It is one of the lines of the beatitudes that gets repeated so much we forget what it means.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Wow, that sounds serious. We can just imagine what it feels like to strive for righteousness, to be that clean, pure, self-contained person, maybe sitting in their toga and insisting that everyone just try to do better, with a serene patience.
But see, that is where we lost the metaphor. Because have you ever been hungry? Really hungry? Maybe I haven't been, but I have certainly been hambre enough times. And also really thirsty. It doesn't take too long to be really thirsty. And you know what hunger does to you? Even mild anger? It makes you mad and irritable and impatient and really really wishing that dumb shit would stop happening right now so you can get things done.
So what if Jesus wasn't speaking of a high-flown metaphor about striving for perfection? What if Jesus wanted to take it literally? What if was saying that dealing with unrighteousness makes you feel the same way you feel when you are stuck in traffic and just realized the single four pack of Chips Ahoy cookies you had for lunch has run out and your body is churning having to deal with this absolute fucking bullshit and you deeply, deeply wish that things would just shape up correctly for once.
What if we take this verse to not be about just a patient, stoic devotion to the idea of the better, but we feel it burning in us like we just had a bonk and every cell of us is full of a burning, immediate need? What would a person who was really hungry, hangry, for righteousness, act like? They might act just as impatient and hungry as a person stuck on a customer service line after skipping breakfast. And maybe we should take this verse literally. Maybe we should admit that having to deal with injustice would, and should, make us just as angry as having to bullshit after skipping a meal.