Magicians employ the art of distraction to turn the eyes of their audience away from the "real event" so that the end result appears 'like magic'. The technique is effective, so much so that we miss what really happens. Psychologists have conducted tests which demonstrate this power of distraction, whereby the audience misses a man in a bear suit walking across the middle of the picture because they are 'distracted' counting balls.
It is amazing how often this distraction occurs when we read the text of scripture, brought home powerfully last night as we reflected on the beatitude: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied". The distraction in the beatitude is the word "righteousness", one which doesn't get good press these days. Particularly when it is combined with the word 'satisfied', and its implied partner 'self'. We typically begun by analysing the word righteousness, and what it means. Last night we turned it around, focussing on the last word "satisfied".
What is it that offers us satisfaction today? The Rolling Stones seems to have made a modern anthem of its tune "(Can't Get No) Satisfaction". In spite of the burgeoning consumer culture, whereby we earn 5 times what our parents did, live in larger houses with smaller families, and have much more in our possession and at our disposal, we aren't exhibiting the same level of satisfaction that the advertisers suggest these products will bring. In fact, the situation is quite the opposite... The incidence of mental illness has increased ten-fold, the top ten diseases affecting young men in Australia are either psychological disorders or substance-abuse, nearly one in four Americans is taking mood-altering drugs, and anxiety and depression is regarded as an epidemic. In the midst of prosperity, we have “spent ourselves sick”, according to Clive Hamilton in his book Affluenza. Satisfaction clearly does not come from the sources our consumer culture suggests.
When we accept that the present focus for satisfaction falls short, we are forced back the first part of the Beatitude: where do we find satisfaction? In a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Not by being (self-)righteous, but through a desire for righteousness. Here we are faced again with the example of Jesus, who pushes us away from traditional understandings of righteousness (all the way through the Sermon on the Mount, and throughout the Gospels) into a new place: where we follow his example: service, love, giving... In other words the focus of satisfaction is found not in trying to obtain it for ourselves, but to work for others.
I would suggest that the many things our consumer culture suggests we go out and obtain for ourselves are really by-products. We do not gain love by forcing or demanding it from others, we receive it by giving. We find happiness not by looking for what makes us happy, but by working for the happiness of others. We do not find hope alone or selfishly, but by living hope for others. These things are by-products.
In the same way, satisfaction is a by-product of hungering and thirsting for righteousness... by choosing an alternate pathway to the consumerist culture. In some senses it is a bit like turning the canoe around in a fast-flowing stream and seeking to row back to the source... we will find ourselves making little headway initially, and tiring easily. But hungering and thirsting to go another way is the first step. Simply going with the flow keeps us on the same course. The destination may be elusive, but if we are facing the right way, we are closer to reaching it than otherwise.
Satisfaction - itself an elusive term - becomes the window to understanding this Beatitude. By realising that the present system doesn't offer it, we are forced to look into alternatives, which is perhaps Jesus' point. The Sermon on the Mount goes a long way towards redefining righteousness away from the unsatisfying models we are all familiar with. It certainly isn't made easy, but it offers a pathway of hope, and life.