Finding the “I” in the “Thou”
In commemoration of Martin Luther King Day – once referred to as “King Lutheran Day” by my then, six year old daughter – here is one of my favorite selections from King’s speeches. This is from the famous “mountaintop sermon” which he delivered in Memphis, Tennessee the night before his assassination. In it, you can hear echoes of Martin Buber and his classic work I and Thou.
It is also an example of what Mikhail Bahktin termed “insidedness” – the capacity to enter into someone else’s experience, authenticate their individuality, share their woes and listen to their voice.
In this selection from King’s sermon, he is retelling Jesus’ story of the good Samaritan.
Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus; and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters in life. At points, he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew, and through this, throw him off base. Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn’t stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.”
