Matthew 25 In Action: Reflections on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20, 2025, it is important to pause to honor a leader whose vision, courage, and commitment to justice have inspired generations. Rooted in the teachings of Matthew 25:31-46, Dr. King's life exemplified the call to care for "the least of these" and to work for a world where equality and love prevail.
In 2011, PCUSA shared reflections from pastors about Dr. King's legacy, offering unique perspectives shaped by their cultural contexts and lived experiences.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – An Honored Leader
By Rev. Buddy Monahan
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of dreams and visions. Within Native American communities dreams and visions are an essential part of determination and survival. A person who seeks dreams and visions knows how things once were and how they need to improve in order for all parts of creation to exist together in a loving and caring environment.
Throughout Indian country there is an unwritten checklist that exists as we seek leadership among our people. One must humble themselves as they seek equality for others. They must see their acts as a means of unselfishness so others will feel a sense of self-worth. One must be a person of courage to be able to stand up on behalf of others and not allow your ego to overcome your calling. It takes a person of intelligence to be able to know the barriers that might be ahead and how to plan for them. A leader must also possess a good heart as they seek creative ways of communicating in a peaceful manner. Many nations and tribes have and had chiefs and other leaders possessing these same qualities. Native people today are living testaments of what these qualities can accomplish for a survival of people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also embodied these leadership qualities and is an honored leader among Native communities.
During the Civil Rights Movement the American Indian Movement was also on the rise. It was a time when many individuals began to find out more about their history and the resurgence of tribal awareness and pride. Both Movements also inspired Churches to get involved with specific causes that sought to focus on equality. For some, the energy and passion for these causes has been lost. For those who continue to live within the Movements it continues to be a positive experience of empowering people to know who they are and educate one another the power of civil rights within our own surroundings.
As Native people we have always believed the dreams and visions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will continue to work with all parts of creation to make these things come true. We know our Creator will continue to lead us to that promise land of total equality and harmony.
Rev. Buddy Monahan is the chaplain of Menaul School in Albuquerque, NM. He is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma as well as Maricopa.
Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By Rev. Dr. Gloria J. Tate
Any reflection on the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. calls into view particular gifts of his ministry: the application of the gospel to political and social reform; the coupling of cries for justice with public action; and the merger of passion and intellect.
Dr. King, like preachers before him, focused on agape. However, he was radical enough to merge the themes of grace and justice. He brought to the pulpit a social gospel that defined racism as a theological issue and promoted active agape love as a power that could bring political transformation to a nation steeped in discriminatory practice and ideology.
In the early 60’s, many of us saw King as representing a new breed of preachers. My exposure to the church had provided a limited view of the black preacher as someone who only interpreted the gospel as a promise of salvation in the “bye and bye.” Dr. King wasn’t the first, but he was the most prominent symbol of a person who brought together themes of the black church tradition (emphasis on justice and hope) with the universalism of the gospel (God has created all people equal) in a style that affirmed both the passion of black preaching and the astuteness of theological training.
Certainly people who preceded him and many of his contemporaries fit that mold, however they were not as visible to the masses. Dr. King launched, through the help of television, the times and his being deemed the leader of the civil rights movement, an appreciation in the populous for a different image of the “black preacher.”
His incorporation of a social gospel, a passionate call for political involvement, with a well-grounded theological perspective is still an influential model of ministry within the African American Christian community and beyond.
The Rev. Dr. Gloria J. Tate is pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Teaneck in Teaneck, New Jersey. She can be reached at g.j.tate@worldnet.att.net.
Remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By Rev. Dr. Unzu Lee
“Why We Can’t Wait,” in Korean were the words inscribed on the spine of one of the books found on the top shelf of a bookcase in my house. We had just immigrated to this county, and the book probably was my father’s. Although I knew that these words belonged to the Rev. Dr. King, Jr., I was too busy surviving day to day, and I never took the book out to read. And yet, in my mind’s eye, I still see those letters as vividly as I did then. I suspect it is because my years of encounter with the reality of racism in this country have made these words become real to me.
I know the realism of these words because forty some years since Dr. King said “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” we are still judged by the color of our skin. Fifty years after Ralph Ellison started his famous novel with a line “I am an invisible man,” the individuality of people of color remains invisible to a dominant society that judges us only by our color.
For Asian Americans who are often praised by the dominant society as the “model minority,” this is a hard lesson to swallow. For those of us who immigrated after the civil rights era and have not been collectively subjected to overt forms of racism such as slavery or internment, it is even harder to realize the truthfulness of King’s words. We want to believe in the security of our success. We want to keep on believing in the creed that “all [men] are created equal.” After all, we have come here seeking a better life. Vulnerabiliy is the last thing we want.
Vulnerability, however, is our reality as Asian Americans. Take the case of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese American scientist who was released in September 2000 with an apology from presiding US District Judge James A. Parker after spending 278 days in solitary confinement accused of passing classified information to China. His guilt? His Asianness. Take the case of James Yee, a U.S. born Chinese American who graduated from West Point and was sent to Guantanamo Bay as a Muslim chaplain. Although the charges against him were later dropped completely, he spent 76 days in solitary confinement for the suspicion of passing secrets to alQaeda. His guilt? His Chinese ancestry and Muslim faith that he adopted as an adult. These cases among many others challenge especially “those who think they have it made” and should “generate uncertainty and vulnerability in the Asian-American community.”
Dr. King’s words ring with a more heightened sense of urgency in today’s U.S. context that struggles with the fear of terrorism. As an Asian American of faith, I refuse to let fear separate us. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and I too cannot wait any longer.
The Rev. Dr. Unzu Lee is a Presbyterian Women Program Associate, working primarily with leadership development. She can be reached at ulee@ctr.pcusa.org .
Continuing the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The reflections of these leaders remind us that Dr. King's vision transcended cultural and racial boundaries, uniting us in the shared struggle for justice. As we honor his legacy this year, let us recommit ourselves to the principles of the Matthew 25 Initiative: building vibrant congregations, dismantling racism, and eradicating poverty.
May Dr. King's life inspire us to dream boldly, act courageously, and love unconditionally as we work toward a world where God's justice reigns.
References
Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (2011, January 14). Martin Luther King Jr. Day Worship Resources. Retrieved from Presbyterian Church USA: https://www.pcusa.org/sites/default/files/mlk-resources.pdf