DAILY GOSPEL COMMENTARY:
“LIKE SHEEP IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES”
(Mt 10:16–23).

Gospel of Friday, 14th week in Ordinary Time. Mt 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.”

Gospel Commentary from the Navarre Bible, Commentary to the Gospel of St. Matthew (with permission)

• Summary of ideas vv. 16-23
  • The instructions and warnings Jesus gives here apply right through the history of the Church.
    • It is difficult for the world to understand the way of God. Sometimes there will be persecutions, sometimes indifference to the Gospel or failure to understand it. Genuine commitment to Jesus always involves effort — which is not surprising, because Jesus himself was a sign of contradiction; indeed, if that were not the experience of a Christian, he would have to ask himself whether he was not in fact a worldly person.
  • There are certain worldly things a Christian cannot compromise about, no matter how much they are in fashion.
    • Therefore, Christian life inevitably involves nonconformity with anything that goes against faith and morals (cf. Rom 12:2).
    • It is not surprising that a Christian’s life often involves choosing between heroism and treachery.
    • Difficulties of this sort should not make us afraid: we are not alone, we can count on the powerful help of our Father God to give us strength and daring.
• v. 20: For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
  • Here Jesus teaches the completely supernatural character of the witness he asks his disciples to bear.
    • The documented accounts of a host of Christian martyrs prove that he has kept this promise: they bear eloquent witness to the serenity and wisdom of often uneducated people, some of them scarcely more than children.
  • The teaching contained in this verse provides the basis for the fortitude and confidence a Christian should have whenever he has to profess his faith in difficult situations. He will not be alone, for the Holy Spirit will give him words of divine wisdom.
• v. 23 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 interpreting this text, the first thing is to reject the view of certain rationalists who argue that Jesus was convinced that soon he would come in glory and the world would come to an end.
    • That interpretation is clearly at odds with many passages of the Gospel and the New Testament.
    • Clearly, Jesus refers to himself when he speaks of the “Son of man”, whose glory will be manifested in this way. The most cogent interpretation is that Jesus is referring here, primarily, to the historical event of the first Jewish war against Rome, which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple in the year 70, and which led to the scattering of the Jewish people. But this event, which would occur a few years after Jesus’ death, is an image or a prophetic symbol of the end of the world (cf. note on Mt 24:1).
  • The coming of Christ in glory will happen at a time which God has not revealed. Uncertainty about the end of the world helps Christians and the Church to be ever-vigilant.

VIDEO COMMENTARY ON TODAY’S GOSPEL

TOPIC: DO YOU WORRY ABOUT REJECTION?

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples to be sheep in the midst of wolves, to be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. This is the 458th installment of our CFC quarantine contemplation series focusing on the daily liturgical readings.

TOPIC 2: Have you ever been in a toxic environment?

Mark Twain once wrote, tongue-in-cheek, about two cages. In the first was placed a cat, to which were added some doves, then a dog, then a rabbit, a fox, a goose, a squirrel, and finally a monkey.

In the other cage was placed an Irish Catholic, a Scottish Presbyterian, a Turk, a Greek Christian, an Armenian, a Methodist, a Buddhist, a Brahman, and then a Salvation Army Colonel.

Two days later, the animals were living in peace – but the second cage was “a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh – not a specimen alive.”

Have you ever been in a toxic environment?

• Well, some of the signs are:
  • People around you are fighting with one another
  • Rudeness prevails in dealings
  • People talk behind one another’s back in a negative way
  • •People take the credit for what is not theirs
  • When crab mentality sets in
  • Your bosses/leaders do not nurture you and the team to achieve
  • When the leadership is not respected

That is what Jesus is warning his apostles. And us, as well. Our mission is to become holy in the midst of wolves. But we may be subjected to persecution, abuse and suffering. He tells us though not to worry. For as long as we are in the company of the Holy Spirit, we will not just survive but flourish.

We must do the following to bloom where we are placed, to shine when covered with the darkness of deceipt, and to succeed in the most unfavorable of conditions:

• 1. Be prayerful. We must be constant in our prayer time and prayer life. It should consume us the whole day. For it is in the inner sanctums of prayer that the antidote to our problems are revealed. Pray for the people who have made you miserable. Pray for their well-being. Pray for compassion to dominate you rather than anger.
• 2. Be humble. We also commit mistakes. Dr. Amine Ayad, a management expert says, “Be humble to see your mistakes, courageous to admit them, and wise enough to correct them.”
• 3. Be flexible. We do not have a monopoly of ideas. Remember that the objective is to make our organization better and not to win our arguments. We must take criticism positively and adjust our stand on issues to benefit the greater majority
• 4. Be silent. There will be instances when silence is the better part of valor. Our anger can lead us to say things we will regret later on. Take time to ponder and to pray before you say or do anything.
• 5. Be fit. When the stress gets you easily fatigued, take time afterwards to exercise, read a spiritual book, meditate and enjoy dinner with your loved ones. Be ready for another rigorous day by detoxing and by recharging.
• 6. Be forgiving. Do not plant seeds of bitterness in your heart. That will only make you sick. Approach the people who have hurt you. Be reconciled with them. By doing so, you have freed yourself from the chains that bind.
• 7. Be ready. God might just be pruning you with that experience in that environment. Ask God to lead you to your next destination. But do this not out of spite, frustration or discouragement. Do this without any tinge of resentment but only when you have achieved two things: (1) You have grown in the fruit of the Spirit in this environment and; (2) You have contributed to making your environment a Godly place. Quitting is not an option if you are in the middle of the conflict.

And what is the fruit of the Spirit I am talking of? It’s a collective noun to mean the 9 virtues we should have improved on in the course of our experiences. That of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And gentleness can also be humility in some versions.

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