Friday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 14, 2023

Matthew 10, 16-23

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

In this Gospel Reading, Matthew presents the Lord continuing to instruct his Apostles before sending them out on their first mission.  This section of his instructions seems more to pertain to their going out after Pentecost to preach to the nations, and Matthew may have placed this here because it goes with the theme which he has taken up.

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”  The Lord Jesus is not an idealist.  He knows humanity so well that we should be thunderstruck that he willed to save it: “Jesus . . . knew all men, and . . .  he needed not that any should give testimony of man: for he knew what was in man” John 2, 24-25).  One sign of his will to save us is the sending out of the Apostles and, later, missionaries and teachers, as well as all those who work for the coming of the Kingdom.  Speaking frankly to the Apostles (and to us) about the bulk of humanity, he calls them “wolves”, predatory, relentless, destructive.  The Apostles are “like sheep” in that they imitate and represent the Lamb of God and because they are unacquainted with the pursuit of evil.  As “sheep” they will necessarily attract the wolves, but this is in order to convert them.  No one is converted afar off but only when drawn near to the truth.  “Be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”  The serpent, apparently powerless, knows how to maneuver its body in such a way that it provides shelter and food for itself and reproduce.  “Simple as doves”, that is, innocent.

“But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.  “They will hand you over.”  Without a doubt they will do this.  But this will lead to the glory of God: “Now, brethren, I desire you should know that the things which have happened to me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel so that my bonds are made manifest in Christ, in all the court and in all other places.  And many of the brethren in the Lord, growing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word of God without fear.” (Philippians 1, 12-24).  

“When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say.”  That is, we should have a firm knowledge of what we believe: “being ready always to satisfy every one that asks you the reason for that hope which is in you” (1 Peter 3, 15), but not worrying about preparing speeches, relying on rhetoric rather than grace to deliver us.  “The Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  We should not underestimate the gift of the Holy Spirit whom we received at Baptism and Confirmation.  He will speak for us powerfully when it is necessary for us and for others that he do so.

“Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.”  The Lord speaks more generally of persecution that will inevitably arise when the world feels threatened by the preaching of the truth.  “You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”  Many people are hated in this world, but the Christian is hated for doing good.  It has indeed come to pass that brother has handed over brother and parents their children and so we should expect to suffer for the One who instructs those who would be saved to pick up our crosses and follow him, the Crucified One.  But perseverance in our faith will seal our deliverance from evil: “Blessed is the man who endures trials: for, when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1, 12). 

“When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”  The Lord counsels his followers to disperse in time of persecution if they are able to do so.  This not only preserves their lives but also provides new opportunity for spreading the Gospel.  For instance, after the stoning of St. Stephen, “there was raised a great persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all dispersed through the countries of Judea, and Samaria, except the Apostles . . . They therefore that were dispersed went about preaching the word of God” (Acts 8, 1; 4).  “Before the Son of Man comes.”  While it may have seemed to many on the early Church that this would certainly be accomplished within the lifetime of the Apostles, it has not.  Many places in Israel await evangelization.  We can also understand the Lord as prophesying that the Jews would convert before the end of the world, as indeed St. Paul preached: “I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in [to the Faith], and so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11, 25-26).

We pray that we may be good sheep in imitation of the Lamb who dwells in us through grace so that he may lead us to the everlasting pastures of heaven.