See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16b)
July 14^th, 2026 (Proper 6A)

Paul says in today’s reading from Romans, “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” He says we have peace with God…and then he immediately talks about suffering! “We also boast in our sufferings,” he says, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

That is a strange sentence. And it’s even more strange when you know that the word “boast” in the NRSV translation is more often translated as “exult” or “rejoice,” or “glory.” We are to rejoice in our hope, and we are to rejoice in our suffering.

That’s even more strange, right? Rejoicing in our suffering? Paul is not glorifying suffering for its own sake. He is not saying that pain is good, or that injustice should be accepted, or that hardship should be romanticized. Paul is saying suffering is tied into hope: suffering does not have to have the final word. Because when God’s grace gets ahold of our hardships, that sort of chain reaction begins: endurance builds, character forms, and hope takes root. And then Paul says the most important part: Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

It’s hope that does not disappoint us—not power and strength, not control, not some magical ability to force the world to become what we want it to be.

Power, and strength, and the illusion of control—those will always disappoint us. It’s Christian hope that does not disappoint us…because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.

Christian hope is not optimism. Optimism says, “Surely things will get better.” Christian hope says, “Even in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for God is with me.” Optimism depends on circumstances; hope depends on God. Optimism looks for evidence that everything is improving. Hope trusts that even when the evidence is impossible to see, God’s love will never abandon us. God’s love has been poured into our hearts.

That is why Christian hope can survive suffering. Not because suffering is good, but because God is good. Not because hardship is holy, but because God can bring holiness even out of hardship.

Christian hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts. Not because we have conquered our enemies. Not because we have secured our place at the top. It is God’s love that is the source of our endurance. God’s love is the source of our character. God’s love is the source of our mission. God’s love is what allows us to suffer without surrendering to despair, to be wise without becoming cynical, to be innocent without being naïve.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sees the crowds, and he has compassion for them he says, because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus’ compassion isn’t just “feeling sorry” for the crowd; it is the tangible expression of the love of God. Jesus shows us the heart of Christian mission: not anxiety about losing influence, not anger about the state of the world, not a desire to control people, but compassion for people who are weary, vulnerable, and afraid. In that compassion, Jesus sends the disciples out to heal and proclaim the good news: God’s kingdom has come near. God’s reign has come near. God’s mercy, justice, healing, forgiveness, and peace have come near—they have arrived in Jesus himself.

Jesus gives his disciples power to heal, to cleanse, to cast out what destroys life, to raise up what is dead. He says he sends them out as sheep into the midst of wolves. They are not going out as superhero wolves among the lesser wolves of this world—they are going out as sheep. Their mission is not domination. It’s not conquest, or control, or fear. Their mission is to proclaim and embody the nearness of God’s kingdom as Jesus does—in acts of healing and mercy.

Sheep in the midst of wolves…That doesn’t sound like a very inspiring recruitment slogan. I’m sure some or maybe all of the disciples expected Jesus to say, “I am sending you out to seize power, crush your enemies, and make everyone tremble in fear of your might.” But no, Jesus says, “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves.”

We who follow Jesus are sent into a world where there really are dangers. There are forces that devour. There are systems that exploit. There are people and powers that prey on the vulnerable. Jesus is not naïve about the world. Jesus told his disciples over and over that he must go to Jerusalem to be crucified and suffer and die. Jesus is not naïve about the world.

This might be one of the hardest things in the Gospel to wrap our brains around, but it’s so important: Jesus sends us into a wolfish world, but he does not give us permission to become wolves ourselves. He sends us into a world where power is so often used to intimidate, manipulate, and dominate, but he does not tell us to answer domination with domination. He sends us into a world where fear and death are the easiest tools to us, but he does not tell us to build the kingdom of heaven by using them.

Jesus says, “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” To be wise as serpents means we should not be gullible. We should not be simplistic. We should not pretend that evil is not real, or that manipulation does not happen, or that power cannot corrupt, or that we will not suffer. Christians are not called to be foolish—we are called to be wise and discerning.

We are called to be wise as serpents. Be wise: understand the world…pay attention to how fear is used and how people are dehumanized…understand how everything, even religion, can be twisted into a tool for earthly power…be aware of all the ways we are tempted to trade the way of Jesus for the illusion of earthly power and control.

Jesus was tempted by these things by Satan in the desert, if you remember—and he turned them all away. The Church is always tempted by these things. We are tempted to think that if we could just have enough influence, enough control, enough cultural power, enough political victory, then we could secure the future of the faith. We are tempted to think that the kingdom of heaven needs worldly power in order to survive.

But Jesus never says, “The kingdom of heaven has come near because you finally have enough power.” No, the kingdom of heaven has come near because of Jesus himself, in his mercy, his compassion, his truth, his healing…By his Cross and his Resurrection.

Be wise as serpents, but be as innocent as doves. Do not let the world’s methods become your methods. Do not let cynicism take over your heart. Do not let fear become your faith. Do not let the presence of wolves convince you that the only faithful response is to become a wolf yourself. To be innocent as doves means we refuse to weaponize our faith. It means keeping our hearts soft enough to care, even when the world tells us that a hardened heart is the only way to survive. It is the radical decision to stay pure in our motives, relying on divine love rather than tactical power.

When the way of Jesus is replaced by the pursuit of dominance, Christianity becomes not the way of the Crucified and Risen Christ, but a tool for securing cultural and political power. The way of Jesus is not powerless because it is weak—It is powerful because it refuses to let fear, hatred, and domination define what power means.

Using the name of Jesus, the name of Christianity, to proclaim a message of fear, hatred, and domination is a dangerous distortion of the Gospel: It teaches Christians to seek safety by becoming wolves, while Jesus sends us as sheep. It tells us that the future of the faith depends on dominance, while Paul tells us that our hope depends on the love of God poured into our hearts. It tells us to grasp for control, while Jesus tells us to proclaim the kingdom by healing, mercy, truth, compassion, and love.

Jesus Christ does not save the world by domination, but by self-giving love. The power of Jesus Christ is the power of the Crucified and Risen One, who suffers without hatred, who forgives without surrendering truth, who stands before the powers of this world with perfect wisdom of their evil ways and perfect innocence in refusing to follow them.

So be wise. Be wise about the world. Be wise about fear can deceive and manipulate. Be wise about the ways power can corrupt. Be wise about the ways even religion can be twisted away from the path of Jesus.

But also be innocent. Keep your heart free from hatred. Keep your words and hands free from cruelty. Keep your faith free from fear. Do not let the wolves try to teach you how to be a disciple.

And remember that our hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

God’s love is our peace.
God’s love is our endurance.
God’s love is our character.
God’s love is our mission.
God’s love is our hope.

And God’s love sends us into the world—not as wolves among wolves, but as sheep among wolves: wise as serpents, innocent as doves, and faithful to the kingdom of heaven that has come near in Jesus Christ.

Fr. Keith+