Would Dr. King Be Welcome Today?
Reflecting on his 1957 Essay, "Loving Your Enemies."
Hi Southbound readers,
It’s been a few weeks since you heard from me. I still owe you two articles to close out my series on Cherokee expulsion—one that wrestles with the names of places and another to sum up my main takeaways from this journey. Those pieces are on the way but have been slower to close out for a few reasons. My day job has been busier this month, and COVID-19 finally came to visit last week (thankfully only as a cold and fatigue). On top of that, frankly I’m still doing some reflecting of my own on how we should think about place names.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a brief reflection I wrote last MLK Day that quotes his 1957 sermon, “Loving Your Enemies.” His words were fitting then, but in many ways they apply now just as much. Here it is:
Sometimes I wonder whether Dr. King would be shunned if he were alive today.
His views on poverty, war, and labor would earn him the “radical socialist” label from many on the right. His views of justice rooted in the Biblical narrative and America’s founding documents would be rejected by many on the left. And both sides would perceive his call to love our enemies as weak and ineffective. But since he was murdered more than 50 years ago, we can get away with casting him as a martyr for the beliefs that align with ours while conveniently ignoring the rest that make us uncomfortable.
And yet, it’s precisely the words that make us most uncomfortable that we most need to wrestle with amidst weeks of national turmoil and violence. Last night, I sat with his 1957 sermon, “Loving Your Enemies,” and the parallels to today are striking. If each of us internalized his words, they would be an antidote for our anger toward one another and smelling salts to awaken us from our pessimism about the nation’s future.
Here are two sections that particularly spoke to me last night, but I encourage you to read the whole thing:
There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. I think of one of the best examples of this.
We all remember the great president of this United States, Abraham Lincoln — these United States rather. You remember when Abraham Lincoln was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of bad things about Lincoln, a lot of unkind things. And sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his looks, saying, ‘You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States.’ He went on and on and on and went around with that type of attitude and wrote about it. Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. And if you read the great biography of Lincoln, if you read the great works about him, you will discover that as every president comes to the point, he came to the point of having to choose a Cabinet. And then came the time for him to choose a Secretary of War. He looked across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they said to him: ‘Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. [Edwin M.] Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he has done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?’ Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: ‘Oh yes, I know about it. I read about it. I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job.’
Mr. Stanton did become Secretary of War, and a few months later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated [History side note: it was actually a few years later, but the point still remains]. And if you go to Washington, you will discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made by, about Abraham Lincoln was made about this man Stanton. And as Abraham Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: ‘Now he belongs to the ages.’ And he made a beautiful statement concerning the character and the stature of this man. If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would have not transformed and redeemed Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.
That’s it. There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India discovered it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it. For they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating; but Jesus comes to us and says, ‘This isn’t the way.’
And oh this morning, as I think of the fact that our world is in transition now. Our whole world is facing a revolution. Our nation is facing a revolution, our nation. One of the things that concerns me most is that in the midst of the revolution of the world and the midst of the revolution of this nation, that we will discover the meaning of Jesus’ words. History unfortunately leaves some people oppressed and some people oppressors. And there are three ways that individuals who are oppressed can deal with their oppression.
One of them is to rise up against their oppressors with physical violence and corroding hatred. But oh this isn’t the way. For the danger and the weakness of this method is its futility. Violence creates many more social problems than it solves. And I’ve said, in so many instances, that as the Negro, in particular, and colored peoples all over the world struggle for freedom, if they succumb to the temptation of using violence in their struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. Violence isn’t the way.
Another way is to acquiesce and to give in, to resign yourself to the oppression. Some people do that. They discover the difficulties of the wilderness moving into the promised land, and they would rather go back to the despots of Egypt because it’s difficult to get in the promised land. And so they resign themselves to the fate of oppression; they somehow acquiesce to this thing. But that too isn’t the way because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
But there is another way. And that is to organize mass non-violent resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across the years and across the generations, let us develop and move right here. We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way. Jesus discovered that. . . .
There is a little tree planted on a little hill and on that tree hangs the most influential character that ever came in this world. But never feel that that tree is a meaningless drama that took place on the stages of history. Oh no, it is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista of eternity, and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power-drunk generation that love is the only way. It is an eternal reminder to a generation depending on nuclear and atomic energy, a generation depending on physical violence, that love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power in the universe.
So this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, “I love you. I would rather die than hate you.” And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. And then we will be in God’s kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the university of eternal life because we had the power to love our enemies, to bless those persons that cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons who hated us, and we even prayed for those persons who despitefully used us.
Oh God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes, to work out this controlling force of love, this controlling power that can solve every problem that we confront in all areas. Oh, we talk about politics; we talk about the problems facing our atomic civilization. Grant that all men will come together and discover that as we solve the crisis and solve these problems — the international problems, the problems of atomic energy, the problems of nuclear energy, and yes, even the race problem — let us join together in a great fellowship of love and bow down at the feet of Jesus. Give us this strong determination. In the name and spirit of this Christ, we pray. Amen.”
This kind of love feels rare today. But just imagine what the weeks ahead could look like if each of us hold this posture instead of one soaked in resentment, anger, and fear toward one another.
Thank you for sharing this. It is inspiring.