Remembering Martin Luther King and Gun Violence

As we prepare for the long weekend and the observance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, my thoughts turn not to his birth, but to his death.

MLK's life came to an early and tragic end because of a gun. He was shot in plain daylight with a .30-caliber rifle. He was 39 years old.

This man who was committed to non-violence and courageously stood up to anger, hatred, and violence, was killed by a cowardly sniper's bullet.

So I ask myself, what would Martin Luther King Jr. say today about gun violence? Would he be satisfied with an assault weapon ban? Would he vilify the mentally ill? And, most certainly, he would not support adding more guns as the answer.

Whatever position he might take, I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. would urge us all to take a stand and not to give up. No matter how impossible it might seem, no matter how powerful the NRA has been, he would urge us to take action to stop this plague, a plague that randomly takes the lives of our children, whether on the streets of our cities or in a suburban school, in a shopping mall or movie theater or on a college campus.

This month, we have been reading the story of Moses in the Torah. Once Moses' eyes were opened to the horrors of slavery, he took action. But he did not succeed in changing the system. All alone, he killed an Egyptian taskmaster and fled to Midian when the deed became public. When God sent him back from Midian he joined his brother Aaron to stand before Pharaoh and proclaim "Let my people go." But even so, he did not succeed. Pharaoh only made the slave work harder.

Ten times, Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh. Ten plagues assailed Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Each time Pharaoh refused and Moses failed.

Why didn't Moses give up?

Why didn't Martin Luther King, Jr. give up?

One of the best known quotes by Dr. King sums up the faith that kept him going:

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

If we are to take this moment and change the way that guns are bought and sold in this country, we will need to take a stand and we will need perseverance. We will need to remember the legacy of Dr. King and the teachings of Moses. We will need to stand together and hold one another up. We will need dedication and we will need hope.

One last teaching from Dr. King reminds us that we don't need to be remembered by an entire country to make a difference. Each of us can make a difference:

If you want to be important-wonderful. If you want to be recognized-wonderful. If you want to be great-wonderful. But recognize that one who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's your new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it...by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve, you don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

Martin Luther King, Jr., from "The Drum Major Instinct" (1968)