Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this week's
episode of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla. I'm
Melissa. I'm Brittyn. I'm Justin. And we are
continuing our series to talk about the Beatitudes,
which is this sort of way that Jesus opens his
sermon on the Mount, talking about all of the
folks who are blessed. And it's kind of a surprising
list because it's all these people that we think
aren't actually. blessed aren't actually like
worth investing in or worth like replicating,
but Jesus is like, no, go do that. And today
we are talking about the Beatitude where Jesus
says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be filled. Now,
again, we have come to one of those kind of churchy
words, which is righteousness. And there's probably
lots of different ways of understanding righteousness.
I think like in sort of broader culture, when
people hear righteousness, it like doesn't really
have a great sort of meaning or like association.
I think like most often people will think of
like self -righteous sort of people and be like,
oh, you're like really judgy or something. But
I'm going to say that that's again is probably
not what Jesus is about here. So when we hear
this word righteousness in the context of scripture,
when Jesus is talking about righteousness, what
do we think Jesus has in mind here? I guess I
would say that, you know, righteousness is one
of those words that when I hear it, I kind of
like tense up because I'm like, I'm not righteous,
you know, and it's like, what does that mean?
I believe that when Jesus is saying it, he's
specifically referencing the fact that We need
to kind of like get right with God and you know
the first couple of Beatitudes is talking about
you know those who are poor in spirit those who
mourn And now it's kind of like okay, so I am
poor in spirit. I am mourning I'm you know trying
to be meek and I'm going through really really
hard things and Jesus is kind of saying you know,
I guess it's kind of what pastor Rob had said
a couple weeks ago about with the ladder analogy
of Now it's kind of like you recognize your sin
you recognize that you're limited and you're
lowly you need God and now it's kind of like
you're thirsting for something that only God
can give you because As humans, I believe we're
not completely we're not righteous. We're only
righteous through God only through Jesus Christ
So I guess perhaps that's what Jesus is saying
that now you're thirsting for God. You're thirsting
for righteousness So pursue that right? So there's
a sense of it's something whatever it is. It's
something that we can't actually quite yet for
ourselves. Yeah. What would you folks add to
that? Justin? Yeah. That sense of it's not something
you have. Right. Bonhoeffer makes this point,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he says, like, that hungering
and thirsting for righteousness is the thing
that's being commended there. Right. Right. It's
kind of like that. What's that old Will Smith?
movie, The Pursuit of Happiness. Oh, yeah. Makes
that point like it's the pursuit of happiness
that you have the right, you know, in the States
allegedly. Right. It's like you're allowed to
hunger and thirst for righteousness. Right. It's
not like it's not Jesus saying, hey, blessed
are those who are perfect. Right. Yeah. Blessed
are those that really want this stuff. Right.
So when you were saying like, I don't really
feel righteous. Jesus is saying, well, that's
good. Right. If you want that, then. You're golden.
You're on the right path. Yeah. Yeah. Like a
recognition of what you need in your longing
for it endlessly. Mm hmm. Yeah. And I think the
other thing that I was looking up the word itself.
Yeah. It's interesting that I feel like it kind
of it is it does act like this umbrella term
to the Christian. Well, I guess what Jesus was
talking about in the beginning in those first
other ones was kind of it capsules all of these
these virtues or these this this way of being
that that Christ is calling us into. So it kind
of like it's like it acts like an umbrella, like,
you know, but in order to understand what it
means to be righteous, you you need to understand
those other those other qualities. Sure. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, so then I feel like we've walked
around a definition Where we've sort of said,
okay, so it's not something we can get for ourselves
It's something that we are working towards something
that we're hoping for but what is this something?
Yeah, like what what is righteousness? So like
when we look at How this word is used in the
Old Testament, for example, it's very often paired
with the concept of justice and this concept
that It it's really about right Relationships
in some sense both like like you were saying
like right relationships with God But then our
right relationships with God should lead us to
want also right relationships with other people
with the rest of creation as well Yeah. So what
what does that look like then? Well, I could
I could talk a little bit about the words themselves
in Greek. Righteousness comes from. Well, the
English word righteousness is the translation
of the Greek word Ticayasune, right, which could
be translated justice also. OK. Right. And same
thing in Hebrew. The Hebrew word is called tzedeka,
which could also be translated justice. Right.
