Matthew 10:16-23
Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be wise* as serpents and innocent** as doves. Matthew 10:16
I am reminded of the many times I had to pull splinters out of my children's feet or fingers. The preface was always "Now this is going to hurt…" There is that same kind of "truthtelling" in today's Gospel. And also in the unfolding of the liturgical calendar as the church remembers and celebrates the lives of many martyrs for whom intense suffering was the cost of their discipleship.
I wonder this day what the cost of discipleship looks like in my life. What is the currency it trades in? It isn't my physical life…like the martyrs. That's clear…so far anyway. Is it time? Attention? Careful and thoughtful stewardship? Relationships?
Or maybe it is my life, the whole of it...and maybe that scares the ---- out of me.
It is the combination of serpent-like shrewdness and dove-like innocence that the gospel proposes as antidotes for my reluctance and fear in the face of my wolves. Grant it, please, in increasing amounts!
other translations:
*shrewd, cunning, prudent
**simple, harmless, guileless
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