MLK, in dedication to Scripture, was a hero
Over many years of visiting Boston’s middle school students, a question they were frequently asked was: “Who is there in public life who has so impacted you with his or her words and actions that they’ve actually inspired visions and dreams in you?”
Too often the answer, if there was any answer at all, would be a rock star or a basketball player.
“I was lucky,” their guest would tell them. “I had two: Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
Graham, who died six weeks ago today at 99, and King, who died 50 years ago today at 39, were Baptist ministers from the south who traveled parallel paths to immortality.
Graham preached the saving Gospel while King preached the social Gospel; while Billy drew throngs to altars, King drew multitudes to the streets, and he did it through an intimate knowledge of Scripture.
When King envisioned “justice running down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he was quoting the prophet Amos.
When he envisioned a day that “every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain made low,” he was quoting the prophet Isaiah.
Those thundering presentations had their roots in a lifetime of Bible studies.
Remember, King was only 34 when he gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
But the talk best remembered here was the spontaneous message he delivered in Memphis, Tenn., 50 years ago last night, not knowing it would be broadcast to an overflowing congregation as his own eulogy five days later.
“The Lord has allowed me to go up to the mountain,” he told attendees at the Mason Temple in Memphis, paraphrasing Moses atop Mount Nebo, adding, “I’ve seen the Promised Land. So I’m happy tonight. I’m not fearing any man; my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
Then, almost as if he could hear eternity’s clock ticking, King added, “If any of you are around when I meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. I won’t have any of the fine, luxurious things of life to leave behind. I just want to leave a committed life behind.”
He returned to his room and was assassinated the following evening.
Imagine: He never saw 40.
Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr.: Personal heroes here, indeed.
We’ve never seen public figures like them since, and it’s unlikely we ever will again.