Matthew 10:16-20 (NIV) “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
The picture that Jesus is painting for His followers as He sends them out may seem unnecessarily grave, or even terrifying. But it is merely realistic. Just as Jesus, with His message of the immanence of God’s kingdom, ran across the grain of the current religious culture, so His followers would do when they spoke the same message.
Jesus would not be physically with them as they went to preach this message, so He warned them to be a shrewd as serpents. This has nothing to do with their character. Serpents never blink or close their eyes, so they serve well as a symbol of alertness and watchfulness. Jesus’ followers are to stay ever alert, so that they are not blind-sided by those who will be out to get them. At the same time, Jesus warned them to be as innocent as doves, the traditional symbol of purity and peace. Thus, they were to keep themselves pure and holy, and never be combative in their presentation of the gospel message.
Even though the disciples did not get arrested or flogged on this particular mission, Jesus knew that the potential is always there for one of His followers to experience pushback, or even persecution. Later, after Jesus’ ascension, many of these men would be arrested, persecuted, beaten, and even killed. At those times, they would be prompted to remember these instructions from Jesus’ own lips, specifically the part about not worrying about what might happen and trying to form a defense before the fact. Instead, their whole focus needed to stay fixed on doing the job that they had been sent to do, and trusting that God Himself would give them exactly the right words to say at the right time through the Holy Spirit that dwelled in them. These words would not necessarily free them, but would bear powerful witness to the reality of God’s kingdom, and would be impactful in the furtherance of the gospel.
These words of Jesus are just as important for disciples of Jesus today. All around the world we are still being sent out as sheep among wolves. In many parts of the world today, Christians are being arrested and beaten. Their property is being seized, and their own lives endangered because of their faithfulness to God’s command to go. But, just as in Jesus day, the Holy Spirit will provide the words and the power that we need right when we need it – not necessarily to free us, but so that we can bear powerful witness to the reality of God’s kingdom, and be impactful in the furtherance of the gospel.
Father, so many of us shy away from sharing the good news of Your kingdom because of fear of persecution and suffering. But, as Jesus clearly communicates here, the work is too vital to be put on hold because of that fear. Your solution was not a promise of protection, but a promise of Your presence. You have given us warning of what we are getting into, and then You promise us words of wisdom that will impact whoever hears them with the reality of You and Your kingdom. And that should be enough. Amen.