Being in power

You’re so righteous. You rule.

Thus may contemporary slang be appropriated to summarize today’s first reading (Sirach 47:2-11), which praises the great King David: a godly man in power.

In today’s Gospel (Mark 6:14-29), an ungodly man is in power and when a godly man speaks challenging truth to him, the godly man is thrown in prison, where he is later killed.

Taken together, these readings remind us of our responsibilities as Christians, whether we have power in this world or we do not.

Indeed, in some places and at some times, devout Christians have significant power and influence in the secular realm, exercising properly their right and duty as citizens.

At other times and in many places, devout Christians have little or no influence in the power of the state and of the culture. Sometimes, Christians who put their faith into practice are even made the targets of those in power.

Ultimately, whether we have power in this world or not, our responsibilities as Christians are fundamentally the same.

Our first responsibility is to the truth - to be faithful to the truth ourselves and to help others freely embrace the truth – for Christ has commanded us to preach the Gospel to every creature.

In being faithful to the truth, of course, like David we must be keenly mindful of how much we ourselves fall short of the truth: of our moral imperfections as well as our not-yet-complete intellectual grasp of the truth in its fullness. We must be properly penitent (so to speak) and humble.

However, our responsibility to help others to the truth and our responsibility to do what we can for the common good cannot wait for our own perfection. Our particular imperfections may prevent us from doing some things, but they do not give us the excuse to do nothing

Nor can we let awareness of our imperfections or any kind of fear cause us to be unfaithful to the truth. Frail and imperfect as we are, exercising prudence in what we say and trusting always in the Lord, we must be firm in the truth, even as John the Baptist was.

Closely tied to our responsibility to the truth is our responsibility to love, which is also tied to our responsibility for the common good (cf Deus Caritas Est).

We must strive in charity for the true common good.

None of these responsibilities are easy, even if we have some measure of earthly power and influence.

But just as these responsibilities have been given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so also does Christ extend to us the grace to be faithful to these responsibilities – responsibility to the truth and responsibility to love – in the power of Jesus’ name.