"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who murder your prophets, and persecute those whom God has sent as messengers to you.
How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings. But you would not let me.
As you have willed, your house is now yours— but is made desolate.’”
We persecute our heroes and murder our prophets, to still the voice of conscience. So that in our arrogance, we can have our way.
And in our overwhelming hypocrisy, we may give them a parade, and a day.
Martin Luther King gave his last public words on 3 April 1968 at the Church of God in Christ, in Memphis, Tennessee.
On 4 April 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by 'a lone gunman.'
This was one year, to the day, after he gave his famous sermon A Time to Break Silence, delivered 4 April 1967, at Riverside Church, New York City. A short excerpt from that is included below.
His death was intended not only as the silencing of a fateful voice. This was no coincidence, but a message.
And there is little doubt that he knew, he knew he was going to be murdered by the darkness of this world for obeying his conscience, and speaking the truth to power, as he received it from the deepest recesses of his heart.
And so after decades of war, a military proliferation unparalleled in history, and the quest for power and riches, our house is now ours-- and is being made desolate.
Even if it is a powerful few who have blood on their hands, we are complicit by our apathy and in our silence, in the face of terrible injustice.
God have mercy, not on him, but on us. He has done his duty and has found peace, and a rest at last.
No comments:
Post a Comment