Dear Folks,

Our Gospel this Sunday is from Matthew chapter 10. In this chapter Jesus gives instruction to the apostles as He sends them forth to preach and heal. I challenge you that these instructions are for all us for we have all been sent, and it’s worth reading all of Matthew chapter 10 this week. 

We are warned that trying to do good will often be met we opposition, sometimes mean opposition, and we are going to have to face that. Clare Boothe Luce famously said, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  

I would especially point out: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. (Matthew 10:16).” The Greek word for shrewd (phronimos) is used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament that was popular at Jesus’ time) in Genesis 3:1 “The serpent was the most phronimos of the animals that the Lord God has made.” Matthew’s readers would have immediately made the connection. Being sent by Jesus will take everything we have, including our cleverness, but we must never allow ourselves to become mean and hateful. 

The first letter of Peter repeatedly hammers home the idea that we need to be careful that we are being persecuted for doing God’s work and not for being jerks. “For whenever anyone bears the pain of unjust suffering because of consciousness of God, that is a grace. But what credit is there if you are patient when beaten for doing wrong? But if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God (1 Peter 2:19-20).” “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil (1 Peter 3:17).” “Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire in occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the suffering of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let on one among you be made to suffer as a murder, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer. But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name (1 Peter 4:12-17).”

To be God’s witnesses, we will need to be well grounded in our relationship with Jesus (John 15:1-8).  Only in union with Him will we be able to face the reality of the world and not be made according to its image. Clever as serpents, clever as The Serpent, but remain innocent as doves. The world can get nasty; we are to remain faithful, not just for our sake, but for the sake of those people to whom God sends us.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim