Monday Meditation
love your enemies
On Wednesday evenings during the season of Epiphany our congregation is studying the sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr. whose birthday is celebrated today. The sermon we most recently explored is titled Love Your Enemies. This sermon is at the core of Dr. King’s theology and practice. It was first delivered in 1957 at Dexter Avenue Baptist. I find it a sublime, courageous call, particularly in the face of those who violently oppose. It was delivered shortly after King’s own home was firebombed, along with other homes of supporters in Montgomery. “Enemies” was not a theoretical term. They were real. Sheriff “Bull” Connor, was preparing to unleash German shepherd dogs and fire hoses on protestors. King, later influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, believed and actually practiced non-violence. He never gave up this core belief. My own conviction is that this call, like that of Jesus to his disciples, is only possible through the power of the Spirit of God, enabling us to do that which is truly impossible. The saying is true, “For humans this is impossible, with God all things are possible.” Here is an excerpt from that sermon.
“Put us in jail, and we will go in with humble smiles on our faces, still loving you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and will still love you…but be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. And one day we will win our freedom for ourselves, will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process. And our victory will be a double victory. This seems to me the only answer and the only way to make our nation a new nation and our world a new world. Love is the absolute power.
I am foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. One day will be able to matriculate into the university of eternal life, because we had the power to love our enemies, to bless those that cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons who hated us, and we even prayed for those persons who used us.”
In remembrance of Dr. King, in gratitude for his witness, and in hope that we too will love our enemies, how about we surrender our lives to One who is able to do that, within us, which is far greater than we can ask, think or even imagine?
I’m reading this excellent biography of King, published in 2023 and given to me as a Christmas gift.
