Hangry for Justice? | Trinity Talks Podcast

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.