The new Pope’s been in town the last few days. His visit’s caused quite a stir. The biggest fuss seems to have come out of the late night talk circuit. Bill, Maher, one of the more irreverent of the talk jocks, said some not nice things about Catholics in particular and Christians in general.
More than one of the media pundits have picked up on this and made the observation that if Maher had leveled that kind of ridicule at other religions or special interest groups he’d have been drummed out of a job in tar and feathers before the night was over. One or two of the talking heads suggested we Christians need our own Andi-defamation League. We’re the only group out there, they say, that can be ridiculed with impunity. And it’s not fair!
Such rhetoric will, likely, prompt a backlash of sorts. I am a follower of Christ. I don’t like to be ridiculed for that; especially if the joke has no ground in truth. But I shouldn’t be surprised when I am. Jesus said we would be. In fact He told His followers, on one occasion, that He was sending them on a course where they would be like “sheep among wolves.” If you know anything about wolves and sheep you know that’s not a favorable situation for the sheep. If their almost certain plight is an accurate indication of what we’re in for then a little ridicule is a little thing.
What Jesus said, after He’d given His followers that warning, reveals what our response should be, given the hostility and outright ill-will we’ll inevitably experience. He said, “Therefore – read ‘OK’ since this is how it’s going to go for you’ – be shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves!” The “harmless as doves” piece is simple enough. We’re not going to arrange for a hit on Maher. The “shrewd as snakes” bit is a little more complicated. Jesus was fluent in Greek. He was also comfortable with Aramaic. He likely spoke the latter most often. His Friend Matthew, who is recounting this incident, wrote in Greek. The word he used to convey the particular characteristic of snakes Jesus alluded to translates best as “sagacious.” While “shrewd” is one of the more common nuances of that 50 cent word it also means things like “keen, penetrating perception;” or “discerning.” The snake that outwitted the couple in the temptation story told in the first part of the Bible – Genesis – was described as “cunning,” and “subtle.”
I know it isn’t a favorite thing for a lot of people to do. But think about snakes for a minute or so. Do we not think of them as “slimy” creatures? And is it not true that we sometimes call the guy who outwits us and takes unfair advantage of us slimy? The reptilian way of life really is subtle, cunning, shrewd. Deftly blending into their surroundings with sharp vision, and keen perception these creatures can survive and flourish while hardly ever recognized. They are clever and wily.
Do you get this?
Don’t let first impressions fool you. Jesus is not describing a reactionary power move in face of the dangers He predicts, suggesting that the dark side of the serpentine is what He’s calling for. There’s no organizing to protect our rights here. He is calling, instead, for largely inconspicuous, subtle, pretty much harmless, cunning, insightful, discriminating people who quietly, tirelessly blend into their world and artfully flourish in it. People who are true survivors and, ultimately, taken most seriously.
If we want to be respected in a world disposed to be hostile toward our Leader and us we will be just such people. We’ll take folks around us seriously. We’ll be nobody’s fool. But we’ll “pick our battles.” We’ll stay out of the fray for the most part unless truth or justice is being threatened. When either is endangered we will respond. Notice I said respond not react. We’ll respond whether the threat is personal or not. We’ll have an eye for truth and readily discern how what is right leads to life of the highest quality. We will make wise choices and encourage others to do so as well; always seeking the best for everyone around us. We’ll be creative. We’ll be passionate about excellence in all of our ventures. Reflecting the light of our Life Master, we will illuminate our world like the full moon, reflecting the sun, on a clear night. In the same way that salt rouses the taste of food so we will enhance the “joie de vivre” even of those who may be inclined to ridicule us.
A few years ago I read Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization. I did so out of curiosity and as a discipline in celebration of St. Patrick ’s Day. As I read I met a man who engaged the fearsome things of life with just the spirit Jesus had in mind when He urged His followers to be “shrewd as serpents and harmless like doves.” St. Patrick, Cahill writes, was not “blind to his dangers, (recognizing) even in his last years 'every day I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved – whatever may come my way. But I am not afraid of any of these things … for I have put myself in the hands of God Almighty.' He did, indeed. And he was a good and brave man, one of humanity’s natural noblemen. Among simple, straightforward people, who could unreservedly appreciate his core of decency, the success of his mission was assured … his earthiness and warmth … (made) for a lowering of hostility and suspicion … the Irish found Patrick admirable according to their own highest standards: his courage – his refusal to be afraid of them – impressed them immediately; and as his mission lengthened into years and came to be seen clearly as a lifetime commitment, his steadfast loyalty and supernatural generosity must have moved them deeply … he had transmuted their pagan virtues of loyalty, courage, and generosity into the Christian equivalents of faith, hope, and charity. … Patrick held out to these warrior children, in his own person, a living alternative. It is possible to be brave – to expect ‘every day … to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved – whatever may come my way’ – and yet be a man of peace and at peace, a man without sword or desire to harm, a man in whom the sharp fear of death has been smoothed away. He was ‘not afraid of any of these things, because of the promises of heaven, for I have put myself in the hands of God Almighty.’ Patrick’s peace was no sham: it issued from his person like a fragrance. And in a damp land where people lived and slept in close proximity, everyone would have known sooner or later if Patrick’s sleep was brought on by the goddess of intoxication or broken by the goddesses of fear. Patrick slept soundly and soberly.”
For you who are Christ Followers in the modern West, a highly voyeuristic land -- as is ours -- where very little “goes unnoticed,” only people, like this man, whose life is “no sham” will survive the scrutiny and be found to be truly wise, incontestably authentic, and above ridicule. Such people need no advocate but the Lord of Life.
