“My Name Shall Be Great Among the Gentiles”

The Season of Epiphany traces Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are the non-Jewish peoples. Though few Gentiles made up the Old Testament Church, the prophet Malachi promised a change. Jesus Christ would one day rule the Gentiles. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Malachi declared, “My name shall be great among the Gentiles” (Malachi 1:11). The non-Jewish peoples would one day call upon the name of the Lord. Once the Son of God, the Messiah, came to earth, they would enter the New Covenant, have their sins washed by the blood of Christ, and worship the one true Lord of Glory. “My name shall be great among the Gentiles,” speaks of the ingathering of the nations, the worldwide conversion of all cultures, races and tongues to Jesus Christ. The conversion of the Gentiles is an epiphany message. It dovetails with the Great Commission. Christ commanded the Church, “Go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:18). The word “nations” is ethnoi in Greek, and means, “ethnic groups.” Ethnoi refers to every particular people group on the planet with their distinctive dress, music, cuisine, art, and language. Jesus didn’t stand up and command the Church to disciple and baptize the nations, and then sit down and mutter, “By the way, you will utterly fail in this mission.” No. The Church would succeed! How can the Church fail with the Holy Spirit? The church would indeed gather the nations to Christ.

St. John viewed the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy and Jesus’ Great Commission. God granted John a vision of the heavenly liturgy. Revelation 7:9 pictures “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” Though the word race is not mentioned, it is implied. All races will come to Christ. Just as the Church Triumphant in Heaven is a unified, integrated host, so should be the Church Militant on earth. Moreover, St. Paul teaches in Ephesians 2 that Christ has “broken down the middle wall of separation… so as to create in Himself one new man from the two. Therefore, we are all members of the one household of God.” All the redeemed, no matter what their race, are brothers and sisters of the same family. Today we want to combine this epiphany teaching of Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles with Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. According to tradition, one of the three Wise Men who traveled to Bethlehem to see Jesus was a black man. When Christ redeems the Gentiles it includes all races of humanity.

So let’s begin with a difficult question. If Jesus broke down the wall of separation between the races, and Christ came to save all peoples, why were blacks first enslaved, and then treated as second-class citizens in America? This is an ugly side of American history that must be faced squarely. Was slavery practiced only in Christian lands? No. Slavery was a universal practice. It was a big part of virtually every culture and civilization in history. Nevertheless, “as early as the sixth century the church began to oppose slavery, and by the end of the tenth century it had managed to eliminate slavery from most of Europe. This eradication of slavery in the Christian West during the Middle Ages is a fact too little appreciated. Unfortunately, slavery made a comeback during the 1430s. The Spanish colonized the Canary Islands near the coast of Africa and began to enslave the native population. When word of this reached Pope Eugene IV, he immediately issued a bull, Sicut dudum. Under threat of excommunication the pope gave everyone involved fifteen days to free his slaves. But the Pope’s order was ignored, as were similar bulls by his successors.

With the successful Spanish and Portuguese invasions of the New World, enslavement of native peoples continued. For a while the Spaniards made slaves of the Indians. Finally, large shipments of slaves from Africa arrived in the hemisphere. The popes opposed this slavery, but the local bishops sanctioned it. Some of those involved in slavery proposed that it was not a violation of church teachings since these were not “rational creatures” but a species of “animals.” [See Rodney Stark’s, The Victory of Reason. pp. 200-1.] After centuries of non-slavery in the Christian West, the traffic of blacks from Africa became a major operation. The slave trade came to North America and grew especially on the plantations of the Southern States. Abraham Lincoln emancipated the southern slaves during the Civil War, but interactions between the races remained poisoned. Jim Crow took the place of slavery. Jim Crow was a term that summed up the laws that discriminated against the Negro. Jim Crow referred to the customs that kept blacks in an inferior position. Jim Crow customs and laws continued up until the 50s and 60s. On Martin Luther King weekend it is appropriate to remember the difficult life of the Negro during these decades.

