Look! I’m sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore be shrewd as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10.16

            When the three Magi come from Babylon to see baby Jesus, they follow the star as far as Jerusalem, then have to ask further directions.  When they inform Herod the Great about the birth of the Messiah, they don’t seem wise at all – they seem terribly naïve.  History tells us that Herod has already had two of his own sons murdered.  One does not expect them to have this information, but one does expect these wise men to know something of the character of the tyrant before them. Evidently they don’t, because their inquiries lead Herod’s henchmen straight to Bethlehem, where every male child under the age of two is slaughtered (Matthew 2.1-23).  Of course baby Jesus is not slaughtered because his parents are warned by God to flee to Egypt.  They have the time to flee because God instructed the Magi to go home by another way.

This is not the way Hollywood would write the script.  The wise men would rig up explosives and destroy the bridge to Bethlehem just as Herod’s men were crossing it; or perhaps they would sneak back into Jerusalem and find a way to extract Herod, and haul him back to jail in Babylon – this would be better because Herod’s escape from Babylonian prison could be the beginning of the sequel – “Magi II: Herod’s Revenge.”

            It might not be the way we righteous ones would have arranged events either.  We would send the Wise men back to Jerusalem to publicly confront Herod with his sins.  Or perhaps have a less public talk with him, cajoling him into repentance. But to sneak off when you promised to come back – that might seem a little deceptive, or even cowardly to us righteous ones.

            It is, however, the way God handled it. God handled this situation strategically.  Sometimes the best course of action is to stand up in front and say the provocative thing that stirs the crowd – like Paul before the Sanhedrin in Acts 23.  But sometimes you pretend you’re crazy and drool on your beard to get out of a difficult situation – like David among the Philistines in I Samuel 21.  Sometimes you speak to a guy privately – the way Priscilla and Aquila spoke to Apollos in Acts 18.24-28. Sometimes you call a guy out in a letter you write to be read publicly to the whole church, Like Paul did in Philemon.

            My point is this – our position in this sinful world is difficult, even precarious.  We are sheep in the midst of wolves. We are tasked, not just with surviving, but with doing no harm. This will not be possible without the exercise of wisdom –of cleverness, shrewdness.  There is no shame, no conceding in going home by another way if the situation warrants it.  There is no shame, no conceding in thinking about and managing a situation, instead of always defaulting to confrontation. Indeed, this is what God instructs us to do – what Jesus challenges us to do.

            A sheep surrounded by wolves which refuses to act shrewdly is not a harmless sheep – such a one is a dead sheep.