The Suffering of the Messengers

At a glance

The chapter heading text (KJV)

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves… The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master.”

Matthew 10:16–25 KJV

Summary

Bonhoeffer treats Jesus' unflinching description of coming hostility — councils, scourging, betrayal even within families, universal hatred — as continuous with everything the book has already said about the cost of discipleship, now applied specifically to those sent out to proclaim the message rather than simply to live it. There is no attempt to soften the warning or present the mission as safer than it actually is; the messengers are told plainly, in advance, what following this particular calling will cost them.

The instruction to be ‘wise as serpents and harmless as doves’ receives careful attention as a needed corrective to two opposite failures: neither a cunning that compromises the message to avoid suffering, nor a naive innocence that needlessly provokes hostility through carelessness. Wisdom and harmlessness are held together, not traded off against each other, because both serve the same end — faithful proclamation, not self-protection and not martyrdom sought for its own sake.

‘The disciple is not above his master’ becomes, for Bonhoeffer, the theological anchor that keeps this hostility from reading as evidence of failure. If the world persecuted Jesus, calling him a devil, then hostility directed at his messengers is not a sign the mission has gone wrong; it is confirmation that the messenger is walking the same road their master already walked, sharing not just his message but, as chapter 4 already argued, his cross.

He closes with the promise that when messengers are delivered up, they will be given what to say by the Spirit of the Father — another instance of the total dependence running through the whole mission discourse. Even in the most frightening moment envisioned in the whole chapter, the messenger is not expected to rely on personal courage or eloquence, but on the same Christ who called them and sent them continuing to speak through them when their own resources run out.

Key points

• Jesus warns the messengers plainly and in advance about the hostility they will face — councils, scourging, family betrayal — rather than softening or hiding it.
• ‘Wise as serpents, harmless as doves’ holds together two things usually traded off: avoiding needless provocation without compromising the message to escape suffering.
• ‘The disciple is not above his master’ reframes persecution as confirmation of faithful discipleship, not evidence the mission has failed.
• This suffering is continuous with the cross described in chapter 4 — the messenger shares not only Christ's message but his cross.
• The promise that the Spirit will give the messenger what to say extends the mission discourse's total dependence into its most frightening moments.

Related Scripture

• John 15:18–20
• 2 Timothy 3:12
• Acts 5:41
• 1 Peter 4:12–14

For reflection and discussion

1. Have you ever mistaken hostility or difficulty in service for a sign that you were doing something wrong, when Bonhoeffer would read it as confirmation you were following faithfully?
2. Where do you need the balance of ‘wise as serpents, harmless as doves’ right now — tempted either toward compromise to avoid conflict, or toward needless provocation?
3. Can you recall a moment when you had to rely on being given the right words, beyond your own preparation, in a hard conversation about your faith?