Have you ever missed a meal? I’m certain that by the time the next one came around you were probably very hungry. Perhaps you were so hungry that you chose to eat earlier than normal. I can only imagine how hungry Jesus might have been after fasting for 40 days. Our modern translations of Matthew 4:2 just simply tell us that He was hungry, leaving us to fill in the blanks by imagining how hungry He really was. That same word in Matthew 4:2 is used again in the next chapter as Jesus is teaching his followers.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:5 NASB
Both “hunger” and “thirst” indicate an earnest craving or desire for something. The definition for Greek word for thirst says it more strongly: “those who are said to thirst painfully feel their want of, and eagerly long for, those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, strengthened.” It’s interesting to note that hunger is used to describe Jesus at the beginning of His earthly ministry while thirst is used at its end. In John 19:28, we see one of the last recorded statements by Jesus when He says “I thirst.” While Jesus’ earthly ministry is bookended by two experiences that put such demands on His body that He was physically craving food and drink, His entire life painted a portrait of a person who hungered and thirsted for righteousness.
It’s easy to understand that in Matthew 4:2, Jesus hungered for food while in John 19:28, Jesus thirsted for drink. But, Jesus tells us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. In general, righteousness is the only spiritual condition that is acceptable to God, but it also means “integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting.” Jesus is telling us to long for holiness and purity. He wants us to ache for an upright and virtuous life—one that thinks, feels, and acts more like Christ each day.
The problem is that many believers tend to snack and sip their way through life, getting a little Jesus here and there. When we do that, we try to find our satisfaction in the world whether it be through pleasure, power, possessions, or popularity. It’s kind of like trying to fill a bucket with holes; it can never be filled. Those things never satisfy so we end up wanting more and more things to make us feel good, more authority, more material belongings, or more fame. Jesus tells us that the only way to be satisfied is to hunger and thirst for what the world can’t offer. We have another paradox of faith—the only way to be filled is to stay hungry.
This means throwing aside the desires of the world for the ways of God. It means actually looking, acting, and speaking differently than the world. It means daily emptying ourselves of our self-righteousness, pride, and sin nature so that we have an appetite for God’s presence and His Word. We see the continued process of the Beatitudes here: we empty ourselves of the things that hinder us by recognizing our spiritual poverty, grieving over our sin, and yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit. It is in that kind of emptiness that hunger and thirst for righteousness thrive and where we can be filled.
Father, make me a person who hungers and thirsts. I pray that I will empty myself of everything that hinders me from knowing You more and living rightly before You. I pray that You will give me a hungry heart so I might experience the satisfaction that comes only from You. Amen.
