Today, at Christ the Savior Academy, we join our country in honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by taking a holiday. As I sit with my coffee, writing this, I am reminded of the sacrifices. This great man upheld his responsibility. He spoke out for “those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute” (Proverbs 31:8). He defended the human dignity of all people, regardless of gender or age, as beings created in God’s image. And he suffered death for this very cause. What courage!
There Is Nothing New Under the Sun
Every age has injustice, and yet, surprisingly, there is no new injustice under the sun. Indeed, the dignity of life, imbued in each of us by the breath of God, is always under attack. For example, Archbishop Iakovos experienced this personally. First, as a young child in Turkey, his Muslim countrymen oppressed him for his Orthodoxy. Later, when he came to America, many treated him discriminately because of his unfamiliar appearance and religion. Thus, wherever he went, his eminence encountered injustice.
In 1965, Dr. King marched in peaceful protest of the discriminatory treatment of African-American citizens and other persons of color. Archbishop Iakovos marched by his side. He was the only church leader to join the protest! In a speech about his involvement, he said, “I know that civil rights and human rights continue to be the most thorny social issues in our nation, but I will stand for both rights, civil and human, for as long as I live.” I feel it’s the Christian duty and the duty of a man who was born a slave”.
The Christian Duty to Uphold Human Dignity
You see, Archbishop Iakovos understood what Dr. King meant in his letter from the Birmingham jail: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. An inescapable network of mutuality inextricably binds us together, weaving us into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (King, Martin Luther. Letter from Birmingham Jail ; the Three Dimensions of a Complete Life. Penguin, 2018. p.3). These men knew that, although they faced an evil much greater than a single man can defeat, each man must fight, for he is not immune to the distress of all, although he is but one.
Each person is responsible for upholding the dignity of life and, furthermore, establishing justice. Indeed, each person must be a mini Christ to his brothers. However, Dr. King knew that he would face threats of violence and death. He understood, moreover, that imprisonment, beatings, and even death were possible threats against him. Nevertheless, he persisted in his pursuit of justice.
Made in His Image
Each and every person reflects the beauty and wisdom of the Trinity. Christ commands that we treat each life with honor and love, fulfilling his double law of charity: love God, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Before the civil rights movement of the 60s, our country greatly erred in not following these commandments fully. Laws supporting segregation taught a false idea that African-American citizens were of lesser dignity than White citizens.
As second-class citizens, people with darker colored skin were “free” to use public transportation, eat at restaurants, or use public restrooms, but only after, or separately from their white-skinned countrymen. The right to vote, the most prized right of every American, was granted to every man. However, people with darker skin color were continually denied the exercise of this right. The example of public and private segregation, and the continued display of discrimination taught our children that God created men of lesser and greater worth. Our children learned that some people are to be given less love and honor than others. What a sad lesson!
Love in Action: The March for Civil Rights
The peaceful protests of Dr. King and his friends, the most famous being the great march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery, displayed a beautiful bond of fraternal love. Swearing off violence and hate, the protestors lead with love and honor. They pled the case for a just nation and the downfall of all unjust laws. Congress rewarded them with the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, bills protecting the dignity of every person in our country.
Sadly, others continued to threaten and persecute Dr. King. His great work accomplished wonderful justice for his fellow citizens, but it left him exposed to those with hearts full of hate. On April 4, 1968, he was shot. Dr. King died an hour later, a soldier in the battle described by Archbishop Iakovos as a fight “for true peace based on justice and dignity, and for God’s continued presence and involvement in modern history”.
Let Us Be Imitators of God
We have abolished the corrupt laws of segregation, and the law now protects the voting rights of all Americans. However, many people still face discrimination from those who do not seek to honor the dignity of their fellow men. We must uphold the dignity of every person! We are responsible for every injustice, and we must do what we can to correct it! As we spend today with our children at home or about town, let us remember our Christian call to love our neighbor. Let us set an example of justice for our children through word and deed. Let us treat everyone we meet––young and old, black and white, able and disabled––with the dignity that Christ has given to each and every person. Let us imitate this great martyr, Dr. King!
Dr. King writes that loving ourselves, our neighbors, and our God will change the world. He encourages us saying, “When you get all three of these together, you look up and every valley will be exalted, and every hill and mountain will be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh will see it together” (King, p.51).
Archbishop Iakovos with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walking to the Dallas County Courthouse with a wreath to honor Reverend James Reeb who was beaten and killed in the civil rights protests.
