Risk.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.
~ Martin Luther King Jr
journey, week 2
Last week we talked about the allure and the cost of adventures. The long journey home offers both reward and risk. Just ask Martin Luther King Jr, whom we celebrate this Monday. I have read hundreds of pages of MLK’s essays and speeches this week, and I have never held a spiritual leader in higher esteem. Conversely, I have never been more embarrassed by the white church’s lack of deference toward this champion of the way of Jesus.
I have written before about King’s vision for The Beloved Community, his term for what Jesus called the Kingdom of God; this week I am stunned by his ability to articulate and embody the Kingdom ethic of nonviolent resistance to social injustice. Caught between the dark fundamentalist pessimism of his upbringing and the irrational liberal optimism of his theological studies, both of which offered part of the truth but not the whole, King found a reconciling voice in existentialist philosopher and Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich. Finally, King found a way to understand a human condition that had engendered such systemic racial inequalities while offering hope that these same humans could, and indeed must, be morally awakened and socially transformed.
If, like me, your idea of what nonviolent resistance entails has been murky, these are the six tenets that MLK was able to ignite for loving revolution, what he called “the spirit of Jesus and the method of Gandhi”…
While nonviolence is passive physically, it is profoundly active spiritually, calling for exceptional courage and commitment.
Nonviolence does not seek the defeat of its opponents, but reconciliation.
The enemy is not individuals, no matter how vile they may act; instead the enemy is evil itself.
Unearned suffering, without retaliation, is intrinsically redemptive and creative.
Eschewing external violence is not enough; we must also avoid violence of spirit.
The arc of the universe is long, but it tends toward justice.
Do these convictions move you as much as they move me? Do they sound like Jesus? Do they sound timely for our world today? Seeded deeply within the Sermon on the Mount, the nonviolent ethic calls us to the third way—the way between complacency and rage, the way between resignation and alienation. This is not the way of Democrats or Republicans; this is the way of Love Incarnate.
But what do such grand ideals have to do with your personal journey? Everything, I think.
Every step you take on your own journey, both internally and externally, requires decisions. You choose how to hold your anger against injustice and how to treat your enemies, even internally. Especially internally. Every choice brings risks—the risks of tribalism and the risks of reconciliation. The risks of apathy and self-preservation against the risks of engagement and challenge. At one point, King used the term “militant nonviolence” to try to capture the all-encompassing nature of the way of Jesus: internally grounded, peacefully positioned, consistently integrated, and persistently emanated.
I have neither the personality nor the platform of Martin Luther King Jr. Yet I still hope to influence my corner of the world with his conviction and courage in the face of risk. How about you?
growing your soul
Where do you find yourself on the theme of nonviolent resistance? Does it feel too weak, too powerless? I feel the tension too. Let’s encourage one another to keep reaching toward the counterintuitive example of Christ.
serving our world
How does nonviolent resistance play in today’s global conflicts, in places like Ukraine and Palestine? Is this approach hopelessly naive or hopefully directive? I’m not always sure; no one seems to be trying it these days. But I do think that all of our dilemmas, global and personal, find their footing and movement toward life in the way of Jesus.
takeaway
Be bold, not violent.