I think when we hear the word righteousness in
our kind of religious context, it sounds like
almost kind of like goodness. Like a righteous
person is someone who does good things or is
virtuous or whatever. That's not really the sense
in the original languages. Right relationship
is a way to look at it, but it's kind of right
everything. Right? Sin is kind of disorder. Like
God created the world to be a certain way. Sin
is sort of rejecting that way and deciding we're
going to do our own thing. Right. And it's like
things get off kilter. Right. So whatever you're
doing, whether you're personally sinning, whether
you're sinning against other people, you're violating
sort of the way that the good way that God wanted
things to be. So establishing righteousness is
kind of putting things back in order. Right.
Or setting things, putting things to rights,
as they would say in Britain. So. So that's kind
of it. So that fulfills the personal stuff. Like
if I'm being a jerk to others, if I'm sitting
even in a personal way, I'm violating God's good
order of things. And also if I'm doing violence
and oppressing other people, that's also not
God's intention. So when God promises to make
us righteous, He's going to fix things. Right.
He's going to fix us personally. He's going to
fix our relationships. He's going to fix our
relationship with others, with the world, with
God, God, self. That's what God offers us in
Christ. Right. Yeah. That kind of righteousness.
Which then like makes it a really big sort of
all encompassing thing. Yeah. Right. That it's
it's righteousness. that yeah, I'm hungering
and thirsting for, I'm yearning for in my personal
life, but also just like in looking at the brokenness
of the world around me and recognizing stuff
is not right. Exactly. And I think that kind
of like as you grow closer to Christ, as you
grow your relationship with him, I feel like
your hunger and thirst grows more because you
start seeing more of the brokenness of the world,
more of the brokenness of yourself as well. And
you're just like. God like just make everything
good like I can't you know there's so much pain
there's so much hurting there's so much unfairness
and you kind of just like really want God to
like make it right a little quicker but of course
his plan is always the best and I really like
what Justin said about how righteousness is kind
of like just everything you know being good because
I think that's Because God is righteous. He is
good. He is everything good. And so in a way,
it's kind of like we're hungering and thirsting
for God. Yes. Good call. Sorry. No, no, no. Justin
was really excited about that. That's it. That's
exactly it. My elbow mic stands when I get excited.
No, that's that's exactly right. Right. So it's
and also you want to think about I mean, all
the beatitudes about this reversal of fortunes,
right? You think the poor are screwed. You think
the meek are screwed. Jesus is like, no, no,
no, those are the people that are going to be
fine in the end. So you have to ask the question,
blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, they will be filled. What's the
incentive to not hunger and thirst after righteousness
in the current age of the world? There are people
that benefit from things not being just, from
things continuing to be out of kilter. Right?
And Christians or disciples of Jesus are the
ones who who opt out of that system. Right? And
say, I can see in the short term, it would be
really good for me to violate the rights of others.
Right. And to look out for number one and to
look after my tribe only and all of those things.
But that's not where things are headed. Ultimately,
where things are headed is the kingdom of God,
in which God's will will actually become real.
Right. And we'll have equity between peoples
and there'll be no more oppression, no more tears,
all of that stuff. And if you sign up for that
now, again, like we talked about last week, you're
not going to fit in the system. Right. Which
is this is all leading up to the final Beatitude,
which is you're going to get persecuted. Right.
Right. Preferring justice. Yep. Ticks off oppressors.
Yep. Right? That's a good sentence. Yeah, I like
that. Yes. So there's a cost, right? Sure, totally.
For these things. Totally. In fact, there's a
book called The Cost of Discipleship, which I
recommend by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yes, that may
or may not cover this particular topic. That's
right. Yeah. Yeah, so then... Why hunger and
thirst for righteousness? If there's gonna be
a cost, if it's gonna not be great sometimes,
if it's maybe gonna get us killed because it
got Jesus killed, why do it? It's like there's
something that Melissa said that got me thinking
about the perspective and it kind of made me
think of like when you put on a new pair of glasses
or when you get in like the right prescription.
and you're finally able to see properly, see
everything. Right. I think we kind of talked
about this last week. And I feel like that's
what righteousness is. And like if righteousness
is for us to be righteous or to be considered
righteous is to have this act of justification
happen to us where we are made right with God.
Now is like God giving us these new pair of glasses
and we can see the world clearly. Right. And
Once you've seen the world clearly, like, I don't
know anyone that, well, except for children,
maybe some children, who refuse to wear their
glasses. But when you know you cannot see, you
are going to long to correct that vision and
to come back to the covering or the tool that
gives you that. And that's what Christ offers.
