Neither failure nor hostility can weaken the messenger's conviction that he has been sent by Jesus. That His Word may be their strength, their stay and their comfort, Jesus repeats it