Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. – Luke 6:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 30, 2017): Luke 6

North Korea’s threat of setting off a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere has set my mind, and I suspect a few other minds, in motion. What would we do in case of an electromagnetic pulse set off somewhere over North America? What would we do if our electrical and computer systems were destroyed for a matter of months? No electricity or phones, or even means of reliable motorized transportation. I don’t have to worry about a hurricane flooding out my neighborhood or disrupting my life. I don’t live on a floodplain, but other things can disrupt my life. And my question is, do I have a plan – especially one that takes in the fates of family members and friends about whom I might be concerned. Admittedly, this line of thought might be on par with worrying over Y2K in 1999, something that I never did prepare for, and I obviously wasn’t all that concerned considering I didn’t stay home on December 31, 1999.   

But nothing is permanent, which is always a good thing to remember when bad times strike. In the face of a rebellious North Korea, I remember a defiant Soviet Union. The Russia of today is scary, but somehow the Soviet Union of my early memories was much scarier. I don’t remember going through the useless school drills of “In case of a nuclear bomb attack, hide under your desk,” but it was still a scary time.

Part of Jesus teaching here appears to be that there really is a cycle to life. Just because everything is going well now, does not mean that they will always be that way. Tough times are likely to be just around the corner. And just because life might seem to be filled with tears now does not mean that smiles are a thing of the past. Time has a way of changing how we feel.

But maybe a deeper meaning to Jesus words is that our current condition is actively setting the course for what our future might hold. If we hunger, then we are actively trying to take steps to fill that hunger. If there is a void inside of us that creates dissatisfaction and makes us weep, then we will actively take steps that will fill that void. Of course, all of that naturally assumes that we understand what it will take to satisfy the hunger and fill that void.

From the point of view of Jesus, only a search for God will feed the hunger and satisfy the void, because he is what is truly missing. Those who are truly hungry for God will search for him, and if we seek him, we are promised that we will find him, at least, given enough time. But for the Christian Church, it might be the other side of the coin that is truly a problem. If we think we are in possession of God, then we will stop seeking, and in the end, we will be the one left outside of his grace. This description seems to be a perfect description of the Pharisees with whom Jesus seemed to frequently do battle. They believed that they were in possession of God and had stopped seeking. The “sinners” knew that they needed God, but didn’t seem to understand how to find him. In the end, they didn’t have to find God. Jesus, knowing their lack and their desire to seek reached out to them, and only then did they find the solution to the void that existed inside of them.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 11