Sunday Sermon with Dr. King #8
The Death of Evil upon the Seashore
“And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.”
~Exodus 14:30
I’m halfway through this blog series at the 8th of 15 sermons from Strength to Love.* You might be wondering why I am writing this series and here are some of the reasons: 1. Because I can because it’s my blog :) 2. Because of the vision and mission that Education Mosaic has to help people, while pursuing equity for all people, honoring Dr. King seems highly appropriate, and 3. I am unapologetically Christian and have always wanted to get to know Dr. King, the pastor/preacher, in addition to the historical civil rights leader. So, as you are perusing my website to make decisions about whether to hire Education Mosaic, please keep in mind that I like to keep everything simple and straightforward so what you see is what you get: honesty, transparency, integrity. Coincidentally (or not), today’s sermon is about evil. And there is a lot of it in this world. The opposite of that is goodness and truth. I like to stand on the latter as much as possible and as often as possible. But the only way I can do that is to remain true to my faith, no matter what. Dr. King uses the scripture where the Egyptians were drowned to death so the Israelites can be freed. The Egyptians had oppressed the Israelites for a long time and although joyous for the Israelites, Dr. King cautions that “the meaning of this story is not found in the drowning of Egyptian soldiers, for no one should rejoice at the death or defeat of a human being. Rather, this story symbolizes the death of evil and of inhuman oppression and unjust exploitation” (p. 78).
“Nevertheless afterward!” (p. 78). Dr. King uses this to transition from evil to a long awaited positive outcome as the result of the evil. There is always hope and a positive glimmer waiting on the other side of turbulent struggle. He also discusses the “contemporary struggle between good in the form of freedom and justice and evil in the form of oppression and colonialism” (p. 79). He takes us through the global oppression of Asian and African peoples at the hands of colonialism. Then, slavery in America, followed by the Emancipation Proclamation that began to “fix” things. However, The U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson) that confirmed segregation was legal, continued the evil of racism backed by law, which gave the green light to Jim Crow laws. But, he then cites how the Supreme Court reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling to outlaw segregation through the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, which stated that racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional. He takes us through this historical timeline to illustrate how evil “can go a long way, but then it reaches its limit” (p. 82). We may never reach the pinnacle of complete racial equity but there is always progress.
In the last part of this sermon, Dr. King cautions that even though one evil may seem to be resolved, we must not be too optimistic that another isn’t on the way, while at the same time not being too pessimistic. It is important to know that even though there are many evils in this world, that we shouldn’t give up hope and that our faith will sustain us and get us through. He shares this thought about God having two lights: “a light to guide us in the brightness of the day when hopes are fulfilled and circumstances are favorable, and a light to guide us in the darkness of the midnight when we are thwarted and the slumbering giants of gloom and hopelessness rise in our souls” (p. 85).
*King, M. L. (1963).Strength to love. New York: Harper & Row.