I am a Jesus pusher!!! “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” (Matthew 5:6). “Righteousness”, in our passage, is the object of the “hunger and thirst.” One would normally think of this as that which can be satisfied. In other words, you are hungry; you eat at a table with an abundance of food and are satisfied. While it is true, you will be hungry at a later time; it is certainly not a consistent hunger. Depending on the amount of food consumed, you may even feel “over satisfied,” thinking that you may not ever need to eat again. In our passage, hunger and thirst are verbs in the present tense. In the Greek language this expresses present and continual action. Jesus indicates a continual hunger and thirst in our lives. Doesn’t this contradict the final statement of the Beatitude, for they shall be filled? Would not the “filled” eliminate the hunger and thirst?
Normally in the Greek language hunger and thirst would be followed by a genitive. If “righteousness” were in the genitive it would be a “partitive” genitive. This indicates that only a part of the whole is desired. For instance, when I say, “I am hungry for pie,” it means I am hungry for only a piece of pie. However, this is not the case! Righteousness is in the “accusative” case. This is equal to the “direct object” in the English language. Our hunger and thirst is focused on the complete righteousness of Jesus. I hunger and thirst for all that He is in His nature! I am a Jesus pusher!!!