<p>5:6&nbsp;<em>Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness-&nbsp;</em>Notice how some of the Lord&rsquo;s very first words on opening His ministry were &ldquo;<em>Blessed</em>&nbsp;(Lk. 1:48) are they which do&nbsp;<em>hunger</em>&nbsp;(Lk. 1:53) and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be&nbsp;<em>filled&nbsp;</em>(Lk. 1:53)&rdquo; (Mt. 5:6). Clearly He is alluding to His mother&rsquo;s own description of herself. It&rsquo;s as if He stands up there before the hushed crowd and lays down His manifesto with those words. This was the keynote of what He had to say to humanity. Everybody was waiting to hear what His message really was. And this is what He said. He was saying &lsquo;This, guys, is what I essentially and most fundamentally seek to inspire in you&rsquo;. And He saw His dear mother as the epitome of the converts He was seeking to make. I lay great store by this allusion. For it makes Mary, at least at the time of the Angel&rsquo;s visit, truly our pattern. She heard the glad tidings and believed that word in faith, holding on to it in her heart (Lk. 8:15,21). She was a model for all who hear the Gospel. It could even be that the language of Lk. 1:32,33,35 is framed in such a way as to make Mary appear to be the first person who heard the gospel about Jesus. &nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Thirst after righteousness</em>- The characteristics of the 'blessed' in the first four beatitudes are that they will be spiritually poor (:3), mourning (often used in connection with contrition for sin), humbled, and thirsting to be more righteous than they are. &quot;Righteousness&quot; could mean 'justice' but the term is used by Paul to specifically refer to 'justification from sin'. These descriptions immediately give us all the encouragement that this message of the Kingdom is for me, even me. The next blessing is for the merciful, the forgiving, because they shall obtain mercy- i.e. final cleansing from sin and justification on judgment day. Although of course this is possible even now. See on 5:9&nbsp;<em>peacemakers&nbsp;</em>and on 6:12.</p>
<p><em>For they shall be filled</em>- S.w. Mt. 14:20 about the 'filling' of the multitude who came to hear the word of Jesus. All the Kingdom blessings have some fulfilment in this life. John's version of this is the record of the Lord saying that the salvation He provides would satisfy those who hungered and thirsted for it (Jn. 6:35).</p>