MLK & Reconciliation


On November 11, 1957 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon on the command of Jesus to "Love Your Enemies." King explains the power of love in this way:

"Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies." 

Love has the redemptive power to transform individuals. 

Martin Luther King Jr. spent his life being an example of the redemptive power of love to transform individuals. He did not shy away from the hard facts of loving your enemies. King tells us to love even in the face of mistreatment. King tells us to keep being friendly, to do nothing to embarrass our enemies, but just to keep loving them. In his letter to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul explains this 'way of love,' saying,

 "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Cor. 13: 4-7)

 King and Paul do not shy away from the fact that to pursue this kind of redemptive, transforming love means making self-sacrifice, bearing burden, and enduring mistreatment. This is the power of love that is capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. In the Greek language, this love is agape, the highest form of love. Agape love is affection, good will, and benevolence. The true power of love comes from pursuing others with good will, affection, and benevolence even in the face of rejection, scorn, mistreatment, or blatant hatred. As King says, this kind of love "builds up and is creative." This kind of benevolent, self-giving love overcomes the hatred that "tears down and is destructive."

Love your enemies was the command of Christ. The love of Christ is what motivated Martin Luther King Jr. to continue to pursue justice, peace and love in the face of the hatred that he experienced his entire life. MLK was a living example of the ministry of reconciliation.

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5:14-19)

 We cannot be reconciled to one another until we are reconciled to God. 

 Then begins the ministry of reconciliation, where we implore others, "Be reconciled to God."

MLK was motivated by the love of Christ, and the dignity God imparts to every human being -- as we are all made in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). Jesus Christ was the example that MLK sought to follow because God sent Christ to die for the sins of His enemies. Similarly, MLK protested non-violently to draw attention to the rift of racial injustice in ways that confront us in our sin without condemning us. MLK was centered on the restorative love of God, and that is what drove his appeals to all of us.

Peace and ethnic unity comes from God. God pursues us and was willing to sacrifice His only Son to bring sinners near to Him. As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians, "you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (Eph. 2:13) Paul continues, "For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." (Ephesians 2:14-18)

 Jesus had to become man and shed his blood for sinners. Sin creates hostility, enmity with a holy God. God sent Christ into the world to reconcile sinners to Himself. The death of Christ on the cross abolished the law of commandments, and killed the hostility sinners have with God and one another. As a man Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, fulfilling the law that created our hostility with God. And through the cross Jesus made peace with God for our sake. Sinners have peace with God when they are united to Christ by faith because his blood was shed for us. By sending His Son to die for our sins, God was reconciling us to himself.

As reconciled people, we work for all to be reconciled to God, and to one another. We cannot have peace with God apart from Christ, and we cannot have peace with one another apart from Christ. 

The love of Christ at the cross is the greatest example of redemptive love in history. This reconciling love of God is what motivated MLK to live the way he did. And it enables us who trust in Christ to join in the ministry of reconciliation, as MLK did.

If you haven't trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, I hope that the beauty of his love would be poured out into your heart and that you would put your faith in him, and doing so receive the reconciliation with God that Jesus died for you to claim. You can have peace with God today! The love of Christ will redeem you and transform you!
.
If you have put your faith in Jesus, today is a day to thank God for sending His Son. Today is a day to thank Jesus for laying down his life for sinners, so that we could be reconciled to God. Today is a day to thank God for the life of Martin Luther King Jr. whose Christ-like sacrificial love has transformed countless lives. Lastly, today is a day to consider how we can continue to pursue the ministry of reconciliation in our own lives.

