« The Way With us Pentecostals | Main | Basic Consequences of Identifying with Jesus »
June 15, 2003
The Blessedness of Hunger
The Blessedness of Hunger
Psalm 42 / Deuteronomy 8: 1-10
Luke 6: 21b
June 15th, 2003
This morning I will be baptizing little Maisie Parker. The topic before us is so timely, “Blessed are you who hunger, for you will be filled.” Why is this so timely? I hope we are welcoming this little girl into a hungry congregation where she may learn how to be satisfied. Our children learn from parents and us more by osmosis––than from formal lessons we teach.
Luke told us this morning that Jesus said, “Blessed are you who hunger, for you will be satisfied.” What did He mean? Luke, who recorded these words of our Lord, was a physician. He knew the human heart as well as the human body. He knew about hunger, about the range of needs that we gather under the umbrella of hunger. Unlike the rest of the animal world which has uncomplicated needs, we are complex in our hunger. All God-given. All able to be turned sour. All able to be satisfied.
Maybe Jesus referred to the vast populations of starving people that He knew would be present throughout history. We read in the paper this week that in Zimbabwe thousands of children are starving to death. Was Jesus making a promise to them? You will be satisfied with food. World Vision and other great relief efforts see satisfying the hunger for food as an imperative, part of obeying Jesus. Jesus will be asked at the final judgment, “When did we see you hungry and feed you?” And he will say, “Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” Maybe Jesus intended us to fulfill this beatitude. “Blessed are you who hunger for you will be satisfied” because my followers will see me when they see you hungry, and feed you.
But hunger for food is far from the only hunger that craves satisfaction. Hunger for knowledge drives the research at Purdue. Hunger for knowledge brings students and faculty together in a community devoted to the project of satisfying this hunger—or at least to making a living after getting a degree. Jesus relates to how this hunger for knowledge is satisfied.
Then there is that insatiable hunger that makes the world go around, that adds to the population, that makes of springtime an emotional roller coaster for young men and women, that induces mid-life crisis. It drives the clothing industry. It is the dominant theme in the entertainment industry. Freud said it is the dominant drive in us all. Of course, I’m talking about sex. Somehow Jesus even relates to how this hunger is satisfied.
If you have been treated unfairly you discover in yourself a hunger for justice. If you have been “taken” by a used-car dealer, or if you are underpaid because you are a minority or a woman, if you are falsely accused and stand before a judge and are convicted, led away in handcuffs to your embarrassment, and put in jail, when you are innocent, you hunger for justice. I have seen on Tuesday evenings the outrage of people who feel they were treated unjustly. We all hunger for justice. Jesus satisfies the hunger for justice.
When Luke tells us that Jesus said, “Blessed are you who hunger for you will be satisfied,” it gives us reason for hope that the inner longings that define us and drive us were not put into us in vain. The tragic ways that people try to satisfy many of their hungers will not have the last word. God created these hungers, and Jesus promises they will be satisfied.
But maybe you’re not satisfied with the direction I’m going. When Jesus said, “Blessed are you who hunger,” you still wonder, hunger for what? Surely Jesus didn’t mean that “your every wish will come true,” as the sentimental songs tell us.
When God led the Israelites out of Egypt into the desert, they found themselves on the edge of starvation. Grieke read for us that God humbled them, testing them to know what was in their hearts. . . He humbled them and let them hunger.” Hunger takes the starch out of you in more ways than one. God tested Israel with hunger to know what was in their hearts.
Gnawing need reveals what’s inside of you. For many of us, turning points in life hinge on how we respond to the hungers that drive us. What despair, what over-bearing hunger made Joseph Trueblood murder Susan Hughes and her two children? Hunger drives people to drink, and as they give in once, and then again, they find themselves at the turning point between being an ordinary person and becoming an alcoholic. The success or failure of our marriages often hinges on how we handle our hungers at pivot moments of temptation. Every temptation feeds on a hunger.
Israel as a nation was brought to this point of self-revelation in the desert. The Lord fed them miraculously with manna--which they did not know. Manna was mysterious food. They had not seen it before. They didn’t know where it came from. It just appeared in the morning. They were very hungry and ate it. They could only collect enough for one day, except on Fridays, when it would keep overnight—so they didn’t have to gather it on the Sabbath. They were in that awkward situation of having to practice self-control when they were hungry. If they didn’t trust God to provide the next day’s manna, they found that the excess manna they gathered turned moldy. Moses might have said to them, “Blessed are you who are hungry, for you will be satisfied.” And there the satisfaction was before them every morning. Manna. They had to be patient, trusting God for each new day’s supply. God would satisfy their hunger—but in His time.
But this is not the whole point of this story. Moses said that God satisfied their hunger in the desert in this way so that He “might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but . . . by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” Even after every physical hunger is satisfied, that’s not the end of our need. They had to learn to trust God for the supply of life’s basic need. We need everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
You and I live in a land where there is plenty to eat. We read far more about the need to combat overweight than of the need to combat hunger. Eating disorders bother a lot of people, even killing some. Well-fed people crave diversion. “Man does not live by bread alone.” We need diversion, we think. Entertainment is the “more” we crave. Give me not just bread, but bread and circuses.
It is at this point that I remember that Jesus said something else about our need. Perhaps it was because He saw how preoccupied we become with our sense of need that He said something that seems the opposite of this second beatitude. “If you would come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” The word for “deny” here is the very strong version of it (ajparnevomai). There is a casual kind of denial in which you shake your head “no.” Then there is emphatic denial. When Peter denied knowing Jesus the evening of His trial, he did it three times. That is emphatic denial. Jesus said we’ve got to deny ourselves emphatically, take up our cross every day, if we are going to follow Him.
