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The Easter Triduum, which begins the evening of Holy Thursday and ends with the evening of Easter Sunday, memorializes the heart of the Christian gospel message which is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Last Supper is the primary focus of the evening of Holy Thursday, the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus on Good Friday, and His Glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Holy Saturday is also part of this sacred annual commemoration. Historically, Christian leaders have encouraged the faithful to let this day be a time for deep spiritual reflection. The day before, Good Friday, was the day Christ was crucified, died, and was buried. On Holy Saturday Christians are encouraged to "wait at the Lord's tomb" as did several of the first Christians and meditate and contemplate the life and teachings of their Great Savior and Teacher. Fasting on this day has also been promoted.
This year, Holy Saturday falls on April 4th, which is the date on which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
My spouse Sofia and I visited the site of Dr. King's assassination in Memphis. You may know that the site, the Lorraine Motel, has been converted into the National Civil Rights Museum (http://civilrightsmuseum.org). The inside of the complex is filled with a number of multi-media and interactive exhibits about the history of civil rights and the movement. The outside of the building that surrounds the front entrance, however, has been preserved. The facade of the Lorraine Motel is still intact and a wreath marks the spot where Dr. King was killed at 6:01 pm on April 4th.
Dr. King's last sermon was played at his funeral on April 9 at his widow's request, Coretta Scott King. The sermon has been entitled "The Drum Major Instinct" and was given at Ebenezer Baptist Church on February 4 which was two months before his assassination. She knew it was one of his most fitting speeches for this unfortunate and untimely occasion because Dr. King pondered the following towards the end of this speech.
"Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator-that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?"
He then went on to say
"If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say."
Thus, Dr. King eulogized himself and many who were with him on February 4th were around when he "met" his day (April 4th) and at his funeral (April 9th).
Pondering his own eulogy may have begun with his near death 10 years earlier in 1958 when he was nearly stabbed to death. In his speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop" which he gave on April 3, the day before he was assassinated, he stated that the only question that he heard from the woman that stabbed him was "Are you Martin Luther King?"
He furthered stated in his speech,
"And I was looking down writing, and I said, "Yes." And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, you drown in your own blood -- that's the end of you.
It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply,
Dear Dr. King,
I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School."
And she said,
While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.
And I want to say tonight -- I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze.
A Time for Deep Spiritual Reflection
As previously noted, this coming Saturday is Holy Saturday, April 4th, a time historically set aside by Christians for deep spiritual reflection. As the Christian Church "waits at the Lord's tomb" and meditates on His Passion and Death, we can also deeply reflect on our own impending death and what it means within the context of our own death and resurrection in Christ (Romans 6: 1-14).
In so doing, you may want to ruminate on the closing words of Dr. King's speech and ponder your own eulogy as a means of deep spiritual reflection on Holy Saturday.
"And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize-that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards-that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.
I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.
I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.
If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.
Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world."
If you would like to hear and read the sermon, click here
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