Proper
6: Exodus 19: 2–8a; Psalm 100; Romans 5:
1–8; Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 23
This is the homily by Fr.
Gene Tucker that was given at St. John’s Church in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday,
June 18, 2017.
“KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL”
(Homily text: Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 23)
What
does this statement, made by Jesus (and heard in our Gospel reading which is
appointed for this morning) mean: “…so be wise as serpents and innocent as
doves.”
Ever
wonder what this statement means? I’ll
admit that I have.
We
have quite a lot of potential study material in this morning’s Gospel, which –
in the main – deals with Jesus’ sending out of the Apostles to spread the Good
News of God. Jesus provides this original group with a realistic description of
what the reception will be to their proclamation. He also provides a warning
about the dangers that will await them.
Specifically,
the dangers this group will face will include opposition from the forces of
evil.
The
clue to the meaning of Jesus’ statement lies in His use of the words “serpent”
and “dove.”
Let’s
look, if we may, at some of the imagery and the associations which are
connected to both words as we find them in Holy Scripture.
We
begin our consideration of the word “serpent” by starting in the Garden of
Eden, as we find the description of the temptation of Adam and Eve in Genesis,
chapter three. There, the serpent comes, telling first Eve, and then through
her, Adam, that what God had said about eating the forbidden fruit of the tree
that was in the center of the garden wasn’t really true. But, instead, the
serpent said, if they ate of the fruit of that tree, they would be “like gods”,
knowing good and evil. The rest of the encounter is well known: Eve tastes of the fruit, and then offers it
to Adam, who also eats. Then, Genesis tells us, their eyes were opened. But God
points the way toward eventual victory over evil, as He tells Eve that the
serpent will strike her heel, but that she would crush his head. (Genesis 3: 15)[1]
So,
at the beginning of Scripture’s account, the serpent is associated with the
powers of evil: Sin, to use another
word.
Let’s
fast-forward to the account of the people of Israel as they are wandering in
the Sinai desert. (The account will be found in Numbers 21: 4–9.) There, they are being attacked by venomous
snakes. God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, so that
those who had been bitten could look at the bronze serpent and be delivered
from the danger. So, in essence, what we have is a force which is destroying
God’s people (the snakes), causing God to intervene to save them. The serpent
is depicted as a force that is opposed to God.
In
the New Testament, John the Baptist calls the leadership of God’s people a
“brood of vipers”, depicting those who were opposed to God’s initiatives made
known in the Baptist’s ministry as agents of evil.[2]
Now,
let’s turn our attention to the imagery which is associated with the dove.
The
dove bears with it the sign of peace. When the Great Flood was over, Noah sent
out a dove from the ark, and the dove returned, bearing an olive branch in its
mouth.[3]
At
Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a
dove[4],
signifying not only God’s presence but the sign of peace between God and
humankind.
With
this information in hand, let’s return to Jesus’ statement about wisdom and
innocence, that is, being wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
If
we look at the context of the statement, we see that Jesus is depicting what
reception the Apostles (and other early missionaries who carried the Good News
out into the world) would receive. It would be a hostile and dangerous mission,
He said. If we may put the Lord’s statement another way, we might say that He
was telling His followers that they should be aware of the nature of the
opposition they will face. They should know the ways of evil and of sin. But,
He adds, they should maintain their innocence and their holiness in the midst
of such an environment.
The
Lord’s admonition is appropriate for us today.
As
followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be effective witnesses to all that
God has done in Him. We are called to live holy lives, lives which reflect
God’s holiness. We are also called to reflect the love that God has shown to us
to others we encounter along life’s path.
A
brief look at the letters which make up the New Testament reveals that these
concerns were very much on the minds of the Church’s early leaders. We could
sum up St. Paul’s concerns in this way:
Paul warned the believers in the early Church that they could not live
the way they did before they came to faith in the Lord. “Put away those things
you did before you became a Christian,” is a good way to include many of his
admonitions in one statement.
Christians
are wise to remember what life can be like without God’s active presence. Many
of the people we will encounter as we walk through life will be caught in such
circumstances, and some of those will be actively opposed to God’s ways. But,
as baptized believers, we are called not only to know what opposition to God
looks like, but to model how differently life can look when we seek God’s
activity in our lives. Only then can our witness be an effective one.
AMEN.
