King’s words of compassion, justice vital
As the years go by and his presence recedes deeper into history, it’s tempting to regard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an icon from a long-ago era, fascinating to remember but essentially irrelevant to the America of today.
After all, it’s been almost 49 years since he was cut down by an assassin’s bullet, though it’s more sobering here to realize he was only 39 when he died.
To look upon him as yesterday’s news, save for this annual federal holiday in his honor, would be to squander a message that’s as spot on today as it ever was, especially his dismay with the passivity of many churches and comfortable congregations, content to remain on society’s sidelines, which he once likened to “sleeping through a revolution.”
As the son, grandson and great-grandson of Baptist preachers, King had a fire in his bones for the social Gospel as opposed to the saving Gospel, not that both weren’t integral to his calling. But the idea of being our brother’s keeper and not turning a blind eye to injustice was the essence of his ministry.
But he was careful not to foist the Bible on listeners who might regard it as a reason to tune him out; he understood Bible-thumping can be counterproductive.
Yet in his final remarks just hours before he was slain, when he told striking Memphis garbage workers, “I’ve been to the mountaintop; I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you,” he was clearly echoing Moses atop Mount Nebo.
And when he invoked an image of “justice running down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he was directly quoting the prophet Amos.
Wise as a serpent? You bet he was.
Americans weren’t hearing a sermon; they were seeing one, which is why it worked.
In his absence, who does that now?
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he lamented a church community he saw as “more cautious than courageous, (remaining) silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.” He wrote that in 1963. “The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent sanction of things as they are.”
Indeed, look around; what do you think he might have written today?
To regard this remarkable man only as a towering figure from the past would be to miss the point, for truly those truths he shared endure to all generations, especially this one.