Doves, Sheep, Snakes and Wolves

This week, I am completing my mandatory Church of England safeguarding, and am particularly mindful of news stories about the powerful and privileged who prey upon the vulnerable. My role as a Children’s, Schools and Families chaplain gives me the utter privilege of working with children, which  as many of you know I combine with the task of parenting my own young sons. Sometimes I find myself feeling disheartened about the world out there facing these wonderfully innocent little souls,  and wishing I could do more to make the world safer for them.

I am mindful of Jesus’s words to his disciples in Matthew 10:16: “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (NRSV). Jesus calls us to be “innocent”, that is ἀκέραιοι (“akeraioi”): to be pure and harmless in the sense that our character and motivations are not mixed up with toxins that would pollute them. But alongside this cultivation of innocent, we are to be φρόνιμοι (“phronimoi” ) that is, wise and shrewd, thoughtful and discerning. As Christians, we are to hold in tension the innocence and blamelessness of our own characters and behaviour with a sensible and realistic awareness of what it means to live in a fallen world.

Jesus never sugarcoats or minimizes his language when talking about the dangers and pitfalls of the world in which we are called to live out the gospel, and he also never abused his privilege and power, rather willingly giving it up for the sake of others. When we seek an example of how to navigate the complexities of this at times overwhelming world, we need look no further than Christ.