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Conversations with Jesus: in this episode Jesus talks to Martin Luther King Jr.

13/05/09 | Posted by ellen

Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr. meet up in Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. They sit in a pew together - third from the front on the left. They talk about what it feels like for the USA to have a black man in the white house, the importance of hope and the power of dreams.

Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” - delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C

Jesus Christ: Martin Luther King Jr. it is so good to be back here with you.
Martin Luther King Jr: Wow Jesus it’s fantastic that you agreed to meet me here! The privilege is all mine. Many years have come and gone but this church remains my spiritual home.
JC: I hear it is on the National Register of Historic Places now.
MLK: Is that so? Well, it sure is a beautiful place.
JC: Well, you had a dream Martin that the America you love would be a place where black and white people would be able to live together without hardship and that all men - black men as well as white men - would be “guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Do you feel that in 2009 that dream is coming true?
MLK: You know what Jesus I can see that dream coming true…In 1963 I had a dream that black people of this nation would be treated in the same way as white people, but…
JC: …and do you think this has been achieved?
MLK: in many ways yes it has. In August 1963 when I said “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” And yes the black civil rights movement has broken though and equality is possible now. But, this isn’t something that can ever be taken for granted.
JC: Really, not even now that there is a black man in the white house?
MLK: Jesus, you know that the fact that Barak Obama is the president of the USA makes me so proud I could burst. But, the injustices of the past should never be forgotten. We must remember…if only to remind ourselves of what we humans are capable of. If we can treat black men as slaves then we can make mistakes again in the future. No-one – whatever their creed or colour – has the right to enslave another.
JC: So, you think we must remain vigilant?
MLK: I do…I said in 1963 “Let freedom ring.” And I meant it then as much as I mean it now…”Let Freedom ring.” But you know there are still people across the world who don’t want black people to have the same rights as white people?
JC: I know that Martin.
MLK: Even in the UK there are some political groups who continue to pursue racist ends.
JC: I have seen that…
MLK: It seems unbelievable that in the current European elections members of openly racist political parties have been leafleting people’s homes and it seems possible that some may even be elected.
JC: It’s heartbreaking isn’t it?
MLK: Jesus, it is devastating.
JC: Amen brother, Amen.

Jesus looks with great pride at Martin Luther King Jr. who has tears in his eyes. JC puts his arms around MLK.

JC: So, Martin, Sorrow and love…flow mingled down!!
MLK: Indeed Jesus, Sorrow and love flow mingled down!!

Pause

JC: I asked Karl Marx about hope…he told me it was overrated and that “Hope is weakness, it keeps people passive, stops them from being able to fight against oppression.” I wonder what you think about hope?
MLK: Well, Karl would say that wouldn’t he! But, I think he is mistaken…
JC: I thought you might.
MLK: If I didn’t hope and if hope wasn’t in the hearts of those people who fought in the civil rights movement back then in the 60’s (and continue to do so today) then we would have given up. Ours was not a passive, sit about and do nothing hope. It was a living hope for change, real change.
JC: I know…and it was an inspiring hope.
MLK: I said in 1963 “This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”
JC: I heard it then and I hear it now…it is an amazing hope. I am so proud of your hope.
MLK: Thank you Jesus.
JC: It isn’t just me who has heard this hope. Many people, black and white, have been inspired by your words.
MLK: And that was the point…to inspire people to think differently about themselves and about injustice and to find the strength to do something about it.
JC and MLK: Amen to that!