Why I Celebrate and Imitate MLK, Jr.
Today we honor and celebrate the life, teachings, and endeavors of Martin Luther King, Jr. I don't know where to start in acknowledging such an incredible example of following Christ, staying faithful to His Word, and challenging a culture to be informed and transformed by the Gospel news of Jesus.
Maybe I'll start with stating the obvious: we need to remember and reflect on the life of this pastor, husband, father, brother, son, and friend. I think many would say that we should imitate King's way of social activism. Others would propose that we should commemorate his writing and preaching styles. Still, some others would suggest we look back to replicate his approaches in politics.
I agree that all of these methods of King, Jr. were powerful indeed and continue to speak prophetically into our lives cross-culturally today. However, the main reason that I would propose we honor and celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. is that he faithfully loved Jesus, imitated Jesus, and preached His Gospel as the only way through which transformation, reconciliation, and societal change could take place.
The more I read, reflect, and look back on the life of MLK, Jr. the more I see a man who honored and celebrated Christ Jesus, and for that, I believe we should esteem, commend, and continue his habits in our time. As a white male, I'm regularly challenged by the Gospel to recognize patterns, systems, and attitudes that need to align with Christ Jesus. In no way do I want this to be primarily political writing, but instead I am reflecting and exhorting all from the standpoint of the Gospel call.
With this said, below are a few ways in which I think MLK, Jr. revealed Jesus to our world and through which I believe we can also manifest the Messiah.
Privilege and Inheritance
Jesus stated, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45)."
MLK, Jr. wrote "Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
Paul wrote in Philippians describing Jesus as one who emptied Himself of privilege, did not consider Himself equal with God, and chose service, obedience, and humility as His operating methods (Phil. 2:5-11).
As a person in a position of authority in my community, I long to live as Jesus did. I do not throw away this power but willingly look for ways to share it others. As a white male, I do not speak of "white male privilege" from a political viewpoint but from personal experience of seeing friends who are women or of minority ethnicity treated more poorly than me.
As I remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, it was to empty Himself of privilege to pour out inheritance to all willing to receive it. As I look back upon the life and teachings of MLK, Jr. I see the voice and actions of a man committed to the same goal.
My challenge would be to recognize the places of privilege we have and share them with one another. Christ Jesus makes sons and daughters out of orphans, and Paul even goes as far to describe these children as heirs and co-heirs with the Son of God. Maybe when we begin to see the places of privilege we hold, others lack, and many need, we can better share the eternally good news of inheritance in the family of Christ Jesus. It just may be that when we cling to the richness of family in the Lord, we will see a much different activity and willingness for change.
If this feels hard to accept it may be because privilege is in the way and convenience is trying to trump the Good News. God loved the world and proved it with His Son who gives the same opportunity to all. When we welcome all into this gift of life and hope, we will find that the Lord will reveal ways in which we have missed the mark by blindly allowing systems and structures to define what we think people need rather than what our Savior is releasing for each person.
Colorblindness and Celebrating Difference
When the Church was formed in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost, there was not a single ethnicity that was present. Many different people, nations, languages, and cultures were present, and tongues of fire were given to uniquely and intentionally describe the Gospel of Jesus to all gathered. Jesus did not just come for those in Israel, but the world. The Church was not only Jewish converts but people from different backgrounds. The people of God displayed in Revelation are not all one race, but they are those from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Rev. 7:9).
All too often I hear Christians suggest colorblindness as the way to overcome racism, but let me ask a question. Why would the Creator of color ask for His Church to be colorblind? Why would the Artist who formed us as masterpieces (Eph. 2:10) create artwork without color? Color is part of God's intentionality in revealing that unity is not uniformity. Differences are not meant to be divisive aspects of life, but opportunities for people to understand and celebrate one another.
