Lessons from the King funeral

Yesterday I tuned in with eager expectation for the Coretta Scott King funeral. We all consider the Martin Luther King, Jr. family American heroes. As a speech communication major in college I grew to love Dr. King for his amazing oratory abilities. When I committed my life to ministry I grew to love Dr. King for his sermons. As a seminary student I have grown to love Dr. King as a theologian. Dr. King used the Biblical idea of the Kingdom of God as a theological basis for the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. That letter has been life changing for me.

I have grown to love that letter because it shows King’s view of the Kingdom of God and how it affected his work in the Civil Right’s movement. The idea of the Kingdom of God has always been a difficult one for Christianity. Saint Augustine’s view was used to establish the European Christendom of the Middle Ages and regrettably spurred on the Crusades. Even today we are only scratching the surface and seeing only the side that we want to see with this Biblical issue.

Most in the Evangelical community do not even attempt to have an understanding of this issue. Most theologians and some pastors understand the issue, but the debate is bogged down in the Covenant versus Dispensational debate. However, great strides have been made by Dr. Russell Moore in his "The Kingdom of Christ", and by Dr. Blaising and Dr. Bock in their writings on Progressive Dispensationalism.

Sadly the Christian left waves this banner but does it very irresponsibly and without the boundaries of sound Biblical theology. This was no more evident than the scene of Senator Kennedy speaking in a Christian pulpit and quoting the Sermon on the Mount at Mrs. King’s funeral. As Kennedy got behind the pulpit (where men of God are to expound the Word of God) I was shocked. When Kennedy (an opponent of Christianity, an unapologetic drunk, a slanderer of many good men and women who seek to serve on our Federal Courts including Bork, Thomas, Roberts, and Scalia, and a man who killed a women in a drunk driving accident and used all his power and money to get out of it) starting quoting from the Bible my shock turned to anger. When the predominately African-American crowd stood and roared in approval of his speech my anger turned to sadness.

The Christian and political left only embraces parts of the idea of the Kingdom of God that they want and thus they have a very harmful view of reality and truth.

We are in a sense in the Kingdom of God and in a sense the Kingdom has not yet arrived. The Kingdom of God exists in a messy “already/not yet” reality. Christ sits upon the throne and desires for us to enact laws that reflect justice and mercy in our societies. If there is a law that robs the rights of anyone then it is unjust and should be combated.

King rightfully used the idea as a theological basis against the Jim Crow laws of the South. The Jim Crow laws of the South were those types of unjust laws.

There is also a “not yet” aspect where we need to understand that heaven on earth will not happen until Christ returns. We should not stop the fight but also not expect for humanity to not have a sin nature either.

King rightly used the Kingdom of God, but he was described as less a follower of Christ and more a follower of the non-violence philosophies of Ghandi yesterday. Everyone will admit that by human standards, Ghandi was an amazing human. There were some great lessons to be learned from Ghandi. The problem with completely embracing Ghandi was that he was not a Christian but a Hindu thus reality was eschewed at his core philosophies.

Where am I going with all of this? The Kingdom of God does not mean “Peace at all Costs”. Those political advocates who disgraced Mrs. King by turning her funeral into a political rally have a view of “Peace at all Costs”. This is not what the Kingdom of God is about. In fact before the Kingdom of God will be enacted a period of horrible war between Jesus and his followers against the satanic forces will erupt and descriptions of it are shocking and amazing.

People like President Carter (embarrassingly a Baptist) attack the Iraq war with a “Peace at all Costs” philosophy. This is part of what made him a terrible president. The Kingdom of God has not been fully realized, therefore sin and evil and the flesh are very real and scary realities. There is a place in our current age for the sword. “Peace at all Costs” is a scary and irresponsible idea that cannot be supported by the Biblical idea of the Kingdom of God.
What are we to learn from Mrs. King’s funeral? First, embrace the full Kingdom of God theme in the Bible. Don’t just embrace the parts that fit your little agenda. I am largely speaking to a “Peace at all Costs” political and theological left, but also to conservative Biblical Christians who don’t even really understand this issue. Second, “Peace at all Costs” is not what the Kingdom of God is about. We are to reject this irresponsible view. Third, the Christian left and the African-American church is shamefully accepting a character like Senator Ted Kennedy and they must clean up their act. Hold your leaders to accountability like the right did with President Bush over the Harriett Meier’s nomination. Fourth, the legacy of the Kings’ should not be a “Peace at all Costs” ideology, but a fight for justice using the Kingdom of God as a theological basis.