Everyday folk

There is a well-worn verse that we quote plenty…

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.Mt 10.16

Suddenly it struck me, Jesus is declaring this in the context of sending the twelve out to the cities of Israel.

He is not talking about Herod the fox, or the ruthless Romans. Perhaps the Pharisees and Sadducees--whom we love to quickly define as the perpetual bad guys—are included somewhat.

Mostly, he is talking about the everyday Jewish townsfolk, the ones He had just referred to as the “sheep of the house of Israel.” At least, that is how I read Him.

These rank and filers are wolves? The nice Jewish commoners?

Hmm.

I don’t like it… because I like these people.

I have seen them on YouTube and they seem like simple, humble folk.

Now it makes more sense to me that when Jailed John B sent his team to get a straight answer from his hard-to-label cousin per his messiahship (or not!), Jesus told them “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (11.6)

Everybody knows that wolves get easily out of whack.