Jesus, Martin Luther King and Sunday Gospel: Stars Aligned
“Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well-timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.” ~MLK, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April, 1963
This Sunday, the Gospel for August 25, 2013, is from Luke 13:10-17. The leaders of the synagogue scoff at Jesus for healing a woman on the Sabbath. She has been bent over for 18 years, surely she could’ve waited until the next day to be healed. But as Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently illustrates in his letter from jail, “wait” often translates as “never.” Those in power never want to relinquish it. Those who benefit from a system that incorporates oppression of a minority never historically accede their power. As a matter of fact, the majority is almost never quite able to understand the oppression the minority describes.
This is a dangerous gospel for a privileged majority of churchgoers to hear. Most of us would like to assume that we would buck the system and heal on the Sabbath, wherever we might see the face of one who is hurting. But how many of us would have readily sat at a lunch counter with Dr. King 50 years ago? How many of us would have french fries pushed up our noses and cold milkshakes dumped on our heads, and suffered punches that knocked us off barstools?
Maybe. That was then, what about now? Are there “unjust laws” that we should be challenging? Even breaking? Who is bent over double in our community? Who is waiting for the voice of the majority to stand with them so that they may be raised up and find healing? Is it the undocumented migrant who’s raised his family here for 34 years? The woman who is paid less than a man to do the same job? The married gay or lesbian couple that would like to hold hands as they walk down the street? Or even the lone conservative who is afraid to raise his voice for fear of condemnation? Believe it or not, my progressive friends, it’s a new minority in many liberal circles.
We don’t have to be called on to break a legal law to suffer condemnation. There’s enough social pressure in our society to keep us from “healing on the Sabbath.” But there’s plenty of healing that still needs to be done.
As our country prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement, the reading from Luke’s Gospel this Sunday echo the kind of pushback it had 50 years ago. There never seems to be a right time to make positive change for those who live half a life because they are “doubled over” in the community they live in. The majority will mostly say, “not yet, not ever, stay that way, maintain the status quo.”
Luke’s Gospel also reminds us that we are in alignment with Jesus when we are willing to take a risk, legal or social for the sake of the Good News in Christ Jesus. So the Gospel question, Christian, is what are you willing to risk this week?
Great meditative homily! I especially appreciate it as I so vividly remember the Woolworth’s where Mom used to take me shopping; ans the counter where the sit in took place and I loved to eat & order the fresh vegetable plate; and where the segregated water fountains had cold water for “whites” and tepid water for “colored” on those hot summer days. And the KKK in front of my high school yelling for kids to leave to protest integration…and the local news coming acrosse the radio that Sunday morning that a bomb went off at First AME church downtown and killed two little girls in Sunfay school! Now it is the chemical weapons in Syria killing so many especially children who succumbed. And closer to home the 16 million children that go to bed hungry in the United States every night….and the poor and elderly and undocumented without healthcare….we have to risk it all for what is right. And if it is hard to do, then you can be sure it is God asking! Love you, my sweet son…and God grant you goodness and mercy all the days of your life as you are called to tikkun.