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Presence Weekly 4/20/26: The Quest for Satisfaction

The Sermon on the Mount: Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

The Rolling Stones (Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) in 2008 at SHINE A LIGHT Premiere, Clearview's Ziegfeld Theater, New York, NY.

[First Things]

  • Faithful Presence just received a sizable grant to help us scale our ministry efforts!

  • After months of work, we are nearing the launch of our new website and branding, new content, and the public release of several big announcements. Stay tuned!

  • Faithful Presence is hiring a half-time Chief of Staff to help us keep order in our universe. Please let us know if you or someone you know is interested.

[The Devo] The Quest for Satisfaction

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt 5:1–12.

Excellence and intelligence are necessary for quality work in the public square. These two traits provide the foundation for years of valuable work on policy development and implementation. But without motivation — the drive to serve and lead, excellence and intelligence are just tools in a belt. Motivation is the ingredient that allows for sustained effort and the application of excellence and intelligence.

Motivation and Ambition

Motivation, however, should not be confused with ambition. Where motivation drives effort, or, for our purposes, participation in Christ’s mission of making all things new, ambition redirects our work elsewhere — namely, to ourselves. The public square was created by God as an instrument for seeking a nation's flourishing. Ambition, however, is used by Satan to hinder and even destroy that flourishing, one person at a time.

For servants and leaders in the public square, ambition redefines their purpose and slowly distorts their motivation into something that sustains their ambition. This is a key ingredient in Nietzsche’s thoughts on teaching the way of the Übermensch, which was the focus of our previous lesson on meekness.

Old Testament Appetites

When the crowd gathered on the side of the mountain heard Jesus say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied,” they understood that he was referencing a trait which the Old Testament puts front and center as a critical aspect of discipleship and living the good life - our appetites.

If we have any question that our appetites are central to our ability to live the lives we were created to live, then a quick trip back to Genesis 3 will suffice to clarify the issue.

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

The serpent exploited Eve’s God-given hunger by replacing the object of her hunger with ambition. Specifically, the ambition to be like God, and to redefine the terms of the Creator-creature distinction. His statement reveals his intent: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The serpent wants to replace Eve’s hunger for food and relationship with the ambition to be like God.

God rescues the people out of Egypt and provides manna and quail (Exodus 16) for their hunger and brings water out of rocks for their thirst (Numbers 20). Prior to entering the Promised Land, Moses reminds them, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the “LORD” (Deut 8) Once in the Promised Land, both David and Solomon fell prey to the corruption of their appetites with ambition (2 Sam 11, 1 Kings 11), leading to the eventual collapse of the Kingdom.

The message of Isaiah to the soon-to-be-exiled people of God in Israel is a reminder that distorted appetites lead us away from the flourishing we are intended to enjoy.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food. Isiah 55:1-2

New Testament Appetites

Jesus’ use of the hunger-and-thirst metaphor would have been a clear reference to the Isaiah passage. The Prophet’s message was to a rebellious people, imploring them not to deny their hunger or thirst, but to quench their appetites with that which satisfies. Instead, the people doubled down on their desire to be like all the other peoples of the world, to accommodate the surrounding cultures, and to acquiesce to sin in order to pursue earthly prosperity. This, as promised, ended in their failure to flourish and, ultimately, in their conquest and captivity.

In her book, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good, Dr. Amy Sherman points out that hungering and thirsting for righteousness is necessary for flourishing. She builds her argument on the Hebrew words for "righteous" (tsaddiq) and "righteous people" (tsaddiqim).

“As the tsaddiqim prosper, they steward everything, their money, vocational position and expertise, assets, resources, opportunities, education, relationships, social position entreé and networks — for the common good, for advancing God’s justice and shalom.” (Kingdom Calling, page 17)

Dr. Sherman offers us words on target regarding the relationship between discipleship and the creation of the people of righteousness who work for righteousness. The Old Testament uses this word for "righteous" over 600 times, referring not simply to people who are redeemed by the God of steadfast love and faithfulness, but to those who wed themselves to their covenant relationship by living out the Law of God. There is no separating salvation from obedience.