What steps can you take toward reconciliation today? Here are some options:
  • Listen to someone who thinks differently than you.
  • Read a book from an author of African-American or Indigenous background. 
  • Read Martin Luther King, Jr's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and think about how you relate to it in your life today. 
  • Find a service opportunity among the disadvantaged or people of color that you can participate in within the next month. 
  • Find a podcast that might expand your thinking or challenge preconceived notions. 
  • Ask a person about their experience. 
  • Read the Scriptures and ask God who is in your sphere of influence that you can learn from, and encourage in the gospel. Listening, learning, and serving are the kinds of things that encourage reconciliation. We cannot witness to people from a distance. We have to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and the Good Samaritan if we are to truly love our neighbor as ourself.
Thanks for reading!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking in Wisdom

Image
Augustine of Hippo is famously quoted as saying to God, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you." We have to consider this: If God really is our Creator, and the Bible really is His inspired word, God's words and instructions for us are life. He is our Maker and he knows how we are made. Therefore, when we are reading the Bible, we are looking into the truth about ourselves. We are grasping onto the truth of how we are wired to operate, which means we can be learning true wisdom. Let's think about wisdom in a few contexts from the Scriptures, and we can weigh for ourselves the authority we think they deserve. A Pure Heart: Wisdom in Conduct From the New Testament James 3:13–18 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is ...
Read more

32 For 32

Image
Each year around my birthday (for the past three years), I like to share my thoughts from the previous year. These are keen and not so keen observations, musings, and the like. Feel free to read and disagree, silently judge, or even criticize these -- I'll probably never know that you did that! Those little nose pimples that you get on the inside of your nostril from time to time are the worst.  Life is really, really hard. We aren't meant to go it alone. We need community. I've lived most of my life thinking the opposite, but I'm realizing I need people more and more as I get older.  Social media lives are not reality. Who are you trying to impress? Who am  I  trying to impress? Fear is perhaps our strongest motivator. Beware of any person who tries to influence you based on your fears. Has craft beer jumped the shark? I will neither confirm, nor deny. But you know what will never jump the shark. A nice cold domestic. Also, I recently learned that Bud Ligh...
Read more

Go On Up To The Mountain Every Day (Part 2)

Image
Always wear Packers gear when you know you'll be standing on top of a mountain.  In part 1 of this 2 part blogstravaganza we looked at the depth of our need for a Savior. We saw that because of our sin, we find ourselves separated from the holy God and we are helpless to save ourselves by works of the law. The greatness of the gospel of God's grace to sinners is that while we are sinners, He redeems us and reconciles us to Himself through the blood of Jesus.  This post will look at 2 more reasons why we should preach ourselves the gospel every day.  2) The gospel magnifies God's grace in provision by bringing us in awe to the foot of the cross. We have rebelled and ruined our relationship with God on account of our sin. We cannot obey the law or any other religious practices to purify ourselves in order that we may draw near to the holy God. It doesn't work! But that isn't the end of our story! God takes us from hopeless sinners to hopeful sons! Fo...
Read more

A Prayer For 2019

Image
2019 is here, people! Out of the abundant favor of God, we are here in Nebraska as I write this, staying at a lovely AirBnB as a family, celebrating the holiday and enjoying time together. Last night, we were studying Ephesians 3 as we prepared for the New Year, and it seemed like such a fitting and beautiful prayer to ring in 2019, that I wanted to pass it along. Here is the prayer that I am joining with the Apostle Paul almost 2000 years ago in praying for myself and others, and for you and for those you love. Prayer for Spiritual Strength 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and ...
Read more

The Boy Who Walked Away Alive

Image
Have you heard about the boy who died? There is a scene in Acts chapter 20 where Luke records something miraculous that occurs in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Late one night in a well lit upper room, Paul is sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God with a group of disciples in Troas. As night wears on, a young listener named Eutychus is overwhelmed by sleepiness and tragically falls out of a window to his death. Paul descends the stairs of the building and hovers over the boy. In the same way that Jesus assured the ruler whose young daughter had died, so Paul issues forth comfort in his speech, saying, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him” (Acts 20:10 ESV). This calls to mind life-giving resurrections told of in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha as well. The miraculous happens again, and they took away the boy alive. How can this be? How can the dead be made alive? Who invests this resurrection power to defeat this solemn and universal enemy? Truly this is t...
Read more