When King deals with fear, he attempts to help all sides take a look at the responsibilities all of us have to overcome that fear. Both sides must be willing to act out of love.
If our white brothers are to master fear, they must depend not only on their commitment to Christian love but also on the Christlike love which the Negro generates toward them. Only through our adherence to love and nonviolence will the fear in the white community be mitigated. A guilt-ridden white minority fears that if the Negro attains power, he will without restraint or pity act to revenge the accumulated injustices and brutality of the years. A parent, who has continually mistreated his son, suddenly realizes that he is now taller than the parent. Will the son use his new physical power to repay for all the blows of the past?
The followers of Jesus move into the day with this contrary love that will not be let go in order to give fear and hatred a place at the table. In, with, and under all the days of our lives, we are invited to be a part of the incarnate presence of God's Reign where fear does not rule our hearts. King once again shows how the power of this love and nonviolence is the only way that the hearts of those who fear and hate can be changed. Conversion comes not from fear and threat. It comes from the pull of the power of love and nonviolence that is the gift within God's Peaceable Reign. The world always expects revenge. The followers of Jesus do not listen to the expectations of the world. Instead, we take on the day and fill it with the surprising presence of life that is not typical. It is in reality a life of liberation for all sides for fear is cast out of the picture by the power of an unending love.
Connection: Love like this almost sounds like wishful thinking. And yet, it has always been the way of peace that is handed to us by our God. Both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures bear witness to its ability to set people free.
Lord of Liberation and Hope, it is so easy for us to turn to the ways of brutality and hatred. We like to "get back" at those what harm us or mistreat us. And yet, you continue to call us to walk in the land of your love that will not let the walls of separation shape our day. Thanks be to you. Amen.
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