But not only that, we’ve got to strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank—we want a “bank-in” movement in Memphis. So go by the savings and loan association. I’m not asking you something we don’t do ourselves at SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We’re just telling you to follow what we’re doing. Put your money there. You have six or seven black insurance companies in Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We want to have an “insurance-in.”
这里我们有几件实际可行的事要做。我们正在建起一个更大的基金，而同时我们也在给政府制造压力，这压力有分量足以使政府在行动时有所顾忌。我在这里要求你们跟着将之进行到底。
Now these are some practical things we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here.
总之，请允许我跟你们说，我们必须投身到这场斗争中直至最终胜利。要知道没有什么事情比半途而废更让人悲哀的了，我们必须看到这场斗争在孟菲斯取得胜利。并且，当我们在外游行的时候，我们需要你的到场，即便这意味着旷工，即便这意味着旷课，请你一定要过来。多关心你在罢工的黑人兄弟，可能你不在罢工，但是我们要么一起享受成功的喜悦，要么一起承受失败的痛苦。让我们养成一种冒险的无私精神吧！有一天，有个人来到主耶稣跟前，他想问一些关于永生的很重要的问题，就此刁难耶稣，以表明他懂的比耶稣还要多，从而冷不防地难住耶稣。现在这个问题本可以简单地用哲学和神学的论辩解答，但是耶稣当即将这个问题从虚化的半空中拽了下来，然后将之放在了从耶路撒冷到耶利哥的危险的蜿蜒的山路上。他说，一个人为一群盗贼洗劫与暴力，然后你们记得吧，一个利未人和一个教士碰巧从另一面经过，而他们都没有停下来帮忙。之后，又来了一个别族的人，他从坐骑上下来，决定不能等到别人来帮助这个人，于是来到了那个受伤的人身边，给予了急救，拯救了这个需要帮助的人。耶稣最后说道：“这样才是好人，这样才是了不起的人啊！他有设身处地的心灵，能替别人着想。”我们运用我们的想象力努力地揣度一下，为什么那个利未人和那个教士没有停下来帮忙呢？通常我们会说他们正赶着参加教会会议——基督教会的聚会——他们必须加紧前往耶路撒冷，那样的话他们才不会迟到。而其他的时候我们会考虑到，有一条宗教律令：“一个要参加宗教仪式的人，在仪式进行前24小时内不能接触人体。”而偶尔我们又会猜想是否是这个原因：他们不是去耶路撒冷，也不是去耶利哥，而是去组织一个“耶利哥道路改进会”。有这个可能性。或许他们认为从根本上解决问题，比以个人努力反而陷入麻烦的泥沼要好。
Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point, in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.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, administering first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his brother. Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn’t stop. At times we say they were busy going to church meetings—an ecclesiastical gathering—and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn’t be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that “One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony.” And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather to organize a “Jericho Road Improvement Association”. That’s a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.
但是我要告诉你们我的想象力给我的启示。很可能其实是这些人都觉得害怕，你看，耶利哥之路是一条危险的路途。我还记得我和我的妻子第一次到耶路撒冷的情形。我们租了一辆车然后从耶路撒冷开往耶利哥，但我们上路之后，我就跟我妻子说道:“我现在明白为什么耶稣要拿这条路来作比喻了。”这是一条蜿蜒曲折的道路，非常有利于埋伏，你从耶路撒冷出发，这大约是1200英里，也即海平面以上1200英尺。而当15或者20分钟之后，你到达耶利哥时，你却在海平面以下2200英尺。那真是一条危险的路途啊！在耶稣的时代，它就以“血腥之途”而为人所知。而且你知道，可能那个教士和那个利未人检查了地上的那个人，而怀疑那些盗贼是否仍在附近，抑或是他们认为这个人仅仅是在伪装，他只是装作被抢劫了被打伤了，目的是为了抓住他们，引诱他们从而快速而简单地捉住他们。所以那个利未人的第一个问题是：“如果我停下来帮助这个人的话，有什么事会发生在我身上？”但是接着那个好心的撒玛利亚人过来了，他颠倒着这个问题：“如果我不停下来帮助这个人的话，他会怎么样？”
But I’m going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It’s possible that these men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road.I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, “I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable.” It’s a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you’re about 2200 feet below sea level. That’s a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the “Bloody Pass”. And you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked—the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
这就是今晚摆在我们面前的问题，不是“如果我停下来帮助这些环卫工人的话，我的工作会有什么影响？”不是“如果我停下来帮助这些环卫工人的话，那些我作为一个牧师花在办公室里的一天接一天、一个礼拜接一个礼拜的时间会怎么样？”问题不是“如果我帮助了这个需要帮助的人，我会怎么样？”问题是“如果我不帮助这些环卫工人的话，他们会怎么样？”这才是我们的问题。
