April 1, 2018
Resurrection Sunday is a celebration of renewal, a holiday that rewards faith and hope with a victory over suffering and death. One lesson from Jesus’ life, that we seem compelled to learn again and again, is that messengers of love who seek to uplift the least among us, will be demonized and murdered by corrupt and greedy regimes. Those in power are continually threatened by the message that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 19:23). Given the doctrinal roots of Christianity, consider how much the message of Jesus has been perverted by those who preach these-called Prosperity Gospel and distorted to the point that 81% of Evangelical Christians voted for Trump and still offer him unwavering support (Source: “The Last Temptation,” by Michael Gerson, TheAtlantic.com, April 2018). To whom are these purported Christians actually demonstrating allegiance?This phenomenon is utterly unsurprising if we reflect on the fact that in 1967, one year before he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Dr. Martin Luther King was viewed unfavorably by 63% of [white] Americans, according to a Gallup poll at the time (Source: “The MLK History Forgot,” by Joshua Zeitz, Politico.com, 1/16/17). In 1967, Dr. King brought his battle for an end to housing and employment discrimination to Chicago, where he was confronted by an angry white mob that pelted him with rocks. Angry Northern whites stubbornly held on to the very real economic benefits that redlining and segregated unionized labor provided. In the wake of King’s assassination, those who attempted to further the struggle for equality and justice found themselves infiltrated, prosecuted and sometimes murdered.Then, as now, far too many Americans are deeply invested in a fragile identity that requires that they cling to the myth of black inferiority. A disturbingly large number of other Americans are unwilling to take the necessary steps to dismantle the interlocking structures that maintain a racial hierarchy, if they have to endure even the slightest inconvenience. We must view this moment in history through a lens that acknowledges that Trump is not an aberration, but rather the apotheosis, of a line of thought that worked assiduously to murder Dr. King’s dream. The question for us all is not simply whether we have faith in resurrection, but whether we remember James 2:14-26. As a reminder, that verse is, “Faith without works is dead.” Happy Easter everyone!
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