Martin Luther King, Jr.—
Honoring the legacy of a peacemaker.
Joel Weaver
January 15, 2017
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What happened on January 15, 1929?
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Michael King was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Reverend
Michael King, Sr. and Alberta King, a choir leader and organit.
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In 1934, his father renamed himself and his son to honor
Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer of Wittenberg.
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King was a precocious student and began college by age
15, gaining degrees in Sociology and Divinity.
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He was ordained as a Baptist minister in February 1948 at
age 19 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
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After gaining a PhD in Theology from Boston University
at age 25, King was called as pastor of the Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
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King became a leader of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference in 1957
and led it till his assassination in 1968.
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This group was created to harness the
moral authority and organizing power of
black churches to conduct nonviolent
protests to pursue civil rights reform.
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King was an eloquent speaker and writer,
and drew his inspiration for nonviolent
resistance to injustice from the teachings of
Jesus. He said, “Christ furnished the spirit
and motivation, and Gandhi furnished the
method.”
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In 1955, after Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of
the bus, King became a leader of the Montgomery bus
boycott and gained national prominence.
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King insisted on a policy of nonviolence despite the threat
of white violence. Even after his home was bombed, King
forbade those guarding his home from carrying guns;
instead, he told his followers, "Keep moving … with the
faith that what we are doing is right, and with the even
greater faith that God is with us in the struggle."
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He considered his ideas about civil rights to be firmly rooted not
just in common sense or political theory, but in Scripture itself.
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To those who told him he should focus on salvation of souls, he
wrote, ”The Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one hand,
it seeks to change the souls of men, and thereby unite them with
God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental
conditions of men so the soul will have a chance after it is
changed."
King faced continual threats and
physical attacks for advocating for
racial equality, receiving dozens of
threatening phone calls a day.
During the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
he had a powerful encounter with God
which he later related: “One midnight
my phone rang and the caller said,
‘Nigger, we are tired of you and your
mess now. And if you aren't out of this
town in three days, we're going to blow
your brains out and blow up your
house.’
I sat there and thought about a beautiful little daughter who had
just been born. … She was the darling of my life. I'd come in night
after night and see that little gentle smile. And I sat at that table
thinking about that little girl and thinking about the fact that she
could be taken away from me any minute. And I started thinking
about a dedicated, devoted, and loyal wife, who was over there
asleep. And she could be taken from me, or I could be taken from
her.
And I got to the point that I couldn't take it any longer. I was
weak. …so I went to prayer. ‘Oh Lord,’ I prayed, ‘I’m down here
trying to do what is right. But, Lord, I must confess that I’m weak
now. I’m afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and
if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will
falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I can’t
face it alone.”
“I sat there, my head bowed, tears
burning my eyes. But then I felt
something—a presence, a stirring
inside. And it seemed that an inner
voice was speaking to me with
quiet assurance: ‘Martin Luther,
stand up for righteousness. Stand
up for justice. Stand up for truth.
And, lo, I will be with you, even
unto the end of the world.’
“I know it was the voice of Jesus
telling me still to fight on. And he
promised never to leave me, never
to leave me alone. No, never alone,
No, never alone. I could trust Him!
I can stand up without fear. I can
face anything.”
“Loving Your Enemies” is a 1957 King sermon based on one of
the most famous passages from the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 5:43-48:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in
heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love
those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the
tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own
people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even
pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
After discussing different Greek words for “love” used in the
Bible, King reflects on Jesus’ command:
“…it’s significant that he does not say, “Like your enemy.” Like
is a sentimental something, an affectionate something. There are
a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they
do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I
don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re
doing. I don’t like them.
But Jesus says love them. And love
is greater than like. Love is
understanding, redemptive
goodwill for all men, so that you
love everybody, because God loves
them. You refuse to do anything that
will defeat an individual, because
you have agape in your soul. And
here you come to the point that you
love the individual who does the
evil deed, while hating the deed that
the person does. This is what Jesus
means when he says, “Love your
enemy.” This is the way to do it.
When the opportunity presents
itself when you can defeat your
enemy, you must not do it.”
King met Reverend Billy Graham at a crusade in New York City in
1957 and they remained close friend till King’s death. Graham had
refused to allow his events to be segregated and they both spoke
out against racial injustice. Graham’s crusades were an inspiration
to King and the SCLC to carry out peaceful multiracial gatherings.
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For his nonviolent protests against Jim Crow laws King received
death threats, was once stoned, and was arrested 13 times and often
held in solitary confinement.
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In 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, he was jailed for protesting
peacefully and wrote a very influential “Letter from a Birmingham
Jail” to answer those who said he should be patient and wait for
gradual change.
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King argued that the crisis of racism was too urgent, and the racist
system too entrenched: "We know through painful experience that
freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be
demanded by the oppressed.”
King wrote,
“There was a time when the church was very powerful — in the time
when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer
for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a
thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular
opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. . . .
But the judgment of God is upon the church [today] as never
before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of
the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of
millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no
meaning for the 20th century.”
King was an organizer of the August 28, 1963 March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom and gave his famous “I have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000 from the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial on August 28.
The speech was just over 15 minutes
— and is a rhetorical masterpiece.
“Let us not wallow in the valley of
despair. I say to you today my friends
— so even though we face the
difficulties of today and tomorrow, I
still have a dream. . . I have a dream
that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their
character.
