Dangerous Unselfishness
Living by Faith
There is a line in the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last sermon, on the night before he was assassinated, that resonates in the awakened heart. Dr. King said, “Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.”1 That is, of course, what Jesus did. He lived a life of dangerous unselfishness, in solidarity with the poor, with women, with outcasts and sinners. He gave himself away in love; a reckless love that did not count the cost.
Jesus’ unselfishness was dangerous because it was concrete and specific. It was not expressed in abstract concepts, but in particular actions to feed these hungry people, or heal that unclean woman, or respond to the questions of this wealthy young man. Even his storytelling was in the service of liberating our imaginations so that we could respond creatively to real people’s real needs for food, for forgiveness, for healing, for freedom. It revealed the connections between individual cases and social conditions and eternal realities. His unselfishness had consequences that challenged the status quo.
Dr. King’s ministry, too, was rooted in the stories and concerns of particular people. He was assassinated in Memphis while working there on behalf of sanitation workers who were on strike because of the awful, unsafe working conditions they endured. Like Jesus, Dr. King responded to the concrete needs of people that he came to know and love. Compassion is a form of knowledge. Our refusal to know our neighbors is a hedge against the danger of unselfishness. If we knew them, we might just fall in love with them. And then we’d have to act.
Jesus’s unselfishness was dangerous because it was controversial. It forced people to make choices. “I came to bring fire to the earth,” Jesus declared, “and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!” - Can you hear his cry of the heart? - “Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”2 Jesus wasn’t happy about this division, but it was the fact of his experience.
This is controversial language. It makes us uncomfortable. There can be no peace without justice rooted in truth-telling. Dr. King said the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones. This is the fire of love - the fire that Jesus came to kindle on the earth. Whether or not we are a preacher, we are commanded to love. Our failure to do so should sear our conscience like a hot flame.
Jesus’ unselfishness was dangerous because it was fearless. Death held no power over him, so he could not be manipulated or controlled by those who wield the coercive threat of violence; state-sponsored or otherwise. Unselfishness severs the correlation between behavior and reward or punishment. This liberated him to speak the truth to power and to act in alignment with his conscience.
The Letter to the Hebrews beautifully expresses the freedom of faithfulness. Faith is perceiving the deep matters of the spirit. Faith is not blind or irrational. It is a kind of intuitive perception of our spiritual senses.3 Faithfulness is living in alignment with these perceived realities. In this sense, truth is not simply something we know, but something we live. Faith without works is dead.4 We have to act on what we see by faith.
The Letter to the Hebrews goes on to recite a long list of our ancestors who lived by faith. They are commended, not only for what they believed, but for what they did. What is notable about this litany of the faithful is that it makes no correlation between faithfulness and reward. Many of the faithful suffer terribly for living in the truth. They are persecuted and killed.5
The so-called “prosperity Gospel,” the idea that faithfulness is rewarded with success and wealth, while poverty is a punishment for faithlessness, is a heresy of the first order. It is nothing more than greed and selfishness masked by a thin veneer of religion. Faith is not an escape from life’s difficulties. Faith often is what gives suffering meaning, as an expression of self-giving love, because it is in the service of a greater good that we perceive even if we don’t get to experience it within our lifetime.
Dr. King came to Memphis despite the threats against his life. He knew that unselfishness was dangerous. He famously prophesied in his final sermon,
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.6
Faith perceives with the eye of the heart a hidden wholeness in the fabric of reality, and a consummation of divine love bringing all of creation to its perfection. Penultimate suffering is embraced by an ultimate healing. This knowledge fills us with a creative buoyancy and an irrepressible liveliness because we know that whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s and nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Jesus’ unselfishness was dangerous because it was, finally, joyful. “For the sake of the joy that was set before him he endured the cross!”7 Christian faith is a great big spoiler alert. We know how the story ends. Love wins! So, we can love with abandon! We can act with courage and conviction despite the vicissitudes of life. Faith perceives the light that the darkness cannot overcome, and in that light, we see light; and this light fills us with joy. We celebrate the victory of love now.
Can you see the joy that is set before us? The joy that God foresees? It is so easy to be distracted and preoccupied with what is wrong with the world, but what energizes and inspires us is the capacity to see what is right with the world. That is faith. Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness and unleash God’s joy on the world.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” accessed at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/02/us/king-mlk-last-sermon-annotated.html
Luke 12:49-51.
Hebrews 11:1-3 is the locus classicus for the definition of faith.
James 2:17.
Hebrews 11:32-40.
King, op. cit.
Hebrews 12:1-2.