Power Of The People

When the Roman Empire hit hard times, Emperor Valerius ordered the execution of Christian leaders. The church, still young and wrangling over rules, was already agitated as persecution came. Enter Sixtus II, the pope trying to hold everything together, “a good and peace-loving priest,” wrote one biographer. But, enter too, those who follow leaders — the mob and their makers, wielding a power all its own. Because Sixtus wanted to protect his assembled flock, he didn’t flee the soldiers who stormed a worship service to behead him and his deacons. Crowds also moved Jesus to multiply loaves and fishes. If we must follow crowds, let’s make them good ones.

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