The question of motivation and ambition was also central for Aristotle and the growing Hellenization of Jewish culture. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle found himself literally at a loss for words when trying to define the relationship between motivation and ambition, as he sought to relate it to honor and the good life. He writes,

There seems to be in the sphere of honour also, as was said in our first remarks on the subject, a virtue which would appear to be related to pride as liberality is to magnificence… We blame both the ambitious man as aiming at honour more than is right and from wrong sources, and the unambitious man as not willing to be honoured even for noble reasons. But sometimes we praise the ambitious man as being manly and a lover of what is noble, and the unambitious man as being moderate and self-controlled, as we said in our first treatment of the subject…. But in this case the extremes seem to be contradictories because the mean has not received a name.

Jesus has the answer Aristotle was seeking. The virtuous and happy life, one of honor, is built upon the individual motivated by a hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Despite living in occupied territory with little hope for political agency or altering which end of the power differential they were inhabiting, those who wish to follow Jesus are told that participation in Christ’s mission of making all things new will involve encouraging what is good, restoring what is broken, creating what is missing, and opposing what is evil (Jer 29). This is the vocation of the tsaddiqim, especially those who are servants and leaders in the public square, whom God has placed in Cabinet agencies, think tanks, policy centers, lobbying groups, and on the Hill to pursue righteousness by answering those questions in their workplaces.

The Rolling Stones Effect

For 10 weeks in 1965, in the midst of a great cultural upheaval, the number one song in the country was I Can’t Get No Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones. They followed that up with another hit about quenching your appetite in 1969 that included the lyrical pronouncement, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

Nietzsche and The Stones have their fingers all over the public square. Nietzsche advocates embracing the “Übermench” and The Stones essentially ask the question, “to what end?” Ambition fuels a hunger and thirst that is never satisfied and often extorts a very high price along the way. The reality is, you can get satisfaction. You can also get what you want if you hunger and thirst for the right thing.

Jesus invites his audience to hunger and thirst for righteousness, the life of the tsaddiqim, the pursuit of a life shaped by Psalm 1, because this is the path that leads to satisfaction. That satisfaction comes not from accolades and success, but from Christ, who, after feeding 5000, says,

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Jn 6:32–36.

The trouble, of course, is that after an extended discourse on Jesus as the one who satisfies our hunger and thirst, we see an unbelievable but, sadly, predictable outcome.

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. Jn 6:66–71.

Jesus is talking about himself as both the atoning righteousness that saves and as the example of enacted righteousness that leads to flourishing. Yet, despite clearly inviting them to hunger and thirst for righteousness as the tsaddiqim and offering them an abiding satisfaction, like Eve, many left believing they could find their satisfaction elsewhere. A phenomenon that continues even after his death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God.

Application

How does this beatitude inform your assessment of the present state of contentment and satisfaction you experience in your vocation? What changes could you make to experience greater satisfaction?

How, specifically, could hungering and thirsting for righteousness through your vocation contribute to the flourishing of others and the nation?

[Faithful Prayer] 

  • Cabinet Agency: The servants and leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, amidst a push to allow the research of Ibogaine, a natural psychedelic drug, and its ability to greatly help soldiers and others with post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: The Food and Drug Law Institute, as they continue their neutral and comprehensive analysis of FDA-regulated products and overall regulatory policy.

  • Weekly delegation: The servants and leaders with the delegation of the State of Virginia, as the state legislature votes Tuesday on an important and highly divisive redistricting of the state’s congressional seats.

  • News events: For the family and friends of former Lt. Governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, shot and killed his wife before turning the weapon on himself in a tragic and largely unexplained murder-suicide last Friday. The couple had been involved in the early stages of what Fairfax County police described as a ‘complicated and messy divorce.’

  • Personal Requests: For someone still waiting to hear about a significant job opportunity. For a couple still hoping to conceive. For someone still waiting for their child's birth. For someone still experiencing workplace dysfunction. For someone still negotiating language for a critical piece of legislation. For someone still dealing with marital stress. That they might experience satisfaction!

