The scripture reading today was Matthew 10, and Dean David Hester spoke helpfully about this difficulty passage about being sent on a mission trip, expecting hostility and rejection. David noted the menagerie of animal images in the passage--sheep, wolves, doves and serpents.
I went off on my own little excursion (I'm sure I'm not the only one to do that during a sermon) on the symbolism of these creatures. Only the wolves come out with a negative image in this passage. Even the snake gets a better promotion than the wolf.
My quick comment is, "wolves have gotten a bad rap." I say that partly because of a great love of nature and the delightful time we spent in Northern Minnesota where wolves have been reintroduced and have a valued role in the wilderness ecology there, as is true of a few other locations in this country. We still enjoy Jim Brandenberg's books and photography of wolves--their strength, their beauty, their line of continuity to our own very tame wheaten terrier, and remember fondly our visit to the the wolf refuge center near Ely, MN.
With that background, you might appreciate our experience of visiting eastern Kentucky a couple of years ago and going on an "elk watch" in the dusk of a summer evening. Thousands of wild elk have been reintroduced to the desolate landscape of removed mountaintops, which is an interesting wilderness story in itself. When the tour guides mentioned that the elk were multiplying and beginning to become pests, we asked them if there had been talk of reintroducing the wolves as the natural predators to help maintain a healthy balance of the populations of both elk and wolf. We were told with great passion that wolves would never be accepted in Kentucky!
Maybe this bad rap goes back to Jesus' words from Matthew casting wolves in a bad light. Maybe it's "Little Red Riding Hood" and the grandma eating wolf. Maybe, to take a more systemic perspective, we have fallen so in love with controlling nature and dominating the natural world, that we think we can decide better than the Creator what creatures belong and which do not belong in the wild and wonderful world. We do this at our own great risk.
To point to my own earlier work, in my book on church conflict (see July 24, 2007 post), I encourage us to see conflict as a positive gift, pointing to a deeper wisdom in the ecology of a congregation. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus intended us to recognize that there will always be wolves to challenge and balance our congregational and public ministry. They are not big, bad and evil. They are part of the natural wisdom of the way the world works, and like the elk, we do not thrive without natural challenges and dangers!
So let's rehabilitate the image of the wolves. Let's let them back into our vocabulary, if not on our ruined mountaintops, and thank God for the beauty, strength and goodness of predators in our midst.
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