One man come in the name of love, One man come and go, One man come he to justify, One man to overthrow
In the name of love, What more in the name of love, In the name of love, What more in the name of love
One man caught on a barbed wire fence, One man he resist, One man washed up on an empty beach, One man betrayed with a kiss
In the name of love, What more in the name of love, In the name of love, What more in the name of love
Early morning, April four, Shot rings out in the Memphis sky, Free at last, they took your life, They could not take your pride
In the name of love, What more in the name of love, In the name of love, What more in the name of love
In the name of love, What more in the name of love, In the name of love, What more in the name of love
This song written and performed by the Irish rock band U2 remains the strongest impression I carry of Good Friday. As many likely know the band U2 are Christians and their outlook on the suffering and witness of Jesus is framed through the lens of Martin Luther King’s life and death. The comparison between Jesus and MLK is striking, both relatively young men, both set out on a quest with a small band of followers, both followed everywhere they go with death threats and headed questions and skepticism. The end result of their witness was also the same.
What seems to be less talked about is the similarity of their resurrected hope. In Jesus’ case he appears to his followers after his death and thus convinces them to live into the original vision Jesus had lives. In MLK’s case his followers resolve not to stop until the civil rights agenda is completed in political legislation. The civil rights bills of the 1960’s were stalled by political opposition. But after MLK’s death that opposition was overwhelmed with a new energy to bring King’s vision into reality.
In many Good Friday liturgies the common phrase “he died for us all” will be spoken from pulpits around the world. But what moves me about Jesus’ death and resurrection and Martin Luther King’s death and movement was not so much that they “died for me” as they “died for justice”, namely that they lived a vision where those who our society pushes down and ignores were front and centre. I find too often in religious language we make it all “about us”. Frankly as a white, middle-class heterosexual male it is almost always about me in our culture. What makes Jesus stand out for me is that his life was not about him or about me, it was about those whom the world does not love or value. Jesus died for them and his movement lives on for them.