By Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley
On February 4, 1968, just months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to preach a sermon titled “The Drum Major Instinct.” Working powerfully and faithfully from the text in Mark where Peter, James and John come to Jesus desiring to sit at his right and left hand in the kingdom, Dr. King held up the profound truth that what we see in these disciples, namely a desire to be first and most important, is a quality that is present in all humans across all areas of life. He described that desire to “be out front, lead the parade, a desire to be first” and called it a drum major instinct.
King’s sermon warns prophetically of the all the ways this instinct can lead to severe societal and personal damage. In human beings, it produces arrogance, social exclusivism, violence, financial irresponsibility and a host of other behaviors designed to get attention at any cost or overpower others for personal gain. Unchecked, and on a larger scale, it produces conflict between nations, racial injustice and economic disparity.
It is undeniably the case that racial division is rooted in white supremacy, which is nothing less than an unchecked need of one race to have dominance over all others.
In the late 1960s and in the mid 2020s, we see the ways the desires of some nations to have unchecked power and dominance lead to the annihilation of people in other nations.
The political environment today is characterized by an extreme kind of drum major instinct, where individual political leaders press the pre-eminence of their views and policies at the exclusion of any other or any possibility of compromise. On interpersonal levels, it is even more true today than in 1968 that the need for attention, the need for personal advancement, an obsession with self-interest that is now known as narcissism is destroying people, families, relationships and communities.
I cannot help but believe that Dr. King would describe that narcissism as nothing more than an extreme embodiment of the drum major instinct, another example of the way in which the instinct “is not harnessed, it becomes a very dangerous, pernicious instinct.”
We might anticipate, even as Dr. King did, that because of all the dangers of this drum major instinct that Jesus would unconditionally reject it when it found expression in the request of his three disciples to sit at his right and left hand. Remarkably, that is not the call Jesus issues, and the text from Mark’s Gospel cannot be heard today that way anymore than it could at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Instead, Jesus calls for a focusing of the drum major instinct, a redemption of it by giving his disciples direction on how they are to express a desire for greatness as his followers. Hear Dr. King’s profound proclamation today:
“Jesus said in substance, ‘Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you’re going to be my disciple, you must be.’ But he reordered priorities. And he said, ‘Yes, don’t give up this instinct. It’s a good instinct if you use it right. It’s a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do.’
And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, ‘Now brethren, I can’t give you greatness. And really, I can’t make you first.’ This is what Jesus said to James and John. ‘You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared.’ And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.”
Having established the new standard for greatness, the proper focus of the drum major instinct, Dr. King expresses a profound hope as to how he would be remembered:
“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.”
As we pause on this day to remember the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., faithfulness does not demand that we fully release the drum major instinct. But discipleship demands that we allow it to be redeemed so that we can participate in God’s transformation of the world through Jesus Christ.
Our world today is torn apart by all the pernicious ways a desire to be first can distort personality, demolish relationships, destroy communities and turn people and nations against one another.
In the midst of all of the violence, injustice, hate and frustration that abounds today, there is an ever-present temptation to meet the unbridled desire for greatness with unbridled greatness of our own. But that only perpetuates the cycles that threaten to undo us completely. There is an equally great temptation today to believe there is nothing that we can do, no power we have, no agency we hold, no capitals or opportunities at our disposal to be used for anything good. But that kind of surrender also allows unfettered egoism and violence to persist.
What is needed today are Christians and congregations who allow Christ to remake the drum major instinct within us so that we can be instruments of peace, demonstrations of hope, catalysts for justice and brokers of resurrecting love.
How can you and I, in our lives, our congregations and our Fellowship, lead toward a world that is more like the one for which Jesus came, taught, lived, died and rose again? What words must we speak? What new financial investments can we make? What new partnerships can we forge? What acts of justice can we perform? Is there an act of service we can offer today?
The last line of Dr. King’s sermon offers us a prayer we can each pray in our own words: “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.”
Lord, make us drum majors for a new creation.
Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley is Executive Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.