Today, Martin Luther King Day of 2009, is a momentous occasion as we look forward to tomorrow when Barack Obama, the first African American president, will take the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States. Obama will be using the same Bible used by the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, at his inauguration in 1861.
The American promise of equality and freedom rings true as people of all races gather on the Washington Mall from all over the country and the world to prepare for the inauguration of President Obama.
The gathering is reminiscent of and a consequence of the orderly demonstration of 250,000 people who gathered on the Washington Mall over 45 years ago on August 28th of 1963 for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was here that the historic, I Have a Dream speech, was delivered by Dr. King as he stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
His speech, replayed in full over CNN news today, spoke of the future struggle for justice. He warned that the struggle would be hard and many would be imprisoned for their efforts. However, Dr. King said, "We must not be guilty of wrongful deeds, not drink from the cup of bitterness and hatred"...but rather move in the "high plain of dignity and discipline...meeting physical force with soul force.".
DIGNIFIED AND NON-VIOLENT
Dr King, other black ministers and leaders of the civil rights movement were insistent that the demonstrations for freedom would be controlled, orderly, dignified and non-violent. People who could not accept this condition were asked to leave. The strength, discipline and determination of these demonstrators spoke to the hearts of many Americans as they watched with horror on television the attacking dogs, water hosings and imprisonment of the demonstrators.
This powerful strength to love, in spite of past and present violence against them, was a convincing factor that led to the passage of the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965.
The determination and ability of black leadership to speak truth to love laid the foundation of a a just society for all people.
As a Baptist minister at the Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, Dr. King held firm to the teachings of Jesus. In 1963, he published a book of his sermons entitled Strength to Love.
The remaining portion of this entry will honor Dr. King's wisdom by presenting excerpts from one of his sermons entitled "Loving Your Enemies".
LOVING YOUR ENEMIES
from: Strength to Love. by Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. pgs. 49-57.
Probably no admonition of Jesus has been more difficult to follow than the command to "love your enemies". Some have sincerely felt that its actual practice is not possible...Others, like the philosopher Nietzsche, contend that Jesus' exhortation to love one's enemies is testimony to the fact that the Christian ethic is designed for the weak and cowardly, and not for the strong and courageous. Jesus, they say was an impractical idealist...
Jesus is not an impractical idealist: he is the practical realist.
I am certain that Jesus understood the difficulty inherent in the act of loving one's enemy. He never joined the ranks of those who talked glibly about the moral life...
HOW DO WE LOVE OUR ENEMIES?
First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive... Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.
Second, we must recognise that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy...
Third, we must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding...
Every word and deed must contribute to an understanding with the enemy and release those vast reservoirs of goodwill which have been blocked by impenetrable walls of hatred...
LOVE IS AGAPE
Love is something much deeper than emotional bosh... An overflowing love which seeks nothing in return, Agape, is the love of God operating in the human heart. At this level, we love not because we like them... we love the person who does an evil deed, although we hate the deed that he does.
How can we be affectionate toward a person whose avowed aim is to crush our very being and place innumerable stumbling blocks in our path?...
When Jesus bids us to love our enemies he is speaking of Agape - understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all.
WHY SHOULD WE LOVE OUR ENEMIES?
The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars...
Another reason why we must love our enemies is that hate scars the soul and distorts the personality... Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes that personality and eats away its vital unity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
...Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up.
Love transforms with redemptive power.
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