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In the fourth Beatitude Jesus says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:5). Once again we are confronted with a paradox - a seeming contradiction. Happy are those who hunger and thirst! Who likes being hungry and thirsty? It doesn't make sense from our way of looking at things. Yet, Jesus insists, this is the way to true blessedness.
It is important to realise that Jesus is not talking here about physical hunger and thirst. He says that the truly happy are those who hunger and thirst for "righteousness". What does he mean?
The term "righteousness" is used in different senses in the Bible. Perhaps the simplest way of thinking of it - particularly as it is used here - is in terms of conformity to God's will. A righteous person is one who lives in a way that pleases God. A righteous society is one that is ordered according the will and ways God has revealed in his word, the Bible. Conformity or likeness to God - that is the essence of righteousness.
Sometimes the word is parodied, as Don Carson says, "as some form of obsolete Victorian prudishness, a narrow-minded and vehement legalism" (The Sermon on the Mount, p. 24). Even among Christians there is caution about being "righteous over much." To quote Carson again, "Many Christians today are prepared to seek other things: spiritual maturity, real happiness, the Spirit's power, effective witnessing skills. Other people chase from preacher to preacher, and conference to conference seeking some vague 'blessing' from on high. They hunger for spiritual experience, they thirst for the consciousness of God" (p. 24). As valuable as these things might be, he adds, they are not the most basic need we have. What matters above all things is to be right with God, and to be living in ways that please him. That is, we need to be righteous.
But it would be wrong to think of "righteousness" as a purely individual and personal virtue (as many Christians do). In a broader sense it extends to social and corporate life as well. The Old Testament prophets plainly declare God's concern for a righteous city and a righteous nation, as well as righteous individuals. "It [righteousness] is more than a personal and private affair," writes John Stott, "it includes social righteousness as well… seeking man's liberation from oppression, together with the promotion of civil rights, justice in law courts, integrity in business dealings and honour in home and family affairs... Christians are committed to hunger for righteousness in the whole human community as something pleasing to a righteous God." (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 45).
This attitude flows inevitably out of a state of being humbled and broken over sin. Who can see their spiritual bankruptcy and mourn over their sinfulness and not hunger and thirst intensely for a different order of things - a state of things where God's perfect will is honoured and expressed? This is what Jesus is talking about here.
Leaders marked by a passion for righteousness will stand out from others. They will want to do things the right way, not simply the "successful" or profitable way. They will relate to people fairly and justly, and be driven by a passion to see justice and truth permeate every aspect of family and social life. And this will not be simply because they fear God, but because "righteousness has become for them the most eminently desirable thing in the world" (Carson, p. 26).