Hunger & Thirst For Righteousness 飢渴慕義

Passion Sunday, Year A
Theme: Hunger & Thirst For Righteousness 飢渴慕義

When we celebrate the Palm Sunday, the merciful Lord invites us to accompany Him in the spiritual journey of His Paschal Mystery. We are blessed indeed to be among the elected to wine and dine with Him in the heavenly banquet. The merciful Lord is never tired of teaching us the knowledge we need to acquire in order to partake in this eternal bliss. He is happy to assist us through giving us His spirit and giving up His life. Not only does He teach but He also practices what He preaches. His triumphant entry into Jerusalem is the beginning of His glorious battle against sins and death. This final confrontation with the Devil is pregnant with inexhaustible wisdom for our salvation. It is good for us to meditate during this Holy Week.

Among the teachings of Jesus Christ, I opine that the Beatitudes are the most essential because He began His public ministry by proclaiming this Magna Carta of the Kingdom of Heaven like someone similar to but greater than Moses (Matthew 5:3-12). Five years ago, Pope Francis promulgated the apostolic exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate” on the sanctification of Christians in the modern world. He made it clear that the Beatitudes are the identity card of a Christian (GE #63)!
Brethren! Just think about it. When you meet St. Peter at the gate of heaven, you don’t show him your baptismal certificates for your admission into heaven because many people on earth haven’t had the opportunity to receive baptism during their lifetimes. But God wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth (1Timothy 2:4). Therefore, making baptism the necessary condition for entrance into heaven would be unfair. Let’s agree that attainment of one of the Beatitudes qualifies us to enter heaven.

How does Jesus practise what He preaches, in particular during His Passion? Actually, the “Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross” has been a popular topic for Good Friday Retreats. Taking inspiration from this fact, I would like to meditate and discover how Jesus demonstrates the Beatitudes in His Paschal Mystery. Earlier, I briefly touched upon the first two Beatitudes, viz. poverty and mournfulness, during the Stations of the Cross. Today let me meditate upon how Jesus hungers and thirsts for righteousness (Matthew 5:6).

So, what does righteousness mean? For us human beings, we usually equate righteousness with fairness. Even young children have a sense of fairness! I’m sure parents have their share of headaches when they divide birthday cakes among their children who just love cakes and are never satisfied with their slices! Adults have their understanding of fairness as well. We often hear people say, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:24) suggesting that it is fair to revenge in proportion. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” which suggests that it is fair to help each other. “Efforts pay” suggests that the harder you work the more wages you’ll earn. In reality, human revenges can never be proportional. For a serial killer of say 10 victims, how can his one life be proportional to the ten lives wasted? In killing the killer, one more life is wasted. How can that be fair? The second case cannot be fair either. Besides dishonesty, there are simply too many factors preventing pledges from being honoured. Most of the time we’ll be disappointed if we expect to be repaid. How wise Jesus is in teaching the truth, namely do not expect return of favours, “Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow” (Matthew 5:42). Lastly, nowadays in Hong Kong, many outsourcing janitors are still working at the minimum wage of HK$34.5. Efforts do not pay because your skills are not marketable! People should know the truth that employers deploy this slogan to domesticate employees. In short, righteousness is not fairness.

Then what is divine righteousness? What does God mean by righteousness?
God is omnipotent and merciful. He created us but we are suffering here in a sinful world. None of us is exempted. Put it in a negative way, if God does not deliver us, He would be unrighteous! In fact, the word “righteousness” and “salvation” usually goes hand-in-hand in the Old Testament. For example, “My mouth shall show forth your righteousness and your salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof” (Psalms 71:15). “I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory” (Isaiah 46:13). In fact, when Jesus teaches, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6), He is paraphrasing “My eyes long to see your salvation and the promise of your righteousness” (Psalms 119:123). God desires for everybody to be saved. Yet after the baptism of Enlightenment, men have become bolder to play God. They put their faith in physical sciences and their trust in technologies. If they ever need salvation, it will come from Information Technology or Artificial Intelligence instead of Yahweh. These human achievements have become their idols while God becomes irrelevant nowadays. Few modern people feel the need of salvation, let alone the righteousness of God.

Christians are different because they are the elected few. However, many a Christian makes a terrible mistake in believing that when they are doing the will of God, God will brush away all obstacles and difficulties for them. Life would be a bed of roses, a safe and smooth sail across the worldly ocean towards heavens.
Brethren, how mistaken it is! Christ has never promised us an easy life after following Him. Take a look at the lives of St. Paul and all the holy martyrs! Take a look at yourselves. How many of you find frustrations and discouragements in doing God’s will? How many of you have been taken advantage of, or have become scapegoats for other people’s faults, or have been verbally and/or physically abused etc. because of your faith in God? Have you been humiliated and ridiculed, asking you where your God is (Psalms 42:3; Joel 2:17; Micah 7:10)? The author of Hebrews put it mildly, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood” (Hebrews 12:4). But Jesus Himself and all the martyrs have!

Brethren! We shall be blessed indeed when frustrated and exhausted in doing God’s work and we cry aloud “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Psalms 22:2; Matthew 27:46) Like Christ, when we have obeyed, have felt helpless, weak and could find nothing else to rely on, then we shall be satisfied with God’s righteousness and salvation. He will raise us to a new level of life. Once more, we thank Christ for allowing us to accompany Him on this spiritual journey of Paschal Mystery because only through practices shall we know our God better and love Him deeper. Amen.
God bless!
2020 Reflection
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