BE WARY

 
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 
(Matthew 7: 15-16 – NAS)


Jesus warns His followers against falling in with false prophets and teachers.

Why is that?

It happens whenever groups of people gather together in a shared interest. There are those who are attracted to power, which may take the form of simply liking to manipulate groups of other people. If someone has such a liking, they are drawn to already formed groups and worm their way into the group, putting on the protective coloring of the group. The False One may have no real interest in whatever subject or cause has drawn the group together, but they can talk it up quite well. They have “put on sheep’s clothing.” They work their way through the flock, becoming familiar, until they can take the position of bellwether.

The bellwether of a flock of sheep is the one sheep the others will follow as the flock moves through the countryside. Often shepherds will put a bell on this animal, for if they can lead that sheep where they want to go, the rest of the flock will follow. Because sheep are very near-sighted, they rely on their trustworthy fellows very heavily.

Putting on “sheep’s clothing” is not so difficult as it might sound. The wool of sheep can grow fast and heavy, and it provides excellent insulation during the cold of winters. When Spring comes, the sheep owners shear off the heavy fleece coat. By cutting close to the skin of the sheep, the wool comes off in a heavy, tangled mat.

If one wished to sneak in among sheep, one could lift this mat of tangled wool and wear it like a cloak over head and shoulders and crawl among the animals. The scent of the wool and the familiar appearance would keep the other sheep from being alarmed. In the ancient world, this was one of the ways thieves would attempt to steal from poorly guarded flocks.

These details would have been familiar to Jesus’ followers, for they lived close to the basics of raising sheep and protecting them (shepherding metaphors are very frequent in scripture). The specifics are less familiar to us because most of us live so distantly from the sources of the objects in our lives. We vaguely use the phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and although we grasp the idea of the predator how has snuck in among the prey, we don’t think about the details beyond that.

Jesus warns us to be wary, then. He knew that the power-hungry would sneak in among the body of His followers (especially after He was gone), and would try to mislead them or even destroy them. He wanted to be sure that the faithful understood the need to pay close attention to each who moved about with them.

Happily, He gives us guidelines to determine whether that wooly mass traveling next to us really is one of the flock.

Jesus shifts His metaphors from shepherding to the growing of crops for those guidelines. He tells us that we will know the difference between the true follower and the false one on the basis of the type of fruit that is produced by the individual.

Actually, if we look closer at the metaphor, Jesus does more than just indicate the type of fruit. He uses comparisons between fruit bearing plants (grape vines and fig trees) and plants that notoriously bear nothing resembling an edible fruit at all (thorns and thistles).

If we think about what Jesus says here, we have the means to test the validity of those who come among believers and try to gather up a cloak of leadership among us. We can look to the fruit of their efforts and evaluate (judge) the nature of those fruits: do they nourish those around them, like grapes and figs, bringing sweetness to the hungry, or are they sticky and prickly and always pricking the exposed skin of everyone with whom they come in contact?

Too often we let ourselves become too diffident about evaluating those around us who are supposedly “part of the flock.” We caution ourselves by citing only half of Jesus warning about making judgments (“Judge not lest you be judged”) and do not remember that His warning about that is just about being clear as to what standards we are using in making our judgments. So we avoid testing our fellow sheep, and the one who has “put on sheep’s clothing” continues to linger with us.

We can even get to the point where we accept the thorns and thistles as proper. Shouldn't it be challenging to be a follower of Christ? After all, He did warn us that we would be persecuted. We can’t expect everything to be soft and easy, can we?

But Jesus has told us that we are to expect fruit from each other. Remember the type of person that would be shaped by the standards of the Beatitudes? Gentle, humble, merciful, peacemaking, always seeing the righteousness of God. These are beautiful qualities that touch our souls when we are near them. And even in this passage, Jesus compares the fruits of the righteous and true followers to grapes and figs. These are simple fruits, that carry their own sweetness in them. The “fruit” of the true follower of Christ will give us sweet nourishment, even in small amounts, like a single grape or fig.

Is everything that is discomforting a sign that there is a false prophet or teacher among us?

No. Scrubbing the skin clean of dirt often is a stinging experience. But when the encrustation is washed away, our skin tingles. We feel the pleasure of freshness and cleanliness.

But the pain of scratches from thorns and thistles, that is something different. The skin is broken and blood is drawn. There is no pleasure in the encounter, nor in its consequences, for such scratches and cuts can become infected, bringing even greater discomfort.

We need to be wary of those who come among us. Jesus has warned us that some invaders will come with hunger, with a desire to feed on us. We need to test the fruit such people produce for us. Not in big flashy ways, but rather in the small, simple fruits. When we put out our hand for the small things in interaction with each other, do we receive a grape or a fig, or do we find a thorn or thistle being pressed into our palm?

Pay attention. Especially if the other person wants to lead you somewhere unknown. Is that person really a member of the flock, or is the fleecy cover thrown over something more dangerous?

Be wary, and look to the fruit.