Standing Up for Truth

In today’s Gospel, Mt. 21: 23-27, the chief priests and the elders of the people get caught hedging the truth. They dodge Jesus’ question, afraid of the crowd and of being politically incorrect.  John the Baptist is the very opposite.  He stands his ground, preparing the way for the Lord, calling the people to repentance and pointing out Jesus to the crowds: “Look, the Lamb of God. “  Neither is John the Baptist afraid of confronting Herod’s sin of incest with his brother’s wife.

How often do you and I hedge the truth, say whatever needs to be said to assumedly remain popular, to avoid offending anyone, or to assure that we are politically correct!  Standing up for what we believe, speaking the truth, being honest and open when asked a question about our faith:  many times that calls for the courage to go against the crowd.  It means having the courage and the faith of Mary when asked to bear a son prior to the consummation of her marriage to Joseph, or Joseph’s courage to take Mary as his wife, or having Mary’s forte at the wedding feast of Cana when she instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. It also means having the strength to obey as the apostles did when called to leave their fishing boats or the tax collector’s lucrative business to follow Jesus or to join Him when He dined with sinners.  It means following the example of Jesus who was unafraid to dialogue with the women of His day or having the courage of the woman at the well who was unafraid to encounter Jesus at the well and then return to her country proclaiming the Good News of the Messiah. It means trusting the Lord’s authority to proclaim the resurrection, as did Mary of Magdala when commissioned by the Risen Christ to go tell the apostles that He truly was risen from the dead. She proclaimed that truth unflinchingly even though the apostles treated her with scorn, disbelieving such a proclamation coming from a woman.  Truly, like all of the faith-filled persons before us, we, too, are challenged to believe in the authority of Jesus and act upon the authority He gives to us as Christians to proclaim our faith even when it is politically incorrect to do so.