MLK: Kingdom Builder
Gospel: Mk 2:18-22
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011524.cfm
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and what a great gospel to be read on such an occasion. This gospel calls to mind Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Like Jesus, Martin struggled with the religious elite of his day telling him that his actions were not prudent to tradition and that he must slow down. In the letter, Martin addresses white moderates for being more concerned with order than with justice.
In the parable of the old wineskins, Jesus calls this struggle to our attention. Old wineskins are a metaphor for being bound to the law and not the spirit behind the law. It is accepting the status quo and focusing more on order over justice. It focuses more on keeping the peace than doing what is right. When someone brings change or challenges the fallacy of the status quo, it’s like pouring new wine into old wineskins; it breaks apart and deteriorates and you are left with a necessary mess. You also need new wineskins or a change in the established system.
Followers of Christ are called to bring the Kingdom of God to fruition. I would argue that this is more universal and we are all called to make this Kingdom a reality. Each of us probably has a different understanding of what this means. It is easy to say that a person brings the Kingdom by being more holy. A person brings on the Kingdom by sinning less. A person brings the Kingdom by taking care of their soul, sharing their faith, and leaving it up to God to save others’ souls. This is all well and good, but our involvement is so much more than that; we are the body of Christ. The Kingdom of God comes to fruition when we all live sinlessly and for each other. By sinless, I mean that all of us live in right relationship with God, ourselves, each other, and the rest of God’s creation. We provide for the needs of others in their time of need, and they provide for us in our time. Does it sound impossible? Yes. Is it impossible? No.
Jesus was an example for us which gives us hope that we can put in the work too. And by the grace of God, we will. This is the goal of human history for us to live in peace with God, ourselves, each other, and the rest of creation. Living in peace goes beyond just getting along, it means that you want what is best for the other. The Kingdom of God may seem something otherworldly and we often make it just that by putting it in the language of heaven and occurring after death. But what if God is calling us to bring it now? And what if God gave us the tools to do it? Martin and Jesus both believed it was possible and that the resources are available.
I believe Martin’s and Jesus’s dreams are the same. Martin was a Kingdom builder and we are still struggling to bring his message to fruition sixty years later. Jesus had a vision too and we are still struggling with it almost 2000 years later. Let us not have their efforts be in vain; let us take charge in our time and have the faith, hope, and love to move us closer or get us to the full actualization of the Kingdom.