I have a dream today.”
King makes references to the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address, and most importantly, the Bible. Here’s his
allusion to Isaiah 40:4:
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and
every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places
will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all
flesh shall see it together.
In closing this iconic message, King’s words ring out:
“Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we
allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village
and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be
able to speed up that day when all of God’s children — black
men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics — will be able to join hands and sing in the words of
the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!’”
In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating
racial inequality through nonviolent resistance and was
Time’s Man of the Year.
In 1965, he helped to organize the nonviolent Selma to
Montgomery Alabama march to demand full voting rights
for all, regardless of skin color.
On April 4, 1968, King was in Memphis, Tennessee to help
with black sanitation workers’ strike for equal treatment.
That day he was assassinated by James Earl Ray outside
room 306 of the Lorraine Motel.
Of course, there was deep sorrow and
outrage around the world at the loss of
this courageous man. Billy Graham
was on a crusade in Australia. This is
his reaction when he heard the news:
“I was almost in a state of shock. Not
only was I losing a friend through a
vicious and senseless killing, but
America was losing a social leader and
a prophet, and I felt his death would
be one of the greatest tragedies in our
history.”
President Johnson declared a national day of mourning.
The nation mourned King's death,
and the civil rights movement
fragmented irreversibly.
King was posthumously awarded
the Presidential Medal of Freedom
and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was
established as a holiday in
numerous cities and states
beginning in 1971, and as a U.S.
federal holiday in 1986. The Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial on the
National Mall in Washington, D.C.,
was dedicated in 2011.
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life to change the world, and
toward the end he was increasingly aware that his efforts might
cost him his life. The night before he was assassinated he
preached at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple. His message
came to be called “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”
He began it by surveying world history in response to God's
question: “When would you have liked to be alive?”
King answered, “If you allow me to live just a few years in the
second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy.”
“Why? Because I see God working in this period of the twentieth
century in a way that men in some strange way are responding.
Something is happening in our world.”
What was happening? “We are determined to be men. We are
determined to be people.” We are standing up. “A man can't ride
your back unless it is bent.”
For a brief window of time — just long enough — MLK was able
to use his voice to restrain violence and overcome hate: “When
we are unselfish, we are masters in our nonviolent movement in
disarming police forces. They don't know what to do.”
“It is a dangerous kind of unselfishness. Like the Good
Samaritan. The Levite asked, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will
happen to me?’ But the Good Samaritan reversed the question:
‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’
That's the question before you tonight.”
A dangerous unselfishness.
So dangerous it would cost King his life. And he saw it coming.
In fact, that morning there was a bomb threat on his plane from
Atlanta to Memphis. So he closed his sermon prophetically:
“We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t
matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.
And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life
— longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s
will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve
looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get
there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a
people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I’m happy
tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any
man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
Ten hours later he was dead.
Great strides have been made in the United States
in the fifty years since King’s death. We dishonor
him if we overlook the many triumphs and steps
forward that have happened to make our nation
more inclusive. The Millennials were born into a
different society than the Boomers.
But recent events such as Black Lives Matter and
the incendiary rhetoric of the presidential
campaign show that there is much more to be
done to heal racial divides.
As a Christian, Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that
some decisive victories inevitably await “that
day.”
That day we are utterly and finally free at last in
the new creation, in the presence of the True
Liberator, Jesus the King.
But we labor to speed up that day, and bring as
many foretastes of it as we can into ours.
John the Revelator gives us a preview of heaven:
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take
the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by
your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe
and language and people and nation!” Revelation 5:9
Lucky we live Hawai’i!
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26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of
God through faith, 27 for all of you who
were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is
there male and female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according
to the promise. Galatians 3:26
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of
God through faith, 27 for all of you who
were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is
there male and female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according
to the promise. Galatians 3:26
•In the recent election, 81 percent of white
evangelicals supported Trump, more than
voted for Bush, McCain, or Romney. •Yet almost the same percentage of AfricanAmerican, Asian and Hispanic evangelicals
voted against Trump.
•Our “one nation, under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all” is showing fault
lines.
“Politics is the church’s worst problem. It is her
constant temptation, the occasion of her greatest
disasters, the trap continually set for her by the
prince of this world.” French sociologist Jacques Ellul
“Love—andtheunityitatteststo—isthemark
ChristgaveChristianstowearbeforetheworld.
Onlywiththismarkmaytheworldknowthat
ChristiansareindeedChristiansandthatJesuswas
sentbytheFather.…ItispossibletobeaChristian
withoutshowingthemark,butifweexpectnonChristianstoknowthatweareChristians,wemust
showthemark.”
FrancisSchaeffer,“TheMarkofaChristian”
•Christians have a divided loyalty, committed to
helping our society thrive while giving ultimate
loyalty to the kingdom of God.
•This was the root of Martin Luther King, Jr’s calling
—he was serving a heavenly kingdom.
•We are resident aliens, taking guidance not from a
party platform but from the life Jesus modeled for us
of crossing borders—gaps—that separate us from
others, rather than widening them.
•As Christians, we can mind the gap in our country
by praying and acting in ways that fulfill Jesus
prayer that the world will “Know we are Christians
by our love.”
Dance Ministry:
Let My People Pray!