Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Recently,
I was reading about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the quest for Civil Rights.
To bring media attention to the injustice and lack of rights African-Americans
had at the time, Dr. King would stage boycotts and marches. It was hoped this
would incite local law enforcement to make arrests and thus, make the news,
drawing attention to the horrible plight of African-Americans under Jim Crow
laws in the South.
Just before the well-known conflict in Selma,
Alabama, Dr. King led a long campaign in Albany, Georgia. As far as media attention
and drawing attention to the cause, it was a failure. The Albany police chief,
Laurie Pritchett, unlike many other Southern law enforcement officials, refused
to take the bait. Chief Pritchett ordered his officers not to use violence or
excessive force. He was consistently friendly and polite. While he may have personally
agreed with Jim Crow laws, Chief Pritchett treated Dr. King and the protesters with
respect.
When the Northern press came to Albany to
cover the confrontation between white and black, they found—to their
surprise—they actually liked Chief Pritchett. When Dr. King was finally thrown
in jail in Albany, a mysterious well-dressed man came and immediately bailed
him out. The rumor was the man had been sent by Chief Pritchett. It’s hard to
be a martyr or bring attention to your cause, if you’re bailed out of jail the
instant you get there.
At one point, Chief Pritchett moved into a
downtown motel so he could be on call should any violence erupt. In the midst
of a long negotiating session with Dr. King, Chief Pritchett was handed a
telegram by his secretary. As Chief Pritchett recalled years later:
“I…must have shown some concern over [it] because Dr. King asked me if
it was bad news. I said, ‘No, it’s not bad news, Dr. King. It just so happens
this is my twelfth wedding anniversary, and my wife has sent me a telegram.’
And he says—I will never forget this and this shows the understandin’ we had –
he said, ‘You mean this is your anniversary?’ and I said, ‘That’s right,’ and I
said, ‘I haven’t been home in at least three weeks.’ And he said, ‘Well, Chief
Pritchett, you go home tonight, no, right now. You celebrate your anniversary.
I give you my word that nothing will happen in Albany, Georgia, till tomorrow,
and you can go, take your wife out to dinner, do anything you want to, and
tomorrow at ten o’clock, we’ll resume our efforts’.” Both Dr. King and Sheriff Pritchett lived out Matthew
5:44 “Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you.”
Christians are to be unique in a hateful,
unloving world. We are commanded to love our enemies. Pagans naturally love
their spouses, children, family, friends and others…so what!?! No one is
surprised when someone loves their spouse or family. We may respond with a
“isn’t that sweet,” yet we’re not surprised. It doesn’t captivate our
attention. Jesus is pointing out that something very profound has happened to those
who are born-again. The Apostle Paul repeats these same commands, adding to
them, in Romans 12:14-21.
Please understand, these are not options for
“super Christians,” they’re to be normative behavior for every child of God! In
fact, loving your enemies proves you are a child of God. Perhaps our lost
family and friends don’t want what we say we have because they see so little “proof.”
This doesn’t mean we deny evil or injustice,
yet as Paul points out, dealing with or judging injustice is not our
responsibility – it’s God’s (Romans 12:19). It’s not wrong to hate evil; it’s wrong
to hate evildoers. Too many Christians have difficulty making and more
importantly communicating this vital distinction. So how do we love our
enemies?
It begins with humanizing my enemies. Every
person is made in the image of God. Each one was born, each has a mother and a
father. Often he or she has a spouse and children. They eat and drink. They
have personal stories and experiences full of pain and joy. They’re human, image-bearers
of God. If I take the narrative of the Bible to be true, they’re loved by God, loved
enough that He sent His only Son to die for them.
I’m commanded to pray for my enemies.
I know this…you probably know this. It’s not new information that a believer is
to pray for their enemies. But why is it we so often give lip service to it,
acknowledge it’s true – yet still don’t do it? I don’t believe it’s just
because we’re busy or our prayer lives are anemic. It’s because we’d rather
vent and feel the warm, enticing animosity in our souls. In some perverse way,
we actually relish anger and hate. We’d rather do that than pray and have God
begin to bring His love and peace to our soul, and change us. Like a drug
addict, we don’t realize how poisonous hatred is, whether it’s toward the enemy
who is close or the one who’s far away, to our own souls and spiritual health.
We think we can imbibe and ultimately be unaffected. We can’t.
Be warned! What we focus on we become like.
Someone hates their Dad or ex-spouse, a sibling, or even a political leader.
It’s all they talk about. It’s all they think about…and in their focus they’re
changed into that which they continually focus on, the very one they despise.
Martin Niemoller, a German pastor, arrested
by the Nazis is a model for us. He prayed daily from his prison cell for his
captors. Other prisoners asked why he prayed for them. “Do you know anyone who needs your prayers more than your enemies?”
he replied.
I am commanded to love my enemies. This
is supernatural. I believe only a true child of God can do this because it’s
only through the power of the Spirit, who indwells and cultivates His fruit in
a believer. Jesus did it. It’s heard as He prayed for His enemies as they
murdered Him, “Father, forgive them, they
know not what they do.” At one time, you and I
were God’s enemies and He loved us. How can we justify failing to let His love
flow through us toward our enemies? But do you?
I wonder how many times
we turn off our lost friends and/or family by our hateful comments about our
enemies. Would our lost family and friends know we love Jesus and that He’s transformed
our life by our posts on Facebook about our work enemies? How about our
political enemies? Are we obeying by praying and loving our enemies? It’s not
optional. To fail to obey is sin. “But I say to you, Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.” Are you obedient? Do you love and pray for yours?
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