DAILY GRACE
July 10, 2020, Friday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Scripture: Matthew 10:16-23
‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“. . . like sheep into the midst of wolves . . .wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
Any sheep caught in the midst of wolves face grave danger. Jesus warns his apostles of the difficulties they will face in proclaiming the kingdom. But he is our Good Shepherd, so what safety instructions does he give? He uses two additional animal images. First, he says, be shrewd and careful, like a serpent. This may sound odd, since the snake is usually the bad guy in Scripture, on the side of the wolf, not the sheep. For the apostles to become like the serpent would seem to be caving to the pressures of the evil surrounding them. But the second part of the sentence clarifies it — they are to be clever like the serpent, but remain innocent of evil, like a dove.
The sheep sent on mission need to be shrewd in order to outsmart the wolves that surround them. Playing with the image a little, we an say they are sent to bring the wolves into the sheepfold. But they must be careful not to take on the ways of the wolves to such a degree that they lose their mission and identity. Their simple innocence prevents that and is part of the witness of their mission. The rest of this passage talks about the persecution that will result, but that they must not allow to sway them from their witness.
Jesus’ instructions can be hard to carry out in real life. We may tend to go to extremes and lean more toward the serpent part or the dove part of the instructions. If we’re shrewd, we live out Christian life in a way that helps our contemporaries to see the relevance of faith. But if we go too far in learning from the ways of the world around us, we can lose our identity and our mission. However, the answer is not to go too far the other way and become naïve doves. In that case we might keep our faith, but nullify its influence and power by a poor witness that alienates our contemporaries.
Prayer
Lord, you send me to live my faith in a world that often seems antagonistic to you. Sometimes I do feel like a sheep, with no teeth and claws to protect me — not even legs that run very fast! But you are my Shepherd, so I do not fear. I know you will provide for me whatever I need to do what you ask of me.
Contemplation
The Lord is my Shepherd.