(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

We remember that fifty years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, drum major for justice, follower of the Prince of Peace, martyr for rooting out racism as a gardener for God, and prophet of non-violence, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. In the sorrow of a life cut short and the sadness of imagining what could have been, it is perhaps worth a moment of our time today to consider how far we have come and how far we have yet to go as a country, as humans, in living out the gospel values for which Dr. King gave his life at the still young age of thirty-nine.

Having experienced and being conscious of racism from the time he was a young boy, he grew up to be a theologian, minister, and preacher who addressed all humans by appealing to “the better angels of our nature.” He appealed to fellow Christians of all colors and persuasions, to explore the scriptures, to search our hearts, and to use the life of Jesus of Nazareth as the moral template of our daily lives. Although often viewed as a political figure, albeit a provocateur of conscience, it is especially important for people of faith to remember that Reverend King’s vision, values, message, and life were rooted in the theology of the Jewish-Christian scriptures, the same scriptures that, though proclaimed weekly in worship services throughout America, were largely ignored or manhandled by most white Christians to accommodate prejudice and to justify racism and ignorance. He is arguably the greatest prophet this country has ever produced, which is high praise for Dr. King and an indictment of the United States.

The gift and burden of the prophet is the capacity and willingness to see the world from a divine perspective. It is to concern oneself with what concerns God, the source and giver of life, and the lover of humankind and the sacred community of all the earth. The gift and burden of the prophet, and therefore the contribution and crime of Dr. King, was to have the courage to speak truth to power, to have the mettle to be a spoke in the wheel that rolls smoothly for the privileged of the dominant culture while rolling over the victims of it, and to have the audacity to hold a mirror up to people and systems revealing vileness, hatred, ignominy, injustice, and sin. He also showed to the white citizenry the truth spoken by his fellow prophet and friend, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who said: “Some are guilty, all are responsible.”

Originally, wanting to be a college professor of theology, Martin Luther King, Jr. instead responded to what he perceived was a more urgent and necessary call:

• to be a local pastor of regular, hardworking people of faith struggling to live with dignity and integrity in the face of the virulent tenacity of jim-crowism in the deep south;
• to be a preacher calling for all people to step into the fullness of their God-given dignity whether that meant African-Americans claiming their sacred humanity or white Americans acknowledging and turning away from their perpetuation of racism or being complicit in its unjust consequences;
• to be the the retriever of the lost or neglected gospel mandatum of non-violence commanded and embodied by Jesus and the herald of the radical love which alone can motivate and sustain it.

Perhaps his greatest inspiration is that, though being an imperfect man with his own fears and foibles, facing criticism, resistance, physical violence, death threats, blatant racism, and barbaric hate, Dr. King never shied away from proclaiming the implications of aligning one’s life with Jesus. He never wavered on his insistence that all are created equal and its antecedent — that each and all are the image of God. He never abdicated, modified, or diluted the non-violent mandate of the gospel, nor did he ever side-step Jesus’ insistence on loving one’s enemies. And lastly, he never waffled on his conviction that love, the agapic love1 that fired Jesus is at the heart of the Christ-life and the balm that alone can transform and heal individual lives and repair the world. Like Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr. consciously and willingly gave away his life for the sake of love. What possibly could be a greater testament to the magnanimous quality of one’s life?

1 There are four main words for love in Greek. eros, storge, phileo, and agape. Phileo and agape are used in various places in the bible. Agape refers to the ultimate and highest expression of love. It is noble and willingly sacrificial. When enacted or approximated by humans it is understood to be emblematic of God’s love for humanity and the cosmos.

FRIENDS, if you enjoy and benefit from these reflections,please share The Almond Tree from THE SACRED BRAID with others. I appreciate it.