Seeing things in not just a new way, but in the
right way, the way that the world really is.
the way that injustice really is manifesting
itself on this planet. But also not just seeing
all the wrong, but also seeing the goodness and
the newness and what God is doing and will do
and can do and wants to do through us and through
the world. I like that. I like how you kind of
shifted it where we're not just like looking
at the injustice, but also looking at the good
in the world because there is good in the world.
There are those moments that you're like, wow,
this feels really nice. I wish the whole world
and every single day and second was like this.
And I think, yeah, like once you get a taste
of that, you know, that feeling and you get a
taste of that righteousness through Jesus Christ
as well, you kind of like want more of it in
a sense. I also will say I like the glasses analogy
because it's kind of like once you see it, you
can't unsee it as well. So I just thought that
was really cool. Hmm. That's a good sentence.
You can't unsee it. I like that. Jesus, once
what has been seen cannot be unseen. Yes. OK,
Trinity Burch. Yeah. I also think, I mean, so
for people, Created in the image of god and god
is righteous I think that there's just something
innate in us that like Can see righteousness
and just like know that that's the thing. Yeah,
I think I think it's it's true people know What
is right? Yeah At least to some extent it's gonna
be screwed up. Yeah, I think that The challenge
is it sometimes seems not worth it. Yes. Right.
It's like, yeah, I wish there was a world in
which everyone was equal and we all loved each
other and there was no oppressors, but that's
not realistic. Right. Right. If you can't beat
them, join them. That kind of thing. It's like,
yeah, I want to be I want to live in the real
world. You know, it kind of reminds me. Can I
get political again? Of course. I'm sorry. The
world is cool. OK, there's lots of different
views, blah, blah, blah. But here's mine. Yep.
It kind of reminds me of some Christians liking
Donald Trump because we tried being nice. Yeah.
What we need is someone to be as big of a jerk
to our enemies as they've been to us. Right.
Right. Because it's pie in the sky thinking.
Yeah. To thinking you can love people into agreement.
You need a bulldog. Right. Right. And that's
the temptation. We want goodness. Like, no one's
like, I want to be a jerk. Right. But they're
just like, hey, you've got to be realistic in
this world. Sometimes you got to not act justly.
Yeah. To get the good results. And Jesus is like,
hang on. Have faith. Wait. Be patient. You will
be filled. Just don't give up on this dream of
justice. Yeah. Yeah, well, and that sort of pairs
perfectly like with what Rob's preaching about
today, which is this idea of loving your enemies.
And yeah, right. Like Jesus is saying, yeah,
this is like not what you're going to be tempted
towards. Yeah. But this is the way it seems ridiculous.
Yeah. Like your enemies trying to destroy you.
Yeah. Why would you not fight back? Right. You
know, and Jesus is like, sorry. I just think
that's so interesting and I love that because
yeah, you ask yourself like, why would I act
justly or why would I even pursue righteousness
if the world isn't doing that to me? And I think
it's like, you know, when we say like, oh, like
we forgive because Jesus forgave us. It's kind
of like we hunger and thirst for righteousness
because Jesus hungers and thirst for righteousness.
And it's ultimately his thirst for that, which
led him to the cross because he could have. fought
back at any point and been like, actually, I
don't want to do this. All of you can be damned
to hell because like it's not my problem. But
no, he actively took it on. He didn't fight back.
So it's kind of like now that we're saying we're
following Christ, we're imitating him. We have
to kind of be like. He hungered and thirsted
for righteousness for me, so I will hunger and
thirst for righteousness for other people. But
it's really hard to kind of choose that path
though. And he like hungered and thirsted for
it like to the point of death. Exactly, yeah.
Because he trusted God to do that for him. It's
like when Peter took out his sword to take out
the people arresting Jesus. And Jesus is like,
don't do this, right? You live by the sword,
you die by the sword. I could call 10 ,000 angels
if I wanted to, but I'm not going to do that,
right? Because I'm trusting God to bring this
about. Yeah. It's got me thinking of the mode.
I know Rob talked about non -violence today,
and I'm confident everyone's brain is going all
over the place in that conversation. But yeah,
like even within our current climate where there
are a lot of Christians who their mode of, I
guess, what they think is being hungry and thirsting
for righteousness is very aggressive, very like
take the bull by its horn and just go at it.
