Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more than a secular holiday
honoring an important American. It is also
a day to remember someone who taught the church in America some things about Christian
discipleship. King was more than an
adept leader of a movement; he was at his core a Baptist preacher who sought to
guide people in the way of the Gospel.
In a day when political division generates a bit of rancor
among us, it is healthy to remember someone who taught the importance of loving
our neighbor and even our enemy. King did not choose nonviolent initiative primarily
because it was the most effective tool available to him at the time; rather he
chose this tool because he believed in its preeminent power.
Paul Greenberg wrote, King “understood he had an ally in the
heart of his adversary, and he never ceased appealing to it. He was relentless
in his application of mercy.” King believed
that he strove ultimately not against other people but against the powers they
obey. In Strive Toward Freedom, King observed: “There is a creative Force in this universe
that works to bring the disconnected aspect of reality into a harmonious
whole.” He staked his work on the belief
that God was working in our world to heal what is broken.
In Strength to Love,
King wrote that he lived with the conviction that unearned suffering is
redemptive. He wrote there are some who
find the cross a stumbling block; others see it as foolishness. “But I am more convinced than ever that it is
the power of God to social and individual healing,” wrote King. In Strive Toward Freedom, King warned: “We
will match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure
suffering. We will meet your physical
force with soul force.” The cross of
Jesus clues us in to how we can participate in what God is working out in our
world. This is why King chose
confrontational nonviolence over retaliation.
He staked his life and legacy upon that conviction.
Was King’s approach greeted with love and kindness? No, it created tension, even violent
opposition. He confessed in his “Letter
from a Birmingham Jail” that he was not afraid of tension. He believed tension to be constructive and
necessary for growth. His methodology
was not passive; it was principled. The
principle was that God is working out the creation’s redemption and finally God
will have the last word. King was many
things. Most of all he was simply a
Baptist preacher pointing people in the direction God is moving.
We know that the
whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the
present time. Not only so, but we
ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is
seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait
for it patiently (Romans 8:22-25).
We are people of hope in God. Martin Luther King Jr. Day renews that hope.
Blessings,
Jim Kelsey—Executive Minister of the
American Baptist Churches of New York State
