Because He Is the Lamb

Because He Is the Lamb--November 15, 2017

[Jesus said:] "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of them, for they will hand you over to council and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." [Matthew 10:16-20]

If you are waiting for the "but..." to come, I'll spare you the time.  There isn't one.

If you are hoping for Jesus to give an escape clause or a secret plan for how we can avoid the dangers of "wolves" out there, or how we'll be spared the sufferings of a world that routinely deals with troublemakers by silencing them, intimidating them, or marginalizing them, I'll just say it now: there is no out. Jesus calls us "sheep in the midst of wolves," not "sheep who have a back-up posse of rhinos and lions to keep the wolves at bay."  We are sent into the world vulnerably, always vulnerably--and that is actually Jesus' plan. 

In other words, the followers of Jesus are sent into the world, not simply to face hostility, but to face it in a certain way, reflecting the image of the One we call on as the Lamb of God.  Jesus does not, for example, say, "It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, so as I send you out, be ready to bite anybody first who growls at you," nor does he say, "Because it's so scary and dangerous out there, I just won't send you out into the mess at all."  He sends us... and he sends us as sheep, because he is the Lamb. 

That's important for us to be clear about, because we have a way of just reducing Jesus' words down to something that fits better with our common sense.  We say things like, "Oh, well, Jesus is getting us ready to face hostility in life--so that we can be ready to hit back with power when they make fun of us."  We say things like, "It is indeed a dangerous world full of wolves out there--so we had better have ourselves a club, or a stick, or a shotgun to fend them off in Jesus' name!"

There is that well-known line that you see floating around the internet and attributed to Benjamin Franklin (but which, to be honest, doesn't sound very 18th century, and has been riffed on by so many people anyway that it's hard to know who said it first in what form) that says, "Democracy is four wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner--and liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"  Now, again, whether a voice like Franklin's said that or not (doubtful he did, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt), we need to be clear that it sure wasn't Jesus.  Jesus doesn't send out his followers as "well-armed lambs," ready to kill other people (or even "wolves" for that matter) in order to protect our interests.  He sends us out like himself--unarmed, but also unafraid--to be the reflections of the way he has come to be the Lamb of God.  There is no asterisk, no fine print, no side note about an exception when "conventional wisdom" recommends shooting wolves before they get close.  There are only Jesus' words.  And since religious folk are often so keen on emphasizing the red-letter text of "what Jesus says," we should at least be honest about what he actually says here.  He sends his followers out like sheep among wolves, and that we ought to have our eyes open and go out there knowingly, without naivete (hence the "wise as serpents" business) but also without sliding into the ways of the wolf-pack (hence the "innocent as doves" part).  This is how we are sent into the world--so that even the way we are present in the world becomes a picture of Jesus' suffering love at the cross that called out, "Father, forgive them..." in death.

I know--it sounds radical.  It sounds scandalous.   It sounds foolish to send disciples out with the explicit command to be vulnerable.  It is all of those things.  And if we try to soften Jesus' words or make them sound more like the conventional wisdom about being well-armed sheep, we are losing what Jesus is actually saying. In the end, the question for followers of Jesus to ask is not, "Is my faith going to make me successful in the world's eyes?" but rather, "Am I being faithful to the way of Jesus?"  So long as we are playing the world's game and trying to be the wolves or beat the wolves on their own terms, we will always come up short.  And if we withdraw or hide from the dangerous mess of the world because we are afraid of it, we will always be letting the wolves win, too--and once again, we'll be giving in to the wolves on their own terms.  Jesus insists on playing on his terms, which means that we no longer get fussy over the threats and bluster of wolves, and that we will not fall into being ruled by fear enough to try and play "wolf" back.  It is indeed radical.  And it does indeed call into question just about everything else we accept as "conventional wisdom," because conventional wisdom always says, "You have to bite them first before they bite you if you want to be a winner in this world."  The followers of Jesus just don't accept that premise from the starting gate, because we just aren't trying to be "winners" on the world's terms.  It's not about being successful as the world defines success; it's always about being faithful.

Now, there will be those voices that think that Jesus' words here make Christians sound weak... or fearful... or cowardly.  I think Jesus knows better.  I think Jesus knows that what really takes guts and cleverness in this world is to be a sheep in the midst of wolves knowing that is precisely what you are and to stick it out anyway.  I think Jesus knows that the real cowardice is trying to hide behind borrowed claws and teeth (or swords and spears) because you are afraid of someone else's claws and teeth.  It is when we are afraid of someone or something else out there, afraid of "them" or "those people" or "the bad guys" or the "wolves" that start looking for sticks to shoo them away.  If we were really courageous, we wouldn't keep reaching for sticks or swords or spears to hide behind.  It is much like the line of Walter Wink: Jesus and the martyrs of his movement "are not victims, overtaken by evil, but hunters who stalk evil into the open by offering as bait their own bodies."  To be a sheep in the midst of wolves is not for the faint of heart, and it is not cowardly.  It requires the greatest courage of all--the willingness to combat evil with good, and the willingness to overcome hatred with love.

In an age like ours now, when mass shootings happen in churches as well as in malls, elementary schools, concert venues, and movie theaters, it can be very easy to tell ourselves that Jesus' words here in Matthew are just no longer applicable, or that they need to be updated for the age of ubiquitous semi-automatic weaponry, or that we need to force Jesus' words to fit within our preconceived notions of "being realistic."  It can be easy to say, "Well, Jesus' words were fine for the first century, but now that I have to consider the possibility of a mass shooting in a church--or my church--we just have to re-think and re-edit this whole speech of Jesus."  It would be tempting to think that Jesus and internet-Ben-Franklin are both recommending being well-armed-lambs in order to counter the possibility that scary stuff might be out there or wolves might be around the corner.  Except that--Jesus is well aware that there were dangerous things in the first century, and the first few centuries of Christian history did live with the regular threat of people bursting into their worship gatherings to cause harm or do violence.  And yet, both the New Testament-era church and the first three centuries of Christianity didn't edit out this saying of Jesus because it seemed "unrealistic" or "lacking common sense."  They refused to be well-armed-lambs--they were just lambs.  Like Jesus.  Ready to offer their lives if it came to it in order to embody the way and the love of Jesus... but never to try and dress up as wolves to scare the real ones away.  

No, we are not supposed to be naïve and optimistically distorted in our vision to just hope nothing bad will ever happen to us or to those we love.  Bad things happen in the world, and Christians are called to live in that world, for all its messiness.  With open eyes we are sent into a world, ready like Jesus to love that world vulnerably, and ready to let our lives, our deaths, and everything else be a witness to the way Jesus wins. 

There are lots of ways to be cowards in this life: whether hiding from the wolves by withdrawing and running away, or hiding behind sticks or swords or clubs out of the same fear of the wolves.  But being courageous--being truly courageous like Jesus does jumping feet first into the mess--that requires the vulnerability of laying down our sticks and swords and fake wolf teeth.  

Let us dare to be brave enough to be lambs like Jesus.

Lord Jesus, give us the honesty to hear your words on your own terms, the courage to be sheep without sticks, and the love to be vulnerable in the midst of wolves.