And yeah, like they're like Peter, just chopping
off ears, slicing them left, right and center.
And that is That is not what God is calling us
into. We're going to look at what is that posture
that we take in order to truly hunger and thirst,
like longing for the kingdom. And I get it. Like
when you know, at least when you perceive that
you have worn the glasses. Like you want, I've
seen that a lot with like new Christians who
maybe the when you come into it, now everyone
around you is not. They're not seeing the world
like you anymore. So now I need to I want to
get them to, you know, figure it out. Yeah, like
come to Jesus. Don't you see this is the way
and it becomes it becomes repulsive to many people.
And in its extreme form, it can be very coercive.
Yeah. Yeah. And dangerous. So like the mode and
Jesus is calling us into is it gets us back to
those other Beatitudes and It reminds us that
God did it anyway, right? He covered us anyway,
even when we were in opposition to Him and would
do it again and again and again and again, not
because we figured it out as soon as He said
it, but because He loves us. And that is, you
can't force people to do that. Yeah, yeah. And
I think that... sort of takes me back to one
of the places that we started which was like
that we don't actually have the righteousness
and so like as hard as I might try like I can't
actually force it right like I can't I can't
I just like can't set things right and I can't
make people see it in a particular way um it
has to come from God yeah well that's the point
of the they will be filled right passive construction
right that's something in Greek and Hebrew called
a divine passive Because they don't want to say
God's name. So you put it in a passive construction.
You will be filled really means God will fill
you up. Love that. That's cool. And I think it's
like, you know, even just like the conversation
about today's current political climate, there
are a lot of Christians who are kind of like
rooting for, you know, the bad things to happen
to people and they kind of want to see that.
So sometimes it's like. Are we hungering and
thirsting for righteousness? Are you hungering
and thirsting for vengeance? And I think sometimes
like we do get filled with anger and we kind
of rely on ourselves and those feelings instead
of giving it to God and we're like actually God
like I want to see that group of people or that
person Go through really really negative things
because of XYZ and it's like well, that's not
righteousness. That is vengeance Also, I don't
think hungering is the right term back I don't
know what the term is, so. Okay. Starving. No.
Oh, yeah. I don't know, I'm just saying. I'm
just pushing it. I'm pushing the envelope. Yeah,
there was an article I read that says a better
translation for this might be, blessed are those
who are starved for justice, which I think is
an interesting way of putting it. Like, I think
the hunger and thirst of this feels really interesting
to me because... I mean, generally speaking,
like, we all know what it feels like to be hungry
or to be thirsty. Now, there are different extremes
of that that we may or may not be able to sort
of feel. But we know, right? Like, I know I have
been hungry and I, like, want a particular thing
or even maybe not a particular thing, just something,
right? And so there's this, like, it's a very
bodily state. And I think that There is a sense
in which When you put the glasses on when you
like see the world as it is And how it could
be it can become a sort of bodily state of like
yearning for Righteousness. Yeah in the very
same way that we yearn for food and water We
can yearn for like God to do something Yeah with
the trust that he will do it yes yes yes um like
that that uh i always think of martin luther
king right where he's like i'm working really
hard i'm being i'm doing my non -violent resistance
thing yeah but i know we're gonna win right right
yeah the arc of uh history you know bends towards
justice right god's gonna do it yeah um and that's
gonna dictate it's like a confident non -violence
yeah right not a resignation Yeah, yeah. It's
not we're choosing the way of nonviolence because
I just don't feel like being aggressive or because
that's dangerous or whatever. It's like, no,
this is I'm choosing this way because this is
actually the way to victory. Yeah, I'm bearing
witness to the victory that God will eventually
bring. Yeah. By being unworried and unhurried
about. Yeah. About having to win now. Yeah. At
all costs. Yeah. And it's like, do you want like
a manmade human victory or do you want to? Do
you want like a god victory, right? Which is
ultimately gonna be better than anything humans
can ever make so it When you put it in that frame,
like, then yeah, choosing, you know, the way
of righteousness, hungering and thirsting for
that is ultimately going to lead you to a greater,
better victory. It's just, I think it really
is that trusting that God will do it. And sometimes,
you know, God, he has his own timeline, but then
humans were like, actually, can you do it tomorrow?
