students of jesus

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. Everyone reveres the prophet after he’s dead. Whoever the prophet might be, in his day the prophet is rejected, ridiculed, scorned, misunderstood, misquoted, vilified, and in some cases shot in the head.

 

In predictable Biblical tradition we in the U.S. have honored the prophet after he’s gone, and in short order have reduced the honor to an innocuous three-day weekend for federal employees and school children. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King WalMart, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond all offer fantastic deals of up to 75% off!

 

Jesus understood this dynamic well:

 

 

Sweet and gentle Jesus railed against the powerful religious tendency to ignore the word of God when it is living and active, while building cold stone monuments to the word after the voice is silent.

 

Even when the words of Dr. King are Googled and repeated in civic ceremonies, we listen to them with selective hearing and digest the sound bites like hors d'oeuvres at the reception afterward. But the words of the prophets were never meant to go down easy--even for those who agree with them. 

 

Nearly every schoolchild can tell you Martin Luther King “had a dream,” but perhaps only one in ten can articulate that dream. For example, when Dr. King declared on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” we rally to the idea that no one should be judged by the color of their skin, but we gloss over the part of the dream where we are all judged by the content of our character.

 

The Reverend King's example causes us to consider: will I hear the entirety of God’s word, or only that portion that goes down easy? When we hear all the prophet says, the day will come when we can “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”