16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 ESV)
Today’s text continues the context of Jesus sending out the Twelve Disciples as Twelve Apostles to the Jewish community (Matt. 10:1-15). He has instructed them what, and what not, to do as they serve. It is at this point that the Lord instructs them on what to expect; persecution.
Persecution is hostility and ill treatment. It is also persistent annoyance or harassment. In the context of today’s text, it is persecution because of the Gospel and being an ambassador of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17-21). It can come from the government, culture and personally from unbelievers; some of whom may be members of one’s own family.
I have encountered many young people who sense a desire to serve the Lord Jesus in vocational ministry. Some are infatuated with the idea of being on a platform and receiving the adulation from the crowd. None are prepared for the possibility, and probability, that they will encounter persecution for their faith and service. Consequently, they become disillusioned and discouraged.
Jesus was quite open and honest about what the apostles in particular, and believers in general, encounter as servants of Christ. He sends people out to communicate a message that may result in them receiving a slap in the face instead of a pat on the back.
Jesus compared it to sheep, believers in Christ, being in the midst of wolves. Wolves are predators. Jesus was referring to fierce persons who attack Christians and have no mercy. They may do so verbally, the mainstream media for example, or even physically.
Consequently, believers in Christ are to be wise and innocent. Wisdom, the practical application of biblical knowledge, is compared with a serpent and innocence with an untainted dove.
“The serpent was the emblem of wisdom or shrewdness, intellectual keenness (Gen. 3:1; Psa. 58:5), the dove of simplicity (Hosea 7:11). It was a proverb, this combination, but one difficult of realization. Either without the other is bad (rascality or gullibility,” writes biblical scholar A.T. Robertson.
“Now that He is about to send His disciples into a world hostile to God’s kingdom, our Savior takes time in today’s passage to warn His followers that they will often bring His words to sinners who are all too eager to “shoot the messengers,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.
“Knowing what is ahead, Jesus describes how we are to conduct our outreach. Verse 16 exhorts us to act with a wise innocence — “innocent as doves that we may not harm anyone; cautious as snakes that we may be careful of letting anyone harm us” (Augustine, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the Twenty-first Century, vol. 3, 3:189).”
“We are not to be naïve, but we must realize that not all whom we encounter are who they say they are. Still, our mission is not one of subversiveness or automatic mistrust of everyone we meet,” concludes Dr. Sproul.
Praying for you today as you endeavor to be wise and innocent when sharing, and living out, the Gospel. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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