“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”[1]
On Monday we will be celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My experience tells me that Dr. King after all these years is still a divisive figure, but I think he is not as divisive as he should be. I contend that his memory has been sanitized to make him into a very safe, but not very controversial, martyr. His legacy starts with the very real struggle for justice by African Americans, but our culture has focused on a myopic view of his life and work which in the end constructs a story about a courageous black man and the triumph of the melting pot. In this formulation Martin Luther King’s life and death helped to make it possible for everyone to share equally in the “American Dream.” If you think about what that means practically, it is that we all have equal access to a life “style” of self-centered over-consumption as the ultimate end of life. And I will argue that this view twists Dr. King’s actual message beyond recognition.
One of the ways in which we have neglected to understand King is by overlooking the fact that he was and always claimed to be first and foremost a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because we live in a secular society the celebration of Christian virtues is often minimized in public discourse to the extent that it is rendered “inoffensive.” Let’s leave aside the fact that the gospel intends to be offensive to the world and just observe that to separate an understanding of the gospel from Dr. King’s message robs both of their power. The true meaning of sacrifice is obscured by notions of secular virtue and sappy emotionalism. And I think it is safe to say that this dilution occurs not only in the public discourse but within the church as well; that too often the church comfortably reflects the values of society rather than the counter-cultural offensiveness of the gospel.
In 1963 Martin Luther King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama for leading a campaign of civil disobedience aimed at dismantling the institutionalized segregation that effectively created a legally inferior class of the African-American community. While incarcerated he wrote the letter we have come to know as the “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” or to a lesser degree as “The Negro is Your Brother.” This was an open letter but it responded specifically to a group of white pastors who had criticized Dr. King’s activities against injustice in Birmingham. They had accused him among other things of being an “extremist” outside agitator. His response was
…[A]s I began to think about the matter I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love – “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice – “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” … So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice – or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?[2]
The gospel is extremist. Jesus was extreme in the accomplishment of his mission “…though he was in the form of God, [Christ] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8 ESV) (See also Mt. 26:39) As disciples (followers) of Jesus, we look to him as our model. We must be willing, along with Paul and the apostles and all of those who have since devoted themselves unreservedly to the gospel, like King, to be martyred in the service of God. And though for most of us this does not mean physical torture and death, it at least requires the death of our worldly selves as we are born into communion with Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV) Jesus will have our hearts in whole or not at all.
So in reflecting on the upcoming holiday I think it is time that we recover the meaning of Martin Luther King’s life for us as Christians. Yes, he was concerned about the African American community but as a minister of the gospel he was concerned about God’s “Beloved Community,” which he believed consists of all who are in Christ. In a lesser known speech in opposition to the war in Vietnam delivered by Dr. King exactly one year before his death he made this clear. In explaining his motivation he pointed out his obligation to “the brotherhood of man” as a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace. He then went on to say
This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be they do not know the good news was meant for all men – for Communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully he died for them?[3]
As we remember the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., let us rededicate ourselves as followers of Jesus to live as he lived. We are called to do more than simply admire Jesus, we are to live his life, or, more specifically, we are to surrender so fully that he can live his life through us. Martin Luther King was exemplary in this regard, but our remembrance of him is insipid. Let us honor the legacy of Dr. King by not only recalling the sacrificial spirit of his life but by surrendering ourselves to the prophetic nature of our own calling: to be the hands and feet of God, regardless of the cost.
[1] Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Strength to Love” in James M. Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.,(San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991), 501.
[2] Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” in Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope, 297, 298.
[3] Martin Luther King, Jr. “A Time to Break Silence” in Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope, 234.
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