So it can be a little hard. And I think there's
a lot of surrendering to that as well. Totally.
Yeah. It's reminding me of the scripture that
talks about where you build your house, building
on the sand, where you building it. And yeah,
like there's like, we could put our, we could
use today and take our might and make all kinds
of things happen and fill that, like that there's
like, My siblings, I have young siblings, they're
children, so maybe that's why I talk about children
this way, but they'll be like, they're thirsty
and they're like, I want juice. I want pop. Nah,
that's not gonna actually, that's gonna help
you now, but is it gonna help you like maybe
an hour down the road? You're gonna be more thirsty,
because it's going to dehydrate you. So what
you really should, what we should long for is
the source. the actual thing that will save us.
And that is, in Christ, that's building something
that will last. I'm using all these different
analogies, so go with me. But it actually means
nothing. Yes, you can fight a war today and win
the battle today, but I guarantee you that you'll
probably be fighting another battle. But what
we really could do is put our trust in God and
win the war. takes time, but we will see the
fruits. We will see the benefits in this lifetime
and in the ones to come. Britt, you're killing
it with the analogies. I'm just taking so much
of them. Like we're building, we're wearing glasses,
we're drinking water. This sounds healthy. It
does. Sounds like a pretty good life. There's
also that scripture from when Jesus, he's at
the well and the Samaritan woman, she comes and
she wants to get water. Then Jesus says, I'm
not going to quote the exact scripture because
I do not have it memorized, but he says, you
know, ultimately I can give you a water where
you'll never thirst. again. Right. You know,
the fresh spring which is Jesus. So I think,
I feel, this is my personal opinion, but that
every single person deep inside of us has a thirst
for Jesus. We sometimes just don't know what
it is and we replace it because ultimately we
are looking for that satisfaction. We can only
get it from Jesus who can give us water that
we'll never be thirsty again. Yeah, totally.
So, Yeah, we hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. And Justin, you sort
of already said, you know, that they will be
filled. God is the one doing the filling. But
what does that look like? And like, are we filled
immediately? Are we filled? Do we have to take
a long view here? Like, how does this? It's both.
OK. It's both. Right. So the other Martin Luther,
Martin Luther. Yes. It was famous. Yeah, a guy
from the 16th century who was famous for saying
we're justified by faith. Yeah. Alone. Yes. It's
controversial. But justification is another translation
of dekayasune, which is righteousness. So the
righteous. Righteousification is another way
to do that. You get right. Why? Do you need faith?
Why is faith the thing? Because you have to believe
against all odds. It looks like evil's winning.
You got to live your life as if God has already
won. Yeah. Right. And if you do that, Paul says
you get to be counted righteous now, even though
you're waiting. So it's this weird kind of ahead
of schedule thing. And there's all sorts of reasons
why having to do with the resurrection that works.
But it's both right. You get to be counted righteous
now. as a living witness to the kingdom that's
about to dawn on everyone. So you're waiting,
but you already have what you're waiting for.
Yes, this feels very confusing. In a weird kind
of way. Well, that's why Luther was very controversial
in his day, because everyone was like, yeah,
if you play your cards right and you live righteously
and you do the right things. Some people said
this. Then you get righteousness at the end.
Uh -huh. Right? In Paul's day, too, a lot of
the rabbis were saying this sort of thing. Everyone
said, yeah, of course, you get justified at the
end. And Paul's like, no, no, you can be called
righteous now. Right. In anticipation. And that
was this kind of weird, like, hungering and thirsting.
You'll be filled for righteousness. You'll be
filled in the future. But you can also be filled
now in the very act of following Jesus. Right.
Yes. And that comes through faith. Yeah, because
it's a future thing. Yes. Right. You got to believe,
as Ted Lasso says. So. But then. Like, yes, so
you're declared righteous, you're filled now,
but like, what does that change? Does it? Because
I don't think that it changes your circumstances
necessarily. I don't think it changes. Sometimes
it does. Sure. Right? I mean, it's like Jesus's
healings. Right. Right? Every single person that
Jesus healed, including Lazarus, died. Yes. Right?
But that doesn't negate the goodness and the
witness of healing in those moments. Right. Right?
