Weekly Reflection: Beyond the Mountaintop

Apr 6, 2023

Fifty five years ago this week on April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis, TN. The night before his death, he gave his final speech at Mason Temple in support of the sanitation workers strike. The speech is best known for its conclusion in which Dr. King used the famous phrase, “I’ve been to the mountaintop.” The ending of the speech was especially powerful because of his affirmation that “I’ve seen the promised land” followed by words that seem like a premonition of his death the next day “I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.” The first video posted below features some highlights of the speech including the famous conclusion. The second video includes the whole speech that provides the larger context that makes the conclusion even more powerful and relevant for today.

As with all of Dr. King’s speeches and sermons, there is much more in them than the most famous lines. In fact we miss the message he was trying to convey by limiting his witness to a few well known phrases that are repeated each year apart from their larger context. In his April 3 speech at Mason Temple, Dr. King gratefully reflects on living in the second half of the 20th century through major events in the Civil Rights Movement and world history even as he also calls his hearers to continue the struggle for justice in Memphis. His words from fifty five years ago call us to both gratitude for being alive today and the ongoing struggle for justice in these challenging times of the early 21st century. Here are just a few quotes from the body of the speech:

Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy.”

Now that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That’s a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.

Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.

As we celebrate Good Friday and Easter in 2023, let us give thanks for Dr. King and countless others who went before us committed to the way of Jesus’ non-violent, self-sacrificial, redemptive love. In life and in death, they bore witness to power of God’s love that includes all people. Commitment to that power is still the foundation for following God’s call to love and justice today.