I wonder how Dr. King would feel if he was able to see the state of the world today. I wonder how he would view his legacy in respect to the progress we have made. I’m sure we can point to things like having the first Black President, and the first minority woman to hold the office of vice president as signs of progress. Those are amazing accomplishments. However, if we consider today’s massive amounts of racism, injustice, poverty, and many other social ills, it is painfully obvious we have a long way to go. We fail to remember that Dr. King was considered the most hated man in America in 1967 when we now invoke his spirit and quote him endlessly. Even more unfortunate is that we don’t often quote him to hold ourselves accountable, we quote him to discredit the modern approaches to combat injustice. I suspect that if Dr. King were alive today, he would be just as unpopular now as he was then.

However, I believe we should honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, because what he accomplished in his life was not the result of any political ambition. He certainly could have leveraged his power for personal gain, yet he always put the people first. It wasn’t a scheme he perceived to make himself important by taking on Civil Rights, and forcibly making himself the face of the movement. Dr. King strived to epitomize a life led by Jesus, one that compelled him to live out the values he believed in. Even up to the point that it cost him his life. We celebrate him because his life produced fruit. Scripture tells us that we will know a prophet by the fruit that he bears! I can say with some certainty that he was a prophet called by God.

And so, as we celebrate this man and his legacy, may our celebration, especially as the church, live beyond a post and picture on social media. We must understand that while the majority of society loves to celebrate MLK this day, it usually never goes beyond the picture and the social media post. We love celebrating MLK and what he stood for because our mere celebrations do not require us to really stand as MLK stood or sacrifice what MLK sacrificed. 

Instead, let us honor MLK by praying the courageous prayer that The Holy Spirit of God would convict us to live out our convictions — rooted firmly in the whole Gospel and following Jesus. Let us honor MLK beyond the posts and pictures and live a life of equality, justice, and reconciliation because that is the way of Jesus.

Pastor X