You don't sort of just stop. He was like, I'm
still going to act for the good. I'm still going
to do this. But not... with some kind of crazy
pipe dream that I am building a utopia on earth
by doing that. Right. I'm doing all these things
as an act of witness, as a referral to the promise
of God to do these things. Right. So it's not
quietism. It's not like God's going to sort everything
out so I can just opt out and not care about
justice and be quiet when there's oppression
going on. Yeah. But it's like it changes your
perspective with your glasses. Right. You do
it for a different reason. And I feel like I
like how you said how technically like yeah like
we're still you know hungry and thirsting for
righteous and at the same time we are righteous
too in anticipation of what's to come but I think
even just if we focus on the part that you know
Got Jesus hasn't come back the second time the
world is still broken It's sometimes it's like
we have to choose to stay in that state of like
hunger and thirsting as well It's like, you know,
if we're looking at from like a starvation point
of view We're making the active choice of I will
not opt out I will look at the world and I will
actively choose to kind of like starve for the
goodness That Jesus will bring to the world one
day. So I think it is an active choice and I
think it changes I don't know what it changes,
but I feel like it does change, you know, the
way you look at the world, the way you live your
life. Sure. It changes your posture. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. Yeah. Right on. So then, we're filled
now, and that filling comes ultimately from God.
So what then is our role? What does it, like,
so you said, you know, it changes our posture.
We don't get to opt out. We don't get to do quietism.
So like, what does that look like? That's a good
question. Yeah. Both the hungering and the thirsting
and the filling. Like, dude, God does the filling.
Do we participate in filling somehow or is that
all God? I don't know. This is now a lot of questions,
but I would say the filling is all God because
righteousness. It's not something that we can
attain from the things that we do. It's something
that is gifted to us through Christ. When God
sees us because of Christ and because of the
sacrifice that Christ has made, we're covered
in that. So God only sees, God the Father would
only see what Christ has gifted us. Here we go,
Trinity. What we've been gifted with. Righteousness
is not something of our own doing. So that feeling
has to come from from God. I think what's interesting,
though, is like, what does it what does it mean
for us to what does that what does it mean to
hunger and thirst like in its like in today?
Like, I think that's probably the lens, like
where it gets into. What does it mean for us
in our activity? Because if it's not a passive
thing. If it's not quietism, then what does that
actually look like? But I think if we insert
the word justice and equity, which are all rightly
positioned within the term righteousness, then
I think it gives us a perspective on how we act.
And like hungering and thirsting is not just
being, if you're angry in a corner, like hungry,
if you're hangry, You're not hungry. They're
saying they're going to be angry for righteousness.
But actually, OK, I don't know. Like when I think
about being hangry, I am like the worst person
in the world. So maybe I'm not. Maybe it's not
being hangry. But but it is it is this this bent
that we're having like we. this focus on seeing
what's wrong, but also recognizing what God can
do through you to make it right, to usher in
that kingdom. I feel like, you know, like what
Justin was saying earlier, how righteousness
is like, you know, goodness, it's all encompassing
goodness. So if we are already, you know, in
the future, we are made righteous through Jesus
Christ, then that means that we've received a
goodness and ultimately Now we can kind of share
that goodness with the rest of the world as well.
So maybe that's a way that we can play that role.
I mean, there's some theologians who've talked
about how the church is supposed to be this kind
of image of the kingdom ahead of schedule. So
if you come to church, you should be you should
feel like in a weird way, you're entering a different
kind of world. Right. You come to church and
people are loving each other, even though they're
really different from each other. Right. you're
helping poor people instead of stomping on them.
You know, um, there's a theologian called Stanley
hours that talks about this a lot, you know,
that the church is this kind of counter narrative,
right? The world operates according to a whole
set of rules. You come to church and you see
it operating by different rules, kingdom rules,
right? Right. And that's one of those sort of
practical things you can do. We're setting up
kind of an outpost of what the future kingdom
will be like now. in the christian community
yeah right it's not always like that sure but
that's our that's our charge yeah yeah yeah yeah
that's really cool i've never thought of it that
way but that's really cool yeah and i think like
yes like like you said this is what it should
be it's not all we're not saying that's what
it always is yeah we're still broken people who
mess this up um but having that positive vision
having that goal of like yeah it's a sense of
what we're working towards and not just what
we're trying not to be. Yes. And you're doing
that as the church in the world. Right. So it's
not like we're just going to create our little
monastery and do things differently here. You're
doing it in the middle of the city, in the middle
of the village for everyone else, too. It's a
form of witness and you spill over. Right. Right.
Christians can be involved in politics, for example.
