What jumps out at me in this passage is verse 21: "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death". This brings to mind what I saw and heard when I was visiting China a few years back - stories of lives lost during the Cultural Revolution. I saw trees where people were hung because their friends or even their own children reported them as counter-revolutionists. What a sad part of China's history!
This passage is also telling me that Jesus is sending me to a world hostile to the Christian message: "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." (verse 16). The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible did not have any commentary on this passage. Father Randy Sly gave this lovely homily four years ago and here are a few useful quotes:
- When we are sent into the world for the work of the gospel, two key virtues need to be developed - prudence and simplicity. Prudence is more than merely common sense; it is our inclination to make choices which contribute to the common good. It is called the "charioteer of the virtues" (CCC 1806) and is the guide of all the other virtues. Simplicity is the opposite of needless complexity; it is a life that is honest, straightforward, and uncomplicated. (CCC: Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts.)
- Serpent-like Prudence - As the natural enemy of man, serpents do a good job of avoiding contact... Prudent actions are used to avoid confrontation, giving the one with that virtue the opportunity to serve another day...The prudent person cultivates a lifestyle of careful action. As the Catechism states, Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid. (CCC 1806)... This is a time when the Church needs prudent apologists. Those who are able to give a reason for the hope that lies within and cultivate right actions toward providing for the common good of all.
- Dove-like Simplicity - Simplicity - or innocence - as a virtue is easy to explain: "what you see is what you get." The word in the Greek [akeraios] here means to be "pure" or "unmixed." It is the same word [katharos] used in the Beatitudes when Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." ... People with the virtue of simplicity are clear and transparent, and their relationships are honest and solid. There is no secret agenda, no hidden intentions. The simple person is never two-faced; she is sincere and straight, with nothing to hide... When we live lives of simplicity, not only will we see God, as we read in the Beatitudes, but those around us will be able to see him as well.
- Prudence and simplicity are two virtues worth cultivating, especially in light of our call to the New Evangelization, where we go into the world to make disciples. In Pope Francis' first Encyclical, Lumen Fidei, we read, Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so rich that it becomes a great tree, capable of filling the world with its fruit.These seeds are planted by those who are able to successfully navigate through the world of wolves by virtuous living and, in the love of Christ, clearly and simply deliver the message of light.
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