When Jesus talks about those who ‘thirst
and hunger for righteousness’, what is it that they have desire for? Is it that
they desire to be righteous in the sense that they are in a right relationship
with God, that they live a life that is holy and set apart for him? This would probably
be the usual reading of this verse.
But in a book I read over the Easter
holiday – Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision – the author, Tom Wright, suggests that the word
‘righteousness’ as it applies to God actually meant something different in the
period Jesus lived. It meant ‘faithfulness to the covenant’ – that is, the
covenant God first made with Abraham way back in Genesis 15: a promise to put
right all that had gone wrong in the world and to do so through Abraham and his
family of faith.
By applying this definition to the words
of Jesus we have a very different meaning. It now paints a picture of a people
who long to see the promises of God fulfilled; who are desperate that all that
has gone wrong be put right; who are hungry for God to keep the promise he made
so long ago. And of course, in Jesus, the seed of Abraham, this is what happens.
In his coming, his death, and his resurrection the promise is being fulfilled
and the Kingdom is being restored.
Today a general election is to be
called in the UK. Over the next four weeks politicians
will debate how the last set of promises have or have not been kept and will
present a new set of promises for the future. But even those of us who love the
world of politics feel jaded at even the thought of even more unfulfilled
promises being made. Politicians are able to do great things; but for the
thirst for a truly better world to be quenched, only the coming Kingdom will
do.
Posts on my Tumblr site willI now appear here. Tumblr's ability to post by text and email will help me blog even when away from my desk!
Some thoughts following my visit to Occupy London.
October 27th 2011
Ok so there’s plenty to disagree with but this is such a good song.
October 12th 2011
There are so many draining things we can focus on during the day: how we appear to others, how much others do or don’t respect us, how we can get people to do what we want. But once we become aware of the negative impact of these areas of focus, we can get clear on - even excited about - who we really want to be … We can shift our focus toward qualities like mercy, gentleness, courage, and the many others that bring true joy in our lives and in the lives of others.
