Will you answer the call to cause and peace?

I'd like to expand last week's remarks about doing all I can to live peaceably with people. To stay away from taking revenge.

This is the week of Martin Luther King Day. One of his quotes is: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Seeking to live peaceably does not mean not making a stand for causes or beliefs — or not taking a defensive action.

One example of speaking up is the biblical story of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a desert prophet who taught repenting — or turning away — could bring forgiveness for one's sins. He was the “advance” man, preparing the way for Jesus and His even greater message.

He called out the king, Herod, because Herod had unlawfully divorced his wife in order to marry his brother's wife, Herodias — who was also his niece. Herodias carried a huge grudge toward John for this, but could do nothing about it until an opportunity opened when Herod threw a party for his birthday.

Herodias had a daughter who danced for the guests and because she so pleased Herod he offered her whatever she wanted. With a little coaching from her mother she asked for the slaying of John the Baptist. Herod — who'd had John imprisoned, yet considered him a good and “holy man” — couldn't say no. He'd promised in front of witnesses.

John lost his life for standing against wrong and speaking truth. So did Martin Luther King Jr. — who made a nonviolent, but uncompromising stand for racial equality in the American civil rights movement. He was assassinated by a hateful man with a Herodias-sized grudge against Blacks.

Neither John nor Martin took revenge by repaying evil with evil. Neither did they back down when confronting wrong. Did they seek trouble? No. In John's case people flocked to him for his words of hope.

Martin became the youngest person, at age 35, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He remarked, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”

It's a balancing act — this living peaceably with others and yet standing for one's worth and beliefs in a turbulent world. I was reading something recently an inner city teen said — about growing up “kind of early” with all the violence around him — “We ain't grow up playing in parks or nothing like that.”

He's met somebody who's showing him something different — a South Side of Chicago pastor who knows a thing or two about melding peaceable living with human dignity and personal belief. It's changing this teen's outlook.

John the Baptist, Martin Luther King Jr., and Pastor Corey Brooks have all answered the call to cause and peace “so far as it depends on you.”