“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it 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 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.”
Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., the 3rd of April 1963, Memphis Tennessee, the night before his assassination.
One of the great things about the internet is that you can find the full text for that speech, it is eight pages long, and you can see a video and audio clip of the closing paragraph.
As is the custom there is much participation by the audience, or perhaps I should say the congregation, encouraging the preacher.
But something changes, as soon as Doctor King says, “Because I’ve been to the mountaintop” the congregation explodes, they go wild.
Why?
Because they knew what he was talking about.
They knew that he was alluding to scripture, to the story of Moses on Mt. Pisgah, looking over into the land of Promise, seeing the end of the journey, seeing the end of the exodus, it was close, they were almost there, but not yet, and Moses would never get there.
For over one hundred years this vision had upheld and lifted the spirits of black Americans, there was something more and better, freedom was just ahead, slavery was almost over.
So when Doctor King says, “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” and “I’ve looked over” he speaks volumes, and they understand, and they are lifted up and can face another day, and they know Doctor King is not long for this world.
Forty long hard years of desert wandering and hiding coming to an end, finally getting Egypt and slavery out of there bones. Moses climbs Mt Pisgah and sees the other side, the land of promise. God says, “This is as far as you go” and Moses dies at the Lord’s command.
Moses is the central figure of the Old Testament, who faced down Pharaoh, who led the Exodus, who brought the Law. Even King David comes in at a distant second place.
And Moses doesn’t get there, just one step down hill and he would have made it to the other side, but he was only allowed the sight of the long awaited promise, freedom.
It is a story that is at the heart of our whole national character, a new land of promise and freedom, escape from corruption and abuse, the new world, and the push westward, generations giving and risking and taking all so that their children and their children’s children would know a better world.
A sustaining vision of promise just ahead that helped them face another day.
The vision that sustained the people of Israel throughout the exodus, the vision that drives the heart of our nation, the vision that sustained black Americans in their struggle to be free, we can see it just ahead, we are almost there, just not yet, not yet.
Does anyone ever really get there?
And just what is it anyway, this life sustaining, world changing vision of an unattainable promised land?
Ultimately it is a gift, a grace, it is of God, it is a revelation of God, a vision of God, a seeing, a glimpse of the Creator, the Lord the giver of life, the one who is holy, the one who is love, the one who is judge, who is just, who is merciful.
Without that seeing and knowing of God we are left unclothed out in the cold
God can be known.
The world can be changed.
That is how the Gospel began, Jesus teaching that God’s Kingdom has come near.
God can be known and this world is becoming part of God’s kingdom.
And Jesus is that that Life giving vision that has entered the world that keeps us going.
God can be known. The world can be changed. And Jesus is where both those events come to pass.
Grace Church, this parish, is like Mt. Pisgah for Moses-that looking over point, we can just see the other side, that abiding vision of the Gospel, of the person of Jesus, of knowing God and a God changed world.
This Church is that sacred place where we just see over the other side, where we are taking that first step down hill over and over, drawn ever forward knowing God and a God changed world, we are almost there, just not yet, not yet.
That frustrated unfulfilled longing can be hard to live with, but ultimately that is how God is making the world holy.
Let’s face it, the life of faith is a life of exasperating longing and hope, striving but never attaining.
St. Augustine is famous for his quote, “God, our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” But if we read Augustine and study his life, a more accurate quote would go something like an old country western song, “God I didn’t know what restless was until I caught a glimpse of thee.”
Perhaps what we are feeling is God’s longing for us, we are always just up ahead, just beyond reach, unattainable, we use the world and one another in the wrong ways, God longs and hopes for so much more.
In Christ, God is looking over the other side and coming down the mountain.