Reflection on Matthew 5:6-8

 

Matthew 5:6-8

⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Reflection

After having just had a routine medical procedure that required not eating for over 24 hours, I am definitely hungry.  I am starving.  It is taking all of my will power to keep from wandering over to the fellowship hall in order to find some leftover oatmeal packets, or frozen communion bread, or even some coffee creamers and crackers.  If you put a newspaper ad with a picture of pizza in front of me, I would probably attempt a bite. 

What if we were as hungry as that, starving for good relationships with God and one another?  What if we craved loving relationships as much as we crave food?  Well, if we did, Jesus says that we would be living God’s idea of the good life. 

Usually, when we are told that we should “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” we usually think that means we should hunger and thirst for doing really good and holy things.  And though, I by no means want to dissuade you from doing good and holy things, this way of defining righteousness ends up missing something important.  It ends up missing the fact that that we do good and holy things for someone.  We do them, not to get points on our ticket to heaven.  Rather, we do them out of love for our neighbors.  We do because we walk in the ways of God.

Listen to this translation of the beatitude: “The good life belongs to those who hunger and thirst for right relationships, for they will be made full.”

After being angry with God for years because of a terrible tragedy, a man once told me, “I think I need to start walking with Jesus again.”  The man truly hungered and thirsted for the life he used to have with Jesus, and he wanted more than anything to have that relationship again.  In this beatitude, Jesus promises him that his hunger will be filled. 

In a similar way, a woman recently talked to me about how, a couple of years ago, she randomly decided to knock on the door and say “Hello” to the struggling family next door.  Today, she is known as “Grams” to the kids.  Loving God and loving neighbor is what righteousness is all about. 

And, this naturally leads us to the subject of mercy.  Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”  Of course, when we think of “mercy” we think of forgiveness.  And, we should.  Jesus’ entire life, death, and resurrection were all about the forgiveness of sins and restoring us to right relationship with God.  In a similar way, when we forgive those who have wronged us, we are making the relationship with them right again.  However, Jesus’ idea of mercy does not stop at forgiveness. 

When the blind beggars on the side of the road called out to Jesus, asking that he might have mercy on them, they were not asking for forgiveness.  They were asking Jesus to help them, because they were helplessly blind.  When the Good Samaritan saw the man beat up on the side of the road, and he stopped to take care of the man, he did so out of mercy. 

Mercy is an act of love where you care for someone in the same way that you would care for a family member.  Mercy is a “generous love.”  So, what Jesus is telling us is that, “The good life belongs to those who show generous love, for they will receive generous love.” 

This generous love is exactly what “Grams” is showing the family next door.  When she takes care of the children next door when they are sick, and their parents need to be at work, she is not only acting in a “righteous” way, she having “mercy” on the struggling family.  She is joining Jesus in his life of generous love by generously giving of her time and concern.

Now, joining in this life of generous love comes out of what Jesus calls a “pure heart.”  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” Jesus says. 

What he means by that is this: “The good life belongs to those who desires align with God’s desires, for they will see God.”  The people who desire to walk with Jesus and desire to love as Jesus loved them, are the people who will recognize Jesus.  Living Jesus’ idea of the good life is all about finding out what God cares about, and then actively caring about those same things.  It is living a life of “right relationship,” “generous love,” and discovering that deep down in our hearts, we really do desire what God desires. 

I pray, this Lent, that you pay attention to Jesus and notice who he cares about, and what he cares about, by remembering everything he did for others.  I pray that you will look at his healings, and his feedings, and his care for those who are despised by others, and see a bit of his reflection in your own soul.  I pray that you look at Jesus and see his generous love given especially to those who were not his own earthly family.  And, I pray that you look at Jesus and notice with new eyes what a right relationship with God and what a right relationship with one another is all about. 

I invite you to continue following Jesus this Lent, walking in the ways of his kingdom.