See a New World

"SEE A NEW WORLD"

a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens

Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.

July 13, 2025

Matthew 5:1-12 NRSV

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² And he began to speak 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 will be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Do you relate to any specific one of the Beatitudes more than the others right now?  Which one?  Can you say a bit about why?

What if I told you that The Gospel According to Matthew was written to people who were living in chaos?  Who were mourning the loss of the center of their faith?  That the authoritative regime of Caesar had come down on them, destroying their temple of worship and leaving them wondering what the future held?  Could you relate to that a bit?  Can you imagine what it meant to them to hear Jesus proclaiming blessings to them?  Perhaps it was the beginning of seeing a new world being born, a better world.

Blessed are you, declare the Beatitudes!  Blessed are you if you can see a new world.  This morning we are exploring the lens through which the Gospel according to Matthew presents Jesus.  We might say the lens this Gospel uses is one that shows Jesus as a new Moses for the people of his day.  These “Beatitudes” were kind of a “10 commandments” for a new community of faith then, and now! They call us to see a new world, a vision for life in what Jesus called the “Kingdom of Heaven.”

I think we might dismiss these words as wishful thinking, too unrealistic, too spiritual.  I don’t believe any of Jesus’ teachings are wishful, unrealistic or too spiritual. I believe Jesus gave us these teachings to inspire us to see a new vision, a new world, a world where God’s purposes are at the center of all we do.  And I don’t believe that the current negative realities in our world mean we can’t change the world for the better, if we will choose to do so.  We have God and God’s love, the most powerful force in the world.  The question we must ask ourselves is, do we believe it is more powerful than those who are using their power to shape our world right now?

I think that the Beatitudes bring an important vision for our world.  I also think many of us feel sorrow and anger about things in our world right now.  I think we are very aware of the poor, those who hunger and thirst for righteous justice, those who need mercy, who are persecuted … all of them really.  One writer shared a thought about our sense of grief that I want to share with you today. She wrote:

“So many of us are carrying … grief right now. We feel it in the headlines, …in the way we brace ourselves when another ruling drops, another politician capitulates, another wildfire burns, another child goes hungry.  Sometimes we fear this grief will overwhelm us, that [ we might ] break.”

But she offers this thought: “‘Our pain for the world is simply one side of the coin, and the other side is our love for the world. They co-arise.’” She went on to say, “this pain is not weakness....  It’s love, in its fiercest, most honest form. We are not distressed because we are broken. We are distressed because we care. Somewhere deep within us, we know that this is not how the world is meant to be.

“It hurts to see the earth plundered, because we remember what it feels like to walk in its beauty. It hurts to see people pushed to the margins, because we carry an ancient knowing that every person belongs. It hurts to witness cruelty and indifference, because our souls are wired for compassion. This ache is holy. It’s not something to push away or numb or ‘fix.’ It is the heart’s natural response to a world out of balance. It is evidence that we have not given up, … that we have not forgotten how to love.”

Then she adds: “Let’s not turn away from that pain…. Let it lead us back to what matters most....  When we let the pain speak, something incredible begins to happen. We remember that we are not alone. Our love is shared. Even in the face of immense suffering, we can still show up with open hands and steady hearts.

“We don’t need to wait until the world is fixed to begin living differently. We can live as if every being matters—because they do. We can live as if tenderness is a form of strength—because it is. We can live as if love is the deepest truth of our existence—because it always has been.  If your heart feels heavy these days, know this: it is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of aliveness. That aliveness—however fragile, however weary—is what the world needs most.”  Rev. Cameron Trimble, [“The Grief That Points to Love,” camerontrimble@substack.com, July 3, 2025. ] I might add it can help us hear these Beatitudes and see the world Jesus urges us to work for.  And when we do, we can change the world as it is, to the world God intends.

Remember that Jesus changed the world with just 11 men – and a bunch of unnamed women.  It only took a few who believed in Jesus’ vision for a different future.  Another article I read recently related to that.  It inspired me, and I hope will inspire you, to act on your love for God’s vision for a different world. 

Erica Chenoweth studied nonviolent resistance to authoritarian regimes.  They concluded that it only takes about 3.5% of a population to bring change. The study tracked movements from our own [nation’s] past, [as well as] from Latin American, African and Southeast Asia and others. Change still faces great challenges: Regimes have taken to controlling information, provoking violence within non-violent movements, and acted to criminalize protest [sound familiar?]. The point still stands.  Even a small group of people who see a new world, who believe in a God where the Beatitudes are lived out, can bring change. [ Lydialyle Gibson, “The Professor Who Quantified Democracy,” Harvard Magazine, July – August 2025, pp. 33-35. ]

Whether we “see” Jesus as a teacher, prophet, Savior, or otherwise – as people of faith, we can live by the blessings the Beatitudes promise.  To believe in God is to believe in the future.  Moses liberated the people of Israel for a new future in a “promised land.”  The Beatitudes show us how to bring about a new world.  Jesus called it the “Kingdom” – or Reign – “of Heaven.”  I believe he meant for it to be reality in this life not just in the “evereafter.”

Can you see a new world now?  Let us see the possibilities of a world where we live by the Beatitudes.  I would say to do so will fulfill the indescribable beauty of this life, and whatever the next may be together now.  AMEN.