The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet sent from God to remind us that to live authentically we must put the “least of these" first. It is right and honorable that our nation notes his accomplishments with parades, concerts, speeches, and memorials. There is hope in a country that honors such a messenger the way we do. The highest honor we could accord him, however, would be to continue acting on the issues he preached about.
Dr. King opposed the Vietnam War. You can guess with a measure of certainty what he would have thought about the conflict in Iraq. He saw war as contrary to the will of God. The words that he spoke at Riverside Church in New York in 1967 still speak to us today:
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning humans with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and with widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
We know about Dr. King largely because of his leadership in the civil rights movement. It is ironic and dishonest to slander his name today by associating his dream of a colorblind society with opposition to affirmative action. Racism and gender inequality still exist in America. Affirmative action is needed to help break down barriers in the workplace and in our institutions of higher learning.
Poverty was a central concern of Dr. King’s. “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits,” he said when accepting the Noble Peace Prize. “I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.”
His message was always hopeful and the need for reconciliation among God’s people was at the core of everything he spoke. Yet for some it was not a comforting message. Dr. King challenged the power structures of western civilization with his calls for peace and justice. He reminded us that Christian faith is not a status-quo philosophy. The essential message of the Gospels is radical. “This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future,” he said. “It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.”
If we really want to honor Dr. King we need to keep finding ways to work within our own time and context to promote the issues and causes that he did. Dr. King reminded us to do what Jesus called us to do. Work for peace and justice.