What did they endure? Blacks could not eat in the same restaurants. They could not use the same restrooms or be treated in the same hospital wards. Strict laws separated the races on streetcars, buses, and railroads; in schools, in waiting rooms, hotels, theaters, cemeteries, parks, courtrooms, drinking fountains, and every other public space. The mania for separation went to such lengths that Oklahoma required separate telephone booths for the two races; Florida and North Carolina made it illegal to give white pupils textbooks that had previously been used by black students. The mere touch of a black person was considered defiling. Colin Powell and his wife Alma Powell had trouble on their honeymoon. Traveling through Virginia in 1962, they had to pull off the road and relieve themselves in the woods rather than risk asking for service at a filling station where blacks were not allowed.

Due to illiteracy and prejudice, the majority of southern blacks were confined to ill-paid, insecure, menial jobs – toiling in the fields, doing the cooking and laundry, collecting the garbage, and the like. The presence of a large pool of black women desperate for work did much to make life easier for southern white women. Many white families could afford a black servant. Some of these black domestics worked six 12-hour days a week at only $100.00 per week at the current rate.

Poor quality marked most black schools. Southern whites worried that educating African Americans was dangerous. The thinking went: “If Negroes become literate, who will pick the cotton?” “When they learn to spell dog and cat,” wrote one Virginia newspaper, “they throw away the hoe.”

Many rules and taboos propped up Jim Crow. Blacks were expected to give way on the sidewalk to a white person. If a black were to visit the home of a white person, he would have to come in through the back door. Whites rarely shook hands with blacks, for a handshake, like walking through the front door, suggested equality. Black passengers rode at the back of the bus. They had first to enter at the front, pay their fare, then, get off the bus and walk to the back door to reenter and find a seat. In the checkout counter at the supermarket, the black was expected to go to the back of the line for the white. In the department stores, blacks were forbidden from trying on pants and dresses, hats and gloves. Their touch was thought to be contaminating.

Vocabulary too reinforced the subordinate status of the Negro. Disrespectful and demeaning titles were given to blacks. The “n” word had the effect of isolating the black person and establishing him as an inferior being, besides giving a sadistic satisfaction to the user. Blacks who were known to the white speaker were called by their first name. However, if the white person didn’t know the black person, he was addressed as “boy.” When the black man reached advanced age, his name switched to “uncle.” African-American ladies were called “girl,” and older ones became “auntie.”

Water fountains had signs posted that said either “white,” or “colored.” In 1896 the Supreme Court had established the principle of “separate but equal” in the “Plessy vs. Ferguson” case. That meant that public facilities were to be separate, but equal in quality and availability. “Separate but equal” was theoretically what the law stipulated, but in practice “separate but equal” was rarely achieved. Did cities and counties commit to building two zoos of equal quality and availability, one for whites and the other for blacks? No. It rarely happened. Consequently, blacks had little chance to enjoy the zoo. The same held for skating rinks, bowling alleys, swimming pools, tennis courts, public parks, libraries, and such.

Racist madness took its most despicable form in lynching mobs. Lynching was death at the hands of a mob without benefit of trial, judge or jury. Such vigilantism terrorized black citizens. From 1883 to 1927 more than 3,000 blacks were hanged without legal sanction. The courts were often a travesty. Judges, attorneys, and juries were all white, and the courts sometimes failed to protect the freedom, property, and lives of blacks.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister who began his crusade against Jim Crow in Montgomery, Alabama. Mrs. Rosa Parks (who just passed away a few months ago) inspired King. Rosa Parks was jailed for refusing to sit at the back of the bus. That happened on December 1, 1955. King followed up Rosa Park’s civil disobedience with a bus boycott. The young minister persuaded bus riders to stop riding. Empty buses began rolling down the streets of the city of Montgomery. He organized car pools to transport those in need of a ride, but most boycotters simply walked to their destinations.

Dr. King made a couple decisions early on that served him well. He decided that the aim of his movement would not strive to create a more fair separation of the races, but rather to abolish segregation altogether. Also, though he at first toyed with the idea of an armed revolt, he ultimately decided against violence. He would gain the moral high ground. The bus boycott was a success. One year later the city of Montgomery changed their policy and allowed blacks to sit at the front of the bus.

King navigated the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. His magnetism and exceptional oratorical skills energized many people to risk their lives to break down racial barriers. He filled churches and lecture halls, and brought in contributions from around the world. In 1968 an assassin’s bullet snuffed out the life of this leader.

