The Prophet: Martin Luther King

" I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the State of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -- [Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963]


I was talking to some friends in my Bible Study and Biblical School classes recently, and they were saying that there are no modern-day Prophets. If that were to be the case, the world would be in big trouble. We need Prophets, Truth-sayers, now more than ever!

They challenged me, 'Okay, then WHO is a modern-day Prophet?!' I blurted out, Martin Luther King, Jr.!

I DO believe that there are modern day Prophets.  In his seminal book, "The Prophet", Abraham J. Heschel declares, "The prophet is not only a prophet. He is also poet, preacher, patriot, statesman, social critic, moralist. The Prophet's eye is directed to the contemporary scene; the society and its conduct are the main theme of his speeches." In my eye, this describes Martin Luther King perfectly.

There are those who would totally abandon the achievements of Martin Luther King, because of the FBI recordings of his affairs with other women. Believe me, I am as disappointed as anyone regarding these considerable transgressions

But, being a Prophet is not inconsistent with sin and grave mistakes. A Prophet is fully human!

And being fully human, the Prophet "is able to perceive 'the silent sigh' of human anguish." - [Heschel.]  The author Heschel goes on, "The Prophet's ear is attuned to a cry imperceptible to others." Then, Heschel quotes Exodus 3, when God says, "I have seen the affliction of My people, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters."

In his "I Have A Dream Speech, King shows his deeply-felt empathy when he says, "I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of fresh trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution, and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veteran of creative suffering."

Author Heschel writes that "the Prophets take us to the slums."  In his "I Have a Dream" speech, King said, "We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one."

Heschel writes, "The Prophet's use of emotional and imaginative language, concrete in diction, rhythmical in movement, artistic in form, marks his style as poetic.  Far from reflecting a state of inner harmony or poise, its style is charged with agitation, anguish, and a spirit of non-acceptance." Now, how can we forget not only King's stirring language, but his inspiring delivery?

Heschel also poignantly writes, " The Prophet knew that religion could distort what the Lord demanded of man, that priests themselves had committed perjury by bearing false witness, condoning violence, tolerating hatred, calling for ceremonies instead of bursting forth with wrath and indignation, cruelty, deceit, idolatry and violence." Is it any wonder that King called out the white churches for their silence at the time of the Civil Rights movement, saying, " The church must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

According to Heschel, "The Prophet has a vision of an end. . . He 'lives on the summit.' "  King himself is famous for his words on the night before he died; "Well, I don't know what will happen now. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain."

It is absolutely no surprise to me, then, that Abraham Heschel himself marched with Martin Luther King in Selma.

Heschel's daughter Susannah writes in the Introduction to her father's book: "The Prophets were not simply Biblical figures my father studied, but models for his life. One of the most vivid memories of my childhood is the Saturday night my father left home to join Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery. I remember kissing him goodbye and wondering if I would ever see him again.  Alabama was a horror: I saw its vicious sheriffs on TV beating black demonstrators, turning German Shepherds and water cannons against black children. Even the police were on the side of evil. The greatness of that Selma march continues to reverberate because it was not simply a political event, but an extraordinary moral and religious event as well. For my father, the march was a deeply spiritual occasion. When he came home, he said, 'I felt my legs were praying.' "

This Martin Luther King Day, let us all walk the walk together. May all of our legs be praying!

[Related Postings: "Martin Luther King", January 17, 2011; "Remembering Martin Luther King", January 16, 2012; "The Need For Martin Luther King", January 16, 2013; "Martin Luther King's Dream", January 15, 2014].

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