  • For Faithful Presence as we thank God for our recent grant and work on several internal projects that will greatly expand our ministry capacity!

[The Page, The Pod & The Stack]

  • LISTEN to this FIRST → The Acton Institute published this article about how to save younger generations from the corrupting influence of power politics and protect communities from the pull of extremist totalitarianism.

  • READ this NEXT → The Stanford Medicine News Center published this report detailing the positive effects of the drug ibogaine on patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • STACK this FIRST → The American Enterprise Institute published this memo by Senior Fellow Frederick M. Hess offering advice to reform-minded college campus administrators amidst continuing uncertainty about the relationship between these institutions and the federal government.

  • The Kirby Laing Center published this wonderful article by Dr. Christopher Wright about developing the holistic calling to ground all missions in God’s completed work, uniting proclamation with justice and compassion.

  • The Center for Public Justice published an important piece on the social significance of adoption and the roles all levels of society play in supporting adoptive families.

[What’s Happening]

This Week 

  • Monday, April 20, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm, the Urban Institute is holding an online panel event, Proven and Promising Interventions to Support Small Businesses: A Guide for Cities, discussing the importance of small businesses in urban community life and how city leaders can further equip these enterprises to thrive.

  • Tuesday, April 21, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, the Brookings Institution is inviting Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Christopher Waller for an in-person conversation, Transforming the Fed’s Operations for the 21st Century.

  • Thursday, April 23, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, the American Enterprise Institute is hosting an in-person conversation with Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent, The Future of Student Loans, discussing how both student borrowers and institutions of higher education will be affected by recent Department of Education policy shifts.

  • Friday, April 24, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, Faith & Law is hosting their weekly Friday forum, inviting author Ed Simcox for an in-person discussion, From Power to Redemption: Chuck Colson and the Legacy of Second Chances.

  • This weekend, April 24-26, the always eclectic Georgetown French Market returns! Georgetown's Book Hill neighborhood turns into its own version of Paris for an entire weekend every April. The Georgetown French Market features more than 35 locally owned merchants, restaurants, galleries, and salons participating in an open-air shopping frenzy from Friday through Sunday. Spectacles also include a caricature artist, live music, and stilt-walkers!

     

Next Week

  1. Monday, April 27, 10:00 am - 1:00 am, the Brookings Institution is hosting an in-person discussion, Power, Religion, and Ideology in North Korea, which examines the strict cult of personality practiced in the hermit kingdom and how it manifests in the spiritual and moral beliefs of the nation’s citizens.

  2. Monday, April 27, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, the Hudson Institute is hosting an in-person conversation with the President of Global Affairs at Goldman Sachs, Jared Cohen, The Future of the Gulf: Commerce and Security in the Middle East After Operation Epic Fury.

  3. Tuesday, April 28, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, the Urban Institute is hosting a virtual conversation, Federal Policy Changes and Their Impacts on Education, discussing how changes to the Department of Education under President Trump’s second term are continuously and permanently changing educational operations, funding, and staffing.

  4. Thursday, April 30, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm, the Heritage Foundation is hosting a virtual panel forum, Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years, offering real policy recommendations to help return the family to its position as the cornerstone of American life.

  5. Saturday, May 2, It’s the one and only, Adams Morgan Spring PorchFest –
    One of the District’s most popular neighborhoods showcases some of DC’s best musical talent. Adams Morgan Spring PorchFest will feature more than 80 bands playing an array of genres, including rock, reggae, funk, Go-Go, rap, bluegrass, classical, and pop. Twenty porches, business patios and parks, as well as the closed 18th Street, will become stages for the day, drawing music-lovers from around the region into the tree-lined streets and small businesses of Adams Morgan.

[Last Things]

  • We are recording podcasts, but posting is on hold while the website is being remodeled.

  • Please let us know how we can serve you, and any prayer requests, which are always kept confidential

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