I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Jesus isn't calling his disciples to naive trust. He's calling them to wisdom combined with integrity.
You have to be practical, careful, aware of danger (like a snake). But you also have to remain harmless, non-retaliatory (like a dove). It's a both-and. Not either shrewd or innocent, but both. That challenges my tendency to see them as opposites.
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