Manny grew up in poverty in Lagos, Nigeria, where his family of thirteen survived on less than $2 a day in a two-room cinder block house. Like many poor Nigerian children, he had no shoes—a dangerous reality that exposed him to disease. One day, a white missionary introduced him to basketball and offered shoes to whoever could sink the most baskets. Manny won his first pair of shoes that day, a simple act of kindness that transformed his life.
Years later, having become a basketball star who earned a scholarship to an American university, graduated, married, and climbed the corporate ladder, Manny was living the American dream. Yet despite his material affluence, he couldn’t forget the shoeless children on the other side of the world. Eventually, he left his lucrative career to found Samaritan’s Feet, a nonprofit committed to providing shoes to ten million children worldwide.
Manny’s story illustrates what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:6 when he said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” But understanding this beatitude requires us to begin somewhere other than social justice.
The Counterculture of Blessing
The beatitudes consistently overturn our expectations of what constitutes blessing. Jesus doesn’t say, “Do this and you will be blessed,” but rather, “You are blessed if you are characterised by this.” Yet the characteristics he describes seem utterly unblessworthy by any normal standard.
Eugene Peterson observes that, in the ancient world, people didn’t expect happiness—only the gods were happy. Life was full of suffering, and tragedy was the reality of existence. If by chance you were happy, you hid it, lest the gods notice and spitefully rob you of your brief joy.
Today, by contrast, Western society expects happiness and hides unhappiness for fear of judgement. We understand “blessed” in material terms: food in our stomachs, clothes on our backs, roofs over our heads. Blessing means having our needs met.
Yet Jesus pronounces blessing on those who hunger and thirst—on those whose needs are not satiated. This sounds absurd to modern ears. How can emptiness be blessing? The answer lies in understanding the specific character of this hunger and thirst.
The Character of Righteousness
Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst “for righteousness.” Theologically, righteousness has four dimensions: legal, personal, social, and eschatological.
First, through Christ’s person and work, God declares Christians legally righteous. Through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection, Jesus earned righteousness that is imputed to believers—what we call justification.
Second, God imparts righteousness to those he justifies. Our righteous standing before him is evidenced by personal righteousness as he transforms us through sanctification, creating in us a longing to live according to his standards.
Third, personal righteousness kindles a desire for social righteousness. The more you grow in personal righteousness, the more you long to see righteousness in society. Peter describes Lot as “greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked” and “tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:7–8). Notably, in Hebrew and Greek, the words for “justice” and “righteousness” are identical. This beatitude could equally read, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.”
Fourth, there is a promise of eschatological righteousness at Christ’s return, when we will be fully transformed into his image through glorification.
The Sermon on the Mount itself provides crucial context for understanding righteousness. After this initial reference to longing for righteousness, Jesus addresses opposition to righteousness (5:10–12), the nature of righteousness (5:20–48), the opposite of righteousness—hypocrisy (6:1–18), and the source of righteousness (6:33).
In 5:20–48, Jesus teaches that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. He offers six contrasts: Pharisaic righteousness says, “Don’t murder,” while surpassing righteousness says, “Don’t be unjustly angry.” Pharisaic righteousness says, “Don’t commit adultery,” while surpassing righteousness says, “Don’t lust.” The pattern continues through marriage, truthfulness, retaliation, and love of enemies. Surpassing righteousness goes beyond external compliance to internal transformation.
The Danger of Comparison
Too often, we fall prey to pharisaic hypocrisy by defining our righteousness in contrast to the world rather than in pursuit of Christ. Cultural Christianity thrives on this approach. We may guard our tongues from angry vitriol while harbouring bitterness in our hearts. We maintain respectability in marriage while disregarding and disrespecting our spouse. So long as we are doing better than our unbelieving neighbours, we convince ourselves we are hungering for righteousness.
This was precisely the Pharisees’ attitude. Outwardly superior to the surrounding world, Jesus rebuked them as hypocrites. He instructed his followers to hunger for righteousness that surpassed theirs—to stop comparing themselves to others and hunger for righteousness that comes from a living relationship with God.
Oliver Sacks tells of a doctor who headed a dementia facility for decades. When diagnosed with dementia himself, he was placed in the same facility. Due to familiar surroundings, he believed he was still working, visiting patients and reading charts. One day, he picked up his own chart and realised he was the patient. He wept, terrified because he knew exactly what his diagnosis meant.
It’s easy to assess unrighteousness in others with academic detachment, but Jesus wants us to turn the diagnosis on ourselves and recognise how far we have to go. Yes, Christians are declared legally righteous by Christ’s merit, but he wants us to long for greater, surpassing righteousness.
The Promise of Satisfaction
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “shall be satisfied.” This doesn’t mean we will never hunger again, but that we will be satisfied with what God gives us. When we hunger for Christ’s righteousness and receive it, we are satisfied—yet that very satisfaction creates deeper hunger because it is so fulfilling.
This satisfaction is found only in Christ. We must seek first his righteousness (Matthew 6:33), which is imputed to us by faith in his finished work. Until you hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness, you will never know satisfaction. You must reckon with sin’s depths and look to Christ alone.
Then you must live with eyes fixed steadfastly on Christ, longing for more of what only he can offer. That is your only hope of satisfaction in this world and the next.
About the author
Stuart Chase is a member of Brackenhurst Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa and the administrator of Sola 5. He is married to Dominique and together they have three children.