How about racism today? Are whites irredeemably hostile to blacks? Of course not! We have made amazing strides in 40 years. White racial attitudes have truly shifted for the better. You can still find white hatred for blacks but the haters have been pushed to the farthest fringes. The view that “nothing has changed” is mistaken.

What about the Church? How did the Church fit into the Civil Rights movement? The black churches played a crucial role. They got involved politically and demonstrated that Christianity could be a powerful force for social change. It is difficult to see how Martin Luther King, Jr. would have succeeded without the help of the Church. It is a shame that the conservative white churches didn’t get more engaged in this struggle. Why not? The fundamentalists had pretty much abandoned social issues since the Scope’s Monkey Trial of 1925. It wasn’t until 1980 that the Evangelical Church awoke out of her lethargy. By that time the struggle to help blacks achieve equal opportunity was largely over.

Another reason white conservative Christians didn’t get involved was simply this: they had become too comfortable with the subordination of blacks. In almost every other respect, these were godly Christian people. But they were products of their age, and for some reason they were blind to the harm of Jim Crow legislation on black men and women created in God’s image.

Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech at the Washington Monument. He looked out over a sea of people and told them, “I have a dream.” A time would come when a man would be judged by the “content of his character, rather than the color of his skin.” This is a fine guideline. It fits epiphany. We judge people based on their conduct, not on the basis of their race or ethnic background.

How should we promote racial harmony today? The question is not as simple now as it was in the 50s or 60s. The issue of race still hovers over our political landscape, but in a different way. Some blacks complain about white oppression in areas where oppression has virtually vanished. Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam movement wants to reintroduce the separation of the races. Racial sensitivity goes too far, and racist charges are leveled at people who aren’t racists.

Some of you may have been falsely accused of racism. Several years ago I was substitute teaching at a high school. A black student disrupted the class with filthy language. After three warnings, he kept doing it, so I sent him to the office. While I was writing the note for him to give to the vice principal, he called me the f-word and other things. Three black girls got up and left the class with him, without my permission. The bell rang and I went down to the office to find out why the four had gone to the vice principal. But the students had already informed her (the vice principal) that I was a racist; that I had singled out this black student because of his skin color; that he hadn’t really done anything wrong. The vice principal believed them. I was astonished and sickened when the four were excused. They had played the race card and won.

Jim Crow prejudice and hatred no longer shape white racial attitudes. I remember the pervasiveness of racial jokes against blacks during the 60s, but that is no longer the case. Yes, we acknowledge the suffering of blacks during slavery and Jim Crow. Yes, there was a terrible problem of racism in this country, but that problem has been practically erased, thanks to people like Martin Luther King.

How can we maintain smooth race relations? Epiphany is a good time to consider this. God said through Malachi, “My name shall be great among the Gentiles.” One of the Magi was a black man. The Church is composed of all races: white, black, Asian, Latino, Indian and Eskimo. Thus, we converse with people of other races, invite them into our homes to dine, become their friends, and worship together. The Reformed Episcopal Church is in a unique position to boost racial harmony. Bishop Cummins, our founder, set a good example. He labored to bring together blacks and whites in the Church. He had an interracial congregation in his parish in Washington D.C. at a time when that was almost unthinkable. After the Reformed Episcopal Church was founded, Bishop Cummins brought in black congregations who had been rejected by the mainline church. That is why the membership of our denomination has always had a high percentage of blacks. A few months ago, our Bishops signed a Concordat with the Anglican Province of Nigeria. We are also joining hands with the Anglican believers of South America and Southeast Asia. The family of God, the church, is composed of all races. We will see them in Heaven. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Hence, it naturally follows that God wants you and me to love people, no matter what their race. And if we must judge others, we judge them based on the content of their character, not on the color of their skin.

It is marvelous how far America has traveled since the crusade of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. America honors his contribution. We raise the flag. Epiphany stirs up the Church to cast down the walls of racial isolation, suspicion and hatred. St. John in Revelation saw the heavenly hosts around the throne of God. They were united, not divided. People of all nations, races, and tongues were giving glory to the Lamb. In this present era that picture comes to fruition on earth as it is in Heaven. As the Church matures, the Holy Spirit brings about racial harmony. The words of Malachi are coming true, “My Name shall be great among the Gentiles.”

Let us pray.