaking away from the magnetic security of being with like-minded people, who reinforce our like-mindedness. Efforts to move toward others must labor against that pull.

…We are in a season in which the evangelical faith is being narrowly defined and misunderstood by many, with long-term ramifications for our gospel witness….
 
…Too many, especially young people and people of color, have been alienated by the evangelical Christianity they have seen presented in public in recent years, and they may rightly wonder if there is a home for them in evangelicalism. 

The article goes on to highlight the 2004 NAE document For the Health of the Nation, an evangelical call to civic responsibility which highlights eight issues of moral importance rooted in biblical convictions. 

·      protecting religious freedom,

·      safeguarding the sanctity of life,

·      strengthening families,

·      seeking justice for the poor and vulnerable,

·      preserving human rights,

·      pursuing racial justice,

·      restraining violence,

·      caring for God’s creation.

Cast your eye down this list.   

Do you not see several items promoted by conservative Christians (e.g. protecting religious freedom, safeguarding the sanctity of life, strengthening families) and at least an equal number promoted by more progressive Christians (e.g. preserving human rights, pursuing racial justice, caring for God’s creation)? 

According to the NAE (our nation’s largest inter-denominational evangelical body) there are at least eight answers to the question: what does it mean to “hunger and thirst after righteousness?”

How might we react to such a deep and broad evangelical consensus that “being on God’s side” means more one than one thing?  

I’ll tell you what I did.  Then I’ll suggest that you do the same.

I have listed the headline descriptions of these eight Principles of Christian Political Engagement from the document FOR THE HEALTH OF THE NATION after this article.

Choose one (or two or three) headline area(s) where you are most suspicious or put off.  Perhaps your reaction is even: “How can people who hunger and thirst for this thing  really be Christian?”  Honesty is good, especially with ourselves.

NOW….Click “read more” to read the 3-4 paragraphs documenting the biblical calling for the areas that seem most questionable to you. What do you learn? 

• Can we admit that there are sincere Christians just as “hungry and thirsty for righteousness” with other biblically important issues, just as we are with “our” issues? 
• Can we stop seeing them as politicians often want to characterize them (often as our enemies), but see them instead as our brothers and sisters in Christ, genuinely seeking God’s righteousness (albeit in their way) just as passionately as we seek it in ours?
• Can we open our minds and hearts to the notion that–while one political party might surely promote every issue important to me—no political party encompasses every issue important to God? 

The statement For the Health of the Nation (why not read the whole thing–it’s worth it!) ends its introduction with the words below.  The repentance and renewal the NAE calls all evangelicals to take seriously in light of our polarized society begins when we believe “God cares a great deal” about many things which transcend us vs. them tribalism:

The Bible makes clear that God cares a great deal about the well-being of marriage and the family, the sanctity of human life, justice for the poor, human rights, care for creation, peace, religious freedom and racial justice.

While individual persons and organizations are at times called by God to concentrate on one or two issues, faithful evangelical civic engagement and witness must champion a biblically balanced agenda.