“Wise as Snakes and Harmless as Doves”

Jesus called his disciples to be “wise as snakes and harmless as doves.”  What does that mean in today’s culture and political climate?

Scripture:       

1 Samuel, chapter 27; 1 Chronicles, chapter 9; Psalm 141; Matthew, chapter 10

Matthew 10:16-20 (CEB):

“Look, I’m sending you as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as snakes and innocent as doves. Watch out for people – because they will hand you over to councils and they will beat you in their synagogues. They will haul you in front of governors and even kings because of me so that you may give your testimony to them and to the Gentiles. Whenever they hand you over, don’t worry about how to speak or what you will say, because what you can say will be given you at that moment. You aren’t doing the talking, but the Spirit of my Father is doing the talking through you.”

Observations:

“You Aren’t Doing the Talking”

In today’s passage, Jesus is commissioning the Twelve to go out and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom. They had good reason to assume that things would go well; after all, crowds responded to Jesus’s message wherever he went. In the first part of Matthew 10, Jesus tells them not to take anything with them; the assumption was that people would welcome them and care for them.

But then he drops a bombshell: I’m sending you as sheep among wolves. Now, although none of the disciples seem to have been shepherds, they all understood the metaphor. Wolves eat sheep! So if they were going out as sheep among wolves, maybe things weren’t going to go as smoothly as they thought! And Jesus confirms this when he warns them that people will hand you over to councils and they will beat you in their synagogues. That means that the attacks would come from their Jewish countrymen – the very ones whom Jesus came to reach.

But it wouldn’t stop there. They will haul you in front of governors and even kings because of me.Governors and kings were political rulers appointed by Rome. That meant that the attacks would not simply be religious ones; they would be charged as criminals. The “comfort” that Jesus gives them is that this would allow the disciples to give your testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But then he tells them not to worry about what to say, because you aren’t doing the talking. God is!

Wise as Snakes and Harmless as Doves

After Jesus tells them that he is sending them out as sheep among wolves, he charges them to be wise as snakes and innocent as doves. That’s a familiar phrase – but what exactly does Jesus mean by that? After all, snakes don’t exactly have a great reputation!

“The snake was the most intelligent of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1, CEB). The Hebrew word [‘arum] means “crafty, shrewd, sensible. This adjective can have either a positive or negative connotation. In a positive connotation, it is understood as being prudent.” (Complete Word Study Dictionary) So while snakes may not have a great reputation, Jesus calls us to be shrewd and sensible – prudent – in our dealings with the world.

But we are also to be as harmless as doves. That’s the contrast that shows us that Jesus is using the simile wise as snakes in a positive sense. We’re not to become totally like snakes – just as shrewd and prudent. But we’re to be as harmless as doves – or, as the NIV puts it, “innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16, NIV). In Scripture, the dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit – as at Jesus’ baptism. Doves also symbolize peace. So while we’re called to be sensible and prudent, we must never allow that to become “sharpness” – taking advantage of others. Wise as snakes and harmless as doves.

Application – Wise as Snakes and Harmless as Doves

So what does that mean for us? How does God want us to apply that? I believe that Jesus warns his disciples about thinking that the power structures of the world are friendly to them. In his day, the councils and synagogues were the power structures of the religious world. As Jesus’s own path would show, those power structures were perfectly capable of turning on anyone who they viewed as a threat. The application would be that we work within the structures and systems that God has ordained – but wise as snakes and harmless as doves reminds us that “you will know them by their fruit.”

In the same sense, governors and kings represent political power structures. In Jesus’s case, the Jewish authorities handed Jesus over to Pilate – a governor who served at the pleasure of Caesar, a king. While the Jews hated the Romans, they were willing to use them for their own purposes – to execute Jesus. Wise as snakes, but not harmless as doves.

To put it plainly: we are not called to cozy up to power; we are called to speak truth to power. Unfortunately, most of the time we’re more interested in gaining power than challenging it. The problem with seeing to gain power is that we end up compromising truth to gain influence.  That never works out well for the Church. Wise as snakes and harmless as doves means that we should have our eyes open – and that we should be guided by God rather than contemporary standards and a desire for power.

Prayer:

Father, help us to stop taking our cues from political candidates and platforms, and start measuring those candidates and platforms against the standards of Scripture. While we won’t find any who completely measure up, we will at least have a foundation from which to seek Your direction. Help us to recognize that our call is not to gain power, but to speak truth to power. When you provide those opportunities, help us to allow you to speak through us. Thank you for the promise that we’re not doing the talking; Your Spirit is.  Amen.