The last week of May and the first week of June, will be remembered by violence, death, riot, and destruction. On one side we have people protesting because of an injustice, on the other side we have people and their businesses suffering without being guilty of anything, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We know that some of the protesters are peaceful people just wanting to demonstrate their hunger and thirst for justice, but at the same time we know that some bad apples infiltrated in those protests and produced destruction all over.
In this text we will see the last aspect of this important Beatitude.
3 – THE DESIRE TO BE RIGHT WITH OUR NEIGHBOR
The last desire is to be right with our neighbor. We should treat our neighbor in a proper and Christian way. The Bible says that we should love our neighbor. In a practical way this is what Jesus said that we should do:
- Treat our neighbor in the way that we want to be treated –
This is what He said at the end of the Sermon of the Mountain:
Matt. 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
We should treat the others and do to others as we would like them to do to us. In other words, Jesus is saying to us that a Christian should put his or herself in the shoes of the others.
If it were me, what would I like the church, or my friends to do for me, in this situation?
The responsibility is on our side. We are the ones who should have the desire to be right with our neighbor. We are the ones who should go and offer help.
In Matthew, Jesus sums up this whole thing in the Greatest Commandments:
Matt. 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Matt. 22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
Matt. 22:39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matt. 22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
As you can see the Great Commandment has these two directions, to God and to our neighbor.
Jesus says in this Beatitude that when we have this kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be right with God, with ourselves, and our neighbor, we will be filled. The word means satisfied, be fed in abundance.
The Psalmist put that in this way:
Psa. 81:13 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
Psa. 81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their foes.
Psa. 81:15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
Psa. 81:16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
In other words, the psalmist is telling us that if we have the desire to be right with God, and our neighbors, He will feed us with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock.
Psa. 81:16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
In this way we will be blessed, happy, and totally satisfied.
Have a blessed week,Pastor Lucas