Happy are the Just (Matthew 5:6)

1. Justice

A passion for justice or righteousness is a lofty virtue. So how does that make us happy and fulfilled? To some degree, we all have a wish to see wrongs put right. It may be an injustice in the legal system, an elderly couple swindled out of their life savings by a con artist, a murdering terrorist who needs to be caught and sentenced, or a gang of rapists or other sexual predators who need to be stopped so that our lives are safe. The difference is, do we have a zealous desire for fair dealing or a mere passing wish? Do we have an avid craving to do what's right in our own daily business affairs? If we passionately desire right thought and action, Jesus promises that we are extremely happy and that those desires will produce real lasting satisfaction.

2. Whose Righteousness

Jesus said that those who desire righteousness are happy. When we begin to learn about the much superior, heavenly standards of righteousness then we also begin to see how much the whole community around us is wallowing in sin and in desperate need of the superb life that right living would bring. Passion for righteousness is the flipside of mourning. We go beyond grief for the results of sin in our own life and others, but yearn to see lives changed.

We don't just mourn immorality, but hunger for high and honorable standards. We don't just mourn the lack of ethics in business and politics, but long for superior and honest values. We don't just mourn religion that is an empty outward show, but fervently desire religion that changes lives for the better. Our yearning for right, our passion for justice can only be totally fulfilled in Christ and his kingdom. No kingdom of this world will ever be able to make things completely right, but we can change ourselves, and we can preach repentance.

3. Repentance from Injustice

Jesus' first preaching was for people to repent, to change from unrighteousness to righteousness, from injustice to justice, beginning in their hearts. The territory conquered by the kingdom of heaven is territory of the hearts and minds of people. Like Christ, we too can appeal for a change of heart, because the kingdom of heaven is near, but we must first begin by changing our own lives.

The Greek word for hunger is akin to the English word to pine. When a young man pines in his heart, yearning for a distant young woman that he loves and wants to marry, he experiences the kind of hunger that Jesus is talking about here. The Greek word for thirst here, refers to a suffering thirst, not just a casual desire for a drink. When we are starving and dehydrating, then we ardently desire food and drink. Jesus is speaking of a hunger and thirst that is an eager yearning for what is right.

4. What kind of Justice

When Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, he meant a life of integrity, virtue, purity, correct thought and action, and also justice. He taught right thought and words, rather than murderous hatred and verbal abuse; right thinking about the opposite sex, rather than adultery in our hearts; marital faithfulness, rather than easy divorce; right religion, rather than a meaningless superficial show.

If we hunger for worldly solutions and material things, we will never be satisfied, never filled, and never truly happy. Sexual faithfulness in a good marriage lasts a lifetime. An honest person lives a life that truly satisfies. Jesus promises us two things. When we passionately desire right thought and action, we are extremely happy and those desires will produce real satisfaction. Only desiring to do the right thing makes us genuinely happy. Desire leads to action, and when we desire what's right, we will begin to do what's right and genuinely be filled to the full.