Martin Luther King Jr. was the face and voice of a beautiful, powerful awakening in American history. Though imperfect, he and others who proclaimed the message of love and justice were used by God as modern-day prophets to make some crooked places straight. I am thankful for their words, actions and vision, as well as the good which has come from it.
Though Dr. King first focused on the crooked causes and fruits of segregation, he ultimately, concluded the three greatest evils against humanity are racism, poverty and war. Though it is easy to agree with that sentiment, Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, brought to light three other evils. In His “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus focused on anger, lust, and divorce. Though anger, lust, and divorce don’t sound quite as ominous as racism, poverty and war, there would be no racism, poverty and war, without anger, lust and divorce.
You see, anger leads to hate. Whether you are angry because of a broken home or because a parent left, anger could be the way you were taught to deal with problems. Or maybe your anger is justified because you’ve been treated unjustly. No matter how it has come, if anger goes unchecked, it will lead to hate. And hatred can be attached to race, but it can also be attached to many other things: hatred of men or women, hatred of the rich or poor, hatred of people who do not agree with you.
Lust in many ways is what leads to poverty. Now, lust in Jesus’ teaching is definitely applied to sexual appetites. And it is true our sexual appetites can cause poverty, but if we broaden the understanding of lust as referring to all of our appetites, it is easy to see how lust causes poverty. The earth has enough resources for everyone to have the food they need, yet there are many hungry because some people take too much. The lust of the rich can cause the hunger of the poor. I know it is more complex than that, but left unchecked, our lustful appetites can cause others to go without.
As for divorce, again, Jesus was literally speaking about marriage between a man and a woman, but with a little broadening we can see divorce as the source of war. On one hand, the trauma of divorce can cause a person to grow up insecure and wounded, prone to lash out and become divorced themselves. But deeper than that is the trauma of divorce can cause profound, even non-conscious mistrust, which will foster compounding broken relationships in all areas of life. When you apply that to nations, it leads to war.
Jesus knows how to get to the heart of the matter for us humans because He created the hearts of us humans. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life because He is the only one with access to actual reality. His message and vision is what leads us to life, truth and beauty. If we will listen to His teaching, follow His example, and fall more and more in love with Him and His ways, we will become aware of the crooked places in our lives. We will not be fooled by the “Angel of Light” messages swirling around us. And we will become the answer to Jesus’ John 17 prayer, and in turn, Dr. King’s March 31, 1968 prayer:
"Eternal God, out of whose mind this great cosmic universe was made, we bless you. Help us to seek that which is high, noble and good. Help us in the moment of difficult decision. Help us to work with renewed vigor for a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brother/sisterhood that transcends race or color.
God grant that right here in America and all over this world, we will choose the high way; a way in which men will live together as brothers. A way in which the nations of the world will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. A way in which every man will respect the dignity and worth of all human personality. A way in which every nation will allow justice to run down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. A way in which men will do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. A way in which men will be able to stand up, and in the midst of oppression, in the midst of darkness and agony, they will be able to stand there and love their enemies, bless those persons that curse them, pray for those individuals that despitefully use them. And this is the way that will bring us once more into that society which we think of as the brotherhood of man.”
–David