Dawn Breaks Only in Darkness

A recollection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Easter sermon at Dexter Avenue 2nd Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, 1964

Doctor King's sermon started by retelling the story of two of Jesus' disciples and their walk to Emmaus.

Two disciples, determined not to remain holed up in fear of being arrested in Jerusalem that first Easter, left the city and the Roman crackdown on political unrest stirred up by the crucifixion of Jesus. They walked on through the night of darkness and despair toward the town of Emmaus. Dawn was barely graying when another traveler joined them and listened to their tales of woe. They recounted to the seemingly uninformed traveler Jesus' false arrest, trial, torture and execution on the Roman cross. With emotion they explained their hopes dashed for themselves, their families and the nation, their fears, and their feeling of abandonment. Their darkness was impenetrable even though the traveler quoted scripture to challenge it.

As they neared Emmaus they invited the caring stranger to join them at a friend's house. Their guest was given bread to break to share a meal. That's when dawn broke in the darkness of their despair, and they saw it was Jesus, risen from the dead. Resurrection happened for them too, after all shreds of hope were dashed, and darkness was total.

In his sermon, Dr. King spoke of being in jail in Birmingham in 1963. While there for eleven days, he read newspaper accounts of an open letter criticizing the extremism of the civil rights movement, written and signed by important Christian leaders of the nation. They asked him to stop the movement, and save the nation and the Negro race from civil war and an immanent violent reaction of citizens and governments of the South. They criticized his leadership of aggressive sit-ins, public demonstrations and law violations because permits to parade were withheld.

"Jesus is risen," said Dr. King. He went on to proclaim that God's power is evidenced, even more than by a reviving Jesus' body, by healing the despair of the darkness Jesus and his followers faced. They despaired that God's power was weak against Satan, against the might of Rome and its Jewish collaborators. After Jesus had been dead and buried for three days, there seemed no question where true power lay. The Gospels are clear: the resurrection was powerful because it was so unexpected. All had lost all hope in God, as revealed by Jesus who had been executed.

It's in such darkness that God's resurrection dawns yet today. Dr. King explained the darkness of the despair he risked sharing with his Christian White brothers who opposed him. He didn't expect much from writing this letter.

But God brought a new dawn of resurrection for the downtrodden of America within a month of his release from jail. The laws of segregation were dealt a defeat in the US Supreme Court. God worked his way, after it appeared certain His way was defeated.
This is the time of year when we think of the love of God breaking forth into eternal dawn. We come to see that the most powerful forces in the universe are not those forces of military might but those forces of spiritual might. Dr. King quoted this great hymn of our Christian church:

When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gains I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

I am not one to remember sermons. But this one had such a deep effect on my life I rehearsed it in my memory over the decades. I hoped to find it on line, with so many of Dr. King's sermons and speeches now posted. Instead I found there are hundreds of his speeches and sermons that, like this, were not recorded. The above is my brief recollection.

For events leading to my hearing this sermon, see "What Would MLK Say," the Big Horn County News archives on line, Spirit and Dust column, Feb 3, 2011. Also, look up "Letter from Birmingham Jail April 1963" for Dr. King's letter written at a time of despair over the failing civil rights movement. He repeatedly referred to this letter in his sermon that Easter Sunday Morning, 1964, "Dawn breaks only in darkness."

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David Graber
Hardin, MT 59034

406 665-3373
www.greenwoodfarmmt.org