But you're doing it. as a citizen of another
kingdom, as Philippians says. Right. Yeah. I
think something else, too, that is I want to
bring up the fact that, you know, righteousness,
even though we are hungering and thirsting for
it, but if we look at the perspective of we already
have righteousness in a way, it's like that's
that's a gift from Jesus. You know, it doesn't
matter how much good you do in the world. That's
not what's going to ultimately. get you the righteousness
of God. It is a gift, it is something that you
accept. So I guess it's like, what do you do
with that accepting of the fact that I didn't
do anything to deserve God's goodness, yet he
has freely given it to me. And I guess it's like,
yeah, how do you take that into the world? Maybe
that's when you freely give it to the world because
you've been giving a gift. So then you want to
give it to other people, too. Yeah, totally.
So I think I want to... bringing us back to the
context of the Beatitudes as a whole, and how
this fits in what we've talked about so far.
And the thing that just stands out to me from
what you just said, Melissa, was, yeah, that
we don't have to, like, hunger and thirst for
righteousness, like, out of our own, like, Sense
of like desperation her own sense of like I need
to like get towards this thing to the goal whatever
Which then I think pairs well with what we had
talked about before I think particularly around
the idea of morning like we said like you don't
need to go out there to like find the morning
You don't need to try and be a really sad person.
No, it comes very easily Yeah, so again, none
of these things, the poor in spirit, the mourning,
the meek, this hungering and thirsting for righteousness,
they're not things that we need to strive for.
They're things that come naturally to us. They're
things that come as a result of seeing a broken
world, I think. Yep, they are indications of
blessedness. Right? You're looking for signs
and indications, right? Because, you know, beatitude
means blessed, right? Or happy, right? So how
do you tell when someone's blessed? Well, if
you find someone poor in spirit, they're probably
blessed. If you find someone meek, the likelihood
is they're going to be blessed. And if they're
these things and they're following Jesus Christ,
then they're mega blessed. Yes, are there other
correlations other sort of links that we see
between this hungering and thirsting for righteousness
and some of these other Beatitudes that we've
chatted about I mean, I think you you reminded
me of something of like how you know we're not
we don't go find the morning the morning will
find us and we will mourn and just as the world
is broken, but we ourselves are also broken too.
Like we are all sinners. We're all going through
things. We all come with our own baggage that
impacts how we live our life. And I think that
ultimately like because of that, it's like that's
also why we hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for goodness, for Jesus to come back and kind
of make things okay again, because we are hungering
and thirsting for ourselves too, because We are
people who mourn. We are people who can be poor
in spirit. We are people who are meek. We are
people who are just sinners and we are limited
and we need God. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think
it's the red thread for me is the theme of reversal.
Yeah. Right. There's debates. Are these rewards
or are they reversals? And I'm team reversal.
Right. God, this list of things is not God will
reward you if you act this way. Right. It's saying
the circumstances that you're in are unlikely
indicators of you actually being blessed. Right.
Right. And yeah, I think that's what guides them
all. Yeah. Yeah. So, to sort of bring it all
together, Jesus has said, blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed
are the people who are seeking justice, the people
who have put on this new pair of glasses and
have said this is the way the world should be
and I'm gonna strive for it and they will be
filled. God will give you this righteousness
now. Yeah, and ultimately like it's coming for
all of us in like a nice way. Not in like a it's
coming for you kind of way. Just like it's coming.
And with Britt's other analogy too, it's we are
choosing the water instead of the pop and the
juice. Right. Yes. If you're listening kids,
if you're listening, don't drink pop. Choose
the water. Choose the water. Choose the water.
The good way. Yes. For the purposes of this conversation,
yes, I agree. I'm an advocate of water for everyone.
Drink your leader. Well, thank you so much, folks.
Yeah, I think this has been really helpful to
unpack righteousness, but then to also just like
put it in this context of like, yeah, how we
live in the world, the good gifts that God has
given us and the good gifts that we have to look
forward to that we will be filled. Yes. Nice.
Yeah. Appreciate the conversation fellow kids.
Thank you. I will forever be a child. But we
are supposed to have the faith of children. There
you go. And we're all young people, so it's easy
for us to understand. And thank you for tuning
in to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. I
hope it's been helpful for you as you figure
out what it looks like to hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for justice in your life and in
the life of the community in which you find yourself.
and we'll see you again next week.