7. Filled
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Luke 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.
Jesus promises that the hungry will be filled. When Mary sang about the conception of the Messiah in Luke 2:53, “He has filled the hungry with good things,” she was exulting in the coming of Messiah who would fulfill this kind of promise. Jesus was born to provide a filling to the hungry.
Matthew explains further this hunger as a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Being hungry and thirsty is not a condition for the promise of filling; it is the position of every sinful human and so the promise is for all people since all of us are empty of righteousness. Any person who knows his sinfulness begins to realize that he is in need of righteousness and desires it strongly.
The promise is that because of Christ God will fill the unrighteous with the very righteousness of God. This filling comes as a grace gift from God’s mercy. Jesus announces the fulfillment of the promise of righteousness has now arrived with His coming into the world: “You folks are blessed now; I am here.”
Any time that we recognize a need, a hole, a lack, or just something missing it is a hunger for something that is not there that is supposed to be. We don’t always understand that lack as righteousness. But it is true: it is righteousness that is missing whenever we notice that life is not all that I think it ought to be. If something, anything, is wrong it is because of sin; if things are right it is because of the forgiveness of sin and the resultant righteousness of God. The promise: Life is Good! Life is Full!