DAILY HOMILIES #wise as serpents

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus presents the challenges involved in evangelisation. Preaching light to a world that prefers darkness (a world that rejected Jesus) can be likened to sheep moving amid wolves. There has never been a time when the world loved Christians. Jesus noted: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)

When Paul stood before the tribunal, he immediately noticed a severe division between the camps of those who brought him to trial. Applying the wisdom of a serpent and the innocence of a dove, Paul decided to take advantage of the division between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Paul introduced himself as a Pharisee who was on trial because of the issue of the resurrection of the dead. The moment he said this, there was an uproar in the assembly.