Who Does the Fool Serve? (MLK Jr. Day Reflection)
For a couple years, I attached a safety pin to one of my favorite sweaters. This indicated in a subtle way that I was (or thought myself to be) a “safe place” for folks who needed one — generally a person to process with and not feel judged. This is not a bad thing, but as with many good things, “safe space” became the thing it tried to protect against — private or public shaming of folks for having a different (in most cases, conservative) opinion. This approach makes "psychological safety" (normally a good thing) into an idol.
Recent statements by Donald Trump caught my ear as an interesting parallel. He said it is “psychologically needed” for us to own and control the territory of Greenland in the pursuit of security. Securing the millions of people in our nation from legitimate foreign bad actors is a good thing! But in its pursuit, we've tarnishing many historic alliances around the world that were forged in the wake of world wars for world safety. In other words, we might be creating a security void greater than any security boost we might get from owning Greenland, and at great social, political, and financial cost. Once again, demanding Greenland turns physical safety into an idol.
Maybe you disagree with one of the above takes (or both!). But they both illustrate the same point: even in the richest and greatest nation in the world, the fear of what we don’t have drives us — this has been called a “scarcity mindset.” The solution is Gospel-driven foolishness.
Scarcity mindset: never fully receiving the (often good) thing we are looking for because we are so afraid we will never have it — or that we might lose it — making a good thing into an idol.
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In Jesus’ time, there was even more reason to be scarcity-minded than we can appreciate. Financially, most people were one bad day or harvest season away from utter poverty. But Jesus still calls his followers to a way of life that seems foolish in his most public sermon (on the mount):
“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…you cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6.20, 24)
Gospel-driven foolishness: ceasing to serve the things we fear never having enough of and serving God instead — this will often involve looking “foolish” to a scarcity-minded world.
Whether we are living in true scarcity, or cannot escape thinking we are, giving an inch (of agreement, control, possessions, etc.) seems like foolishness:
Instead of serving money, give it away and serve God! Instead of bullying opposing opinions, seek them out to dialogue with and serve God! Instead of trying to craft the perfect version of family, or the largest following online, or the endlessly sustainable budget…release your vice grip and serve God first.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was a “foolish” man. He led thousands of mostly brown skinned people to protest an oppressively dehumanizing civic order — often facing armed and racist non-brown-skinned people.
MLK Jr.’s brand of civic disobedience was non-violent and respectful. The goal was not to over-power, but to win-over in love. Dr. King spent generous amounts of energy, social capital, psychological safety, and financial “treasures” for this vision. It was called foolishness even by some of his contemporary social justice leaders. He marched for years in this “foolish” mindset — being fear-driven would not have sustained it. His dream was driven by serving God and the Gospel of reconciliation. He stored treasures in heaven not only by what he did, but also by how he did it.
“…I preach Sunday after Sunday, week after week, about regeneration, conversion and the new birth. I believe in getting hearts changed. And I believe also that it is true that if we are to solve the [segregation] problem ultimately: the white person must see the Negro as his brother.”
(from Transcript of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at SMU on March 17, 1966)
Reconciliation instead of aggression or violence -- I am thankful for such Gospel foolishness, and the Gospel fool we remember this week, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We may not lead a movement, but we can all practice trading-in our scarcity mindset for following Jesus’ calling to be foolish like him. So reflect with me this week:
Where are my actions (or attitudes, allegiances, emotions, responses, social media, etc.) driven by anything other than The Gospel, and its God who blesses the foolish of society?