Dr. King's Legacy

Today we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, civil rights activist who passed away forty-nine years ago. Dr. King was not just an activist, but also a Baptist minister who displayed his Christian beliefs in his fight for civil rights by advocating nonviolence and racial equality.

Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech is still hailed as a masterpiece of oratory and stirs my heart no matter how many times I hear it. One line that is often quoted and stands out for a lot of people is this: "I have a dream that my four little 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. I have a dream today!"







It is ironic that fifty-four years after Dr. King delivered that speech, this dream remains just that - an elusive dream.  Oh sure, we have made great strides. We have had an African-American president, and minorities play a great role in every sector of our society, but some people are still marginalized because of the color of their skin, or where they were born. 

But there is a saying, "the more things change, the more they seem the same." In Jesus's day, racism -and segregation - was rampant. Take this conversation with the Samaritan woman. Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. ) John 4: 7 - 9.

The woman was stating a known fact. Jews did not associate with Samaritans, who were considered inferior as they were a mixed race. Jesus was on a mission to change all that. After He'd spoken to the woman, she went and told the people of the village what Jesus had told her and they all came out to meet Him.  

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did (John 4: 39 - 40).

The story doesn't end there. The book of Acts tells us, "When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria" (8: 14).



^{From that one meeting with a woman at the well, a whole nation was saved. Jesus's message is as clear now as it was then, and we have a great reminder in the legacy of Dr. King.}