This sounds like the opposite of seeking to satisfy your hunger. “Blessed are you who hunger for you will be satisfied.” “If you want to come after me, deny yourself emphatically.”
St. Antony in the fourth century heard Jesus’ words to the rich young man read in church one day. “Go sell all that you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.” He began a strain of Christian living that has attracted hundreds of thousands of earnest people over the past two thousand years. St. Antony hungered for something that he believed could only be satisfied by absolute self-denial.
Let’s turn to Matthew’s version of Luke’s quotation from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain.” Matthew tells us Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Ah, so it’s righteousness we must not only hunger for, but also thirst for. Hunger and thirst is a strong mix of appetites. Hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus said. This is the hunger and thirst that drove St. Antony to sell everything, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Jesus into the desert.
Now it may be that these are two different talks that Jesus gave. Maybe Jesus gave one on a mountaintop one day, and the other on the plain on a different day. Indeed, when I have spoken at two different places on the same subject, there are differences in what I will say at each place—though I’m talking about the same theme.
But in this case I think that it is the same teaching that Matthew and Luke report. The differences in what they report are not incompatible. They are the kinds of differences that will happen naturally if two of you get together this afternoon at 4: 00 o’clock to discuss my message this morning. Clearly, I suspect, you’d be talking about the same pastor giving the same sermon, but you “hear” me say different details. I’m told that if there are 150 people in church on a Sunday morning, the pastor preaches 150 different sermons. That is, everyone hears the same sermon differently. Matthew and Luke report the same teaching of Jesus.
Matthew tells us Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” This was the hunger of St. Antony that made him sell all his considerable fortune, go into the desert where Jesus had begun His ministry, and live a life of complete dependence on God. Not very many of us believe Jesus calls us to go to this extreme. Indeed, if everyone did it, who would care for the poor?
It seems impractical for other reasons. For one thing, St. Antony seemed to see that Jesus compelled him to a specifically “religious” exercise. Preoccupation with righteousness in his case was a preoccupation with religion.
Religion, however, is a mixed bag. A major part of what’s wrong with the Middle East involves religion. The religious aspect of the terrible violence in Israel now is about different ideas of “righteousness.” People are killing each other in the name of God. God save us from this kind of fascination with religion.
What, then is righteousness if we must divorce it from common ideas of religion? In one way I see righteousness as a will-o-the-wisp. It is like happiness, a butterfly to be chased. If we instantly make a transition in our thinking to “religion” when we hear the word “righteousness,” we’ve made a disastrous mistake. There is not a tiny piece of life that is not involved in “righteousness.” Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added for you.” The seeking for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness leads to the satisfaction of every hunger we have.
Righteousness pertains to our hunger for food. We give thanks before we eat because we acknowledge God’s supply. Righteousness pertains to our thirst for knowledge. On Fridays at noon, some of us men are reading John Polkinghorne’s attempt to explain how his thirst for knowledge led to his finding God. We’re reading this to understand God better, and His creation, and our life in this world.
Righteousness pertains to the craving that is so much a part of being created male and female. St. Paul told us that the love that makes us want to get married is an analogy of the love Christ has for the Church. I believe that high courtesy, respect, kindness is the finest expression of this instinct in us. It is this instinct under the control of God.
Righteousness pertains to our thirst for justice. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness impels us to see justice done in every sphere of life—from the courts to the work place.
Hungering and thirsting for righteousness cannot be stashed in a compartment called “religion.” King David wrote, “As a deer longs to find water in ravines in a forest in time of draught, so longs my soul for Thee, O God.” Beneath every hunger we have is a hunger for God. And when we hunger and thirst for God, if we let God’s word guide us in finding satisfaction, we will find righteousness—holy living—living that satisfies us in every area of life and that pleases our Creator.
I proposed two weeks ago when we began this series of messages on the Sermon on the Plain that Jesus doesn’t tell us what to do. He informs us how to live. Here Jesus points to the way of having God’s ways written on the fleshy tables of our hearts, motivating every aspect of life. Seeking God I find myself earning my daily bread in a way that not only supplies my need for food, but also does His work in the world. My work becomes an instrument of His grace. Seeking God, I seek to know of God’s world. Righteousness encompasses my search for knowledge. Seeking God, I love people honorably, so that inner drives translate into courtesy. Courtesy is exquisite consideration. Courtesy is treating women, if I am a man, with grace. Seeking God’s righteousness I seek justice for people. I am keenly in tune with fairness, God’s righteousness with regard to other people.
Jesus said, “Blessed are you who hunger for you will be filled.” He said this to His disciples. Do you remember that there were two categories of people who came to Jesus? There were those who wanted His touch, to get something from Him. And there were those who wanted to learn of Him—disciples—learners. The question you need to determine in your mind is this: Do I want Jesus to make my life better? Or, Do I want to learn of Him?” If you want to learn of Him, to be His disciple, then He will take your hunger, your hungers, and use them as a means to your satisfaction. It will be joy unspeakable and full of glory. You will be satisfied.
If you look at yourself and find there continuing dissatisfaction, maybe you need to recognize that it is only Jesus’ touch you want. You want him to fix your life as you think it needs to be fixed. I’m sorry to say there is no hope in this way. No satisfaction awaits you. Come to Jesus to learn of Him—that’s another matter. You will be satisfied.
I hope that we teach Maisie Parker how to find satisfaction for her hungers because she can see we turn to Jesus in all our hungers and find fulfillment.
Let us pray: Thank you, Lord God, that You created us with so much possibility for joy. Help us to want to learn of Jesus, that we may follow Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Stuart D. Robertson
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, Indiana
Posted by faithpres at June 15, 2003 09:30 AM