Green Day's "Holiday" was released as the third single from their seventh studio album American Idiot. It's about the American government and society during the Iraqi War. It begins by commenting on how the thousands of dead Americans and Iraqis are nameless to the average American citizen. The song expresses resentment with the corporate greed and corruption involved in the "rebuilding" effort, and shows how the average protester realizes that the pro-war money involved has more power than they can ever have. It also points out the irony of the Christian right-wing feeling religiously justified in this war: "Can I get another 'Amen'? There's a flag wrapped around the score of men."Say, hey!
Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name
Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called "Faith and Misery" (Hey!)
And bleed, the company lost the war today
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side
Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
(Hey!)
(Say, hey!)
"The representative from California has the floor"
Zieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don't agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that's meant for me
Just cause (hey, hey, hey), just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
This is our lives on holiday
Green Day "Holiday" is a protest song against an oppressive system, against a government who cares more for power than for people. A protest song that dares to dream for something different. In that sense "Holiday is also a song of hope and longing "I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies" Dreaming and longing for a better life and future is what I get when I read the fourth beatitude "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied"
This fourth beatitude is all about dreaming for a better day. When we reflect on what Jesus is saying here we realise soon enough that Jesus is not talking here about ordinary hunger or thirst. We come very fast to the conclusion that Jesus is talking about the human need, The human drive, desires, appetites and passions that lie within all of us. An inbuilt longing and desire that is in the human heart for evil or for good. Here in the beatitude Jesus is stressing the desire and longing for righteousness. This is not a desire for religiosity or for a self satisfying religious experience. What Jesus is pointing to here goes much deeper to the quest for a better humanity. The "Righteousness" in this passage can be understood at a "Right Relationship" a "Right Standing" a longing for Doing the "Right" things and it can also be thought of as "Justice" "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Justice" "God's Justice" A longing for the time when God himself rights all the wrongs.
Jesus in this fourth beatitude is speaking to those who long for injustice to be a thing of the past. This has much to say to us about the present day injustice of discrimination, racism, sexism, food poverty, war, the arms trade, corrupt governments, crooked politicians and so on, Those that promise much and in the end they deliver very little. This beatitude has people at the centre just like the other beatitudes. Jesus says for those who are longing for justice like a person is hungry for food or thirsty for water then they will be satisfied. There will come a day or a time and season in other words that the hunger and thirst will be a thing of the past. There will come a day when justice will roll like streams. We find Amos the prophet in the Old Testament confessing his hunger and thirst for this season in Amos 5. "But let justice run down like water,And righteousness like a mighty stream."
This is a beatitude of hope and a flickering torch in the darkness for those who in our day hunger and thirst for righteousness and for those who long for "Justice". For those across the planet who are longing for a better day. For the places today where life does not mean very much. For the endless injustices that we read about or watch in the media, For the corruption in governments and politics, For the least, the last and the lost there is an uprising in the heart that longs and dreams like the lyric in Green Day's "Holiday" "I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies, This is the dawning of the rest of our lives". Jesus, May your justice come swiftly today for many. Amen
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