Martin Luther King, Jr. Day-2009

I dedicate this entry to my father, Tullie M. Jenkins who along with my mother were my Drum Majors.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day-2009

Mark 10:35-40, NIV

James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. “But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

The Drum Major Instinct

. . . But this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there

because nations are caught up with the drum major instinct.

"I must be first." "I must be supreme." "Our nation must rule the world." (Preach it)

And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit.

And I'm going to continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken.

God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now.

(Preach it, preach it) God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war.

We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation.

But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. (Amen)

The God that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." (Yes)

He has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament

used to say to the Hebrews, "Don’t play with me, Israel.

Don't play with me, Babylon. (Yes) Be still and know that I'm God.

And if you don't stop your reckless course,

I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." (Yes)

And that can happen to America. (Yes)

Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of

the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America,

I say to myself, the parallels are frightening.

And we have perverted the drum major instinct.

But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to

see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that

Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting.

One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned

them. One would have thought that Jesus would have

said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish.

Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether

different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first.

You want to be great. You want to be important.

You want to be significant.

Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be."

But he reordered priorities. And he said,

"Yes, don't give up this instinct.

It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes)

It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it.

Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important.

Keep feeling the need for being first.

But I want you to be first in love. (Amen)

I want you to be first in moral excellence.

I want you to be first in generosity.

That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness.

And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't

give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first."

This is what Jesus said to James and John.

"You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness.

And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness.

If you want to be important—wonderful.

If you want to be recognized—wonderful.

If you want to be great—wonderful.

But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen)

Tat's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it:

by giving that definition of greatness,

it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody)

because everybody can serve. (Amen)

You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right)

You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.

You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.

You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.

You don't have to know the second theory of

thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen)

You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen)

a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (

Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized

with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death.

We all think about it. And every now and then I think

about my own death and I think about my own funeral.

And I don't think of it in a morbid sense.

And every now and then I ask myself,

"What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day,

I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy,

tell them not to talk too long. (Yes)

And every now and then I wonder what

I want them to say.

Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important.

Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important.

Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried

to give his life serving others. (Yes)
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried

to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried

to be right on the war question. (Amen)
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try

to feed the hungry. (Yes)
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try

in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)
I want you to say on that day that I did try

in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)
I want you to say that I tried

to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major,

say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen)

Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes)

I was a drum major for righteousness.

And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes)

I won't have any money to leave behind.

I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side,

(Yes) not for any selfish reason.

I want to be on your right or your left side,

not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition.

But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in

truth and in commitment to others,

so that we can make of this old world a new world.

Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968.