Mush

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 

Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:16-23)

Some marching orders!  Reminds us of World War I trench fighting and no man’s land with soldiers being told to charge over the top of deep trenches into machine gun fire with there being no cover – only rows of sharp barbed wire.   Many thousands of men on both sides perished from those orders to fight until dead with those ordering the advance being safely ensconced behind friendly lines.

Sheep in the midst of wolves don’t fare very well.   And, frankly, simpleton doves don't give us much solace especially when there are men who will hand us over to courts and scourging.   God bless those brave Apostles especially when told that “children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.”  

Christians were not well appreciated, if at all, during Jesus time and certainly many years thereafter.  Families were divided as to whether they should worship pagan gods or the Jewish God.  Family betrayals were unsurprising especially when some members followed Jesus and others thought him mad or too anti-Roman Empire to tolerate.

If we are to be in the midst of wolves we all hope to have a Buck alongside of us, Buck being the dog in Call of the Wild [quite the dog that St. Bernard/Scotch Collie!].   We don’t have Buck, but we do have Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

We’re all part of Jesus’ pack.   We pull his sled.  In this case he follows all the while giving us direction and encouragement.  He’s the man on the back of the sled shouting “Mush.”

For the curious, French dog sled drivers would commonly use “marche” (walk) as the command to get the dogs to start moving. When the British took over, this is thought to have eventually given rise to the English dog sledding command “mush.” 

For those of us needing encouragement, “Mush!”

Deacon David Pierce