In essence, colorblindness is silence on the issues at hand. MLK, Jr. wrote, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Paul writes in Philippians 3 regarding a group of Jewish believers exalting their views above the Gospel. He responds by boasting in his Jewishness as he was born of the tribe of Benjamin and did everything in the Law. But then Paul shifts his language in verse 7 to recognize the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ and being found in Him. What was he saying? Paul is writing that "Hebrew Lives Matter" AND that all is a loss compared to being found in the family and 'race' of Christ Jesus.
If we never step forward to learn, understand, and celebrate one another, we will miss out on the opportunity present in the Kingdom call of true unity in the Lord. When we ask for colorblindness, we miss the surpassing greatness of what is found in Jesus: a family of diverse people unified by a Father who sent His Son to fill all with His Spirit. This family does not overlook color but gives a platform to understand and honor our backgrounds that are being formed into more profound oneness in God.
My challenge is simple: see differences, listen to understand, celebrate each other, and unify in the Good News. God's a better Artist than we give Him credit for and I believe when we see color the way He does, through Jesus' blood, we will be able to love one another more fully.
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
Jesus reveals in Matthew 22:35-40 that the Greatest Commandments are to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. People often simplify these commands as "Love God, Love People." However, I think when we miss one component we miss the whole thing.
Jesus calls us to love God and love people as much as we love ourselves. If we were to take a poll on this, we would not find people loving each other the same way they love themselves. This is either because they simply don't love themselves or because they don't extend love to their neighbor in the same way.
We keep looking for ways to overcome systemic oppression and racism through the political world and social activism. These need to happen, but I think far too many people look to the White House for hope when we are called to look at God's House. King, Jr. wrote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that." I believe when we raise our love game through thoughts, actions, and speech we will find the breakthrough for which we dream. It starts with receiving God's love for us and extending God's love to others. Here are some ways I think we can live out the love of God more holistically:
Listen -- We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Jesus constantly asks for those with ears to listen. James encourages the early Church to be quick to listen and slow to speak (Jms. 1). More often than not we listen with the intent to reply rather than to hear another person. When we shift our perspective to listen to the Lord and others, we may just find new ways to love our neighbor as ourselves. I don't know about you, but I feel loved when I feel genuinely heard. Let's extend that to one another.
Learn -- MLK, Jr. wrote, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." We don't know what we don't know, and we can't see what we can't see. But we can't learn what we don't want to learn. When we enter into a loving posture of learning from those who are different from us, we begin to see more opportunities to love one another. Ignorance is not bliss, and our voices carry way more power than what we give credit. Every person deserves your due diligence in pursuing ways to learn more about them.
Love -- Yes, I just wrote that love is a step of loving others (redundancy at its finest). However, if we take Love out of the equation, we are merely doing a social activity or political scheme. When we define Love through the lens of Christ Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and Word, we find practical steps for engaging one another authentically and with eternal impact. Kevin Weaver writes about this love saying, "Agapeo’: A God kind of Love that always contends for the highest possible good in every situation and keeps contending until it’s a present-tense reality."
In my current city, our population is majority Caucasian with the next largest ethnicity represented as Latino/Hispanic. Not every member of the Latino population speaks Spanish, but many do. One practical step for me to love my neighbor as myself is to relearn Spanish and listen to others so that I can make communication more whole for us both.
What about you? How can you love your neighbor as yourself? Who can you invite over for dinner that doesn't look like you or sound like you? Whose story can you listen to that doesn't replicate your story? Whose opinion can you hear that you may not agree with fully?
Beloved, prejudice is overcome by proximity. Our God came in the flesh to invite all of those in the flesh, no matter the color, to be with God. As we remember MLK, Jr. and how he pointed to the prophetic and eternal Gospel message, may we be a people who reflect this Good News to a world desperately searching for belonging, peace, and love. There's only one place that all of these desires are found: in Christ Jesus.
MLK, Jr. wrote, "There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right." It's time to stand for the right thing, and I think MLK, Jr. would agree the right thing is the Jesus thing: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters ... Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth (1 Jn. 3:16-18)." Amen.
