“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Whew! Finally we’re in familiar blessing territory! Jesus has been talking this WHOLE TIME about being divinely blessed, and he hasn’t once mentioned being blessed for having faith, praying for blessings, or giving money. He has these odd notions that blessings come from humility, mourning, and meekness. So odd.
But now, here we are! Blessed are the righteous! Get on God’s side and get blessed!
Except…that’s not exactly what it says, is it? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are those who desire to be right with God the way a starving person desires food, the way a person in the desert wants water. And they shall be satisfied – not, “and they shall satisfy themselves,” but shall be satisfied. The object and the source of righteousness is God.
And there’s a reason this is 4th down the list. Before we try to determine if we are on God’s side, or vice versa, it would do us good to achieve humility, a proper gravity toward the suffering in the world, and a proper perspective on spiritual and earthly power. And it might help us to remember Who is really righteous.
It would also be good for us to remember that the Righteous One is also the Merciful One. Everybody likes to receive mercy. We really like it when the traffic officer lets us off with a warning. But it certainly is difficult to give mercy. We want people who have hurt our feelings to make it up to us in extravagant ways. We want people who have harmed us prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Except ourselves, of course. We clearly deserve a second chance. Possibly a third, or fiftieth.
Blessed are the pure in heart. We often take this to mean innocent, or unsullied. I tend to think it’s the other definition of pure – made up of one thing. Pure gold is only gold. Pure honey is only honey. And the pure in heart have hearts made up of one love – the love of God. And the promise is that their love will be rewarded with the sight of the Beloved.
Again, the placement is important. The ones who seek to see God are also the ones called to be merciful, and following this Beatitude, called to be peacemakers. To love the Lord your God with all your heart does not mean to separate yourself from the world – it means to see God in it, and work to do God’s will in it. It means to see the image of God in our neighbors. And as G.K. Chesterton said “Jesus tells us to love our neighbors and to love our enemies, because often they are the same people.” The pure in heart shall see God – sooner, and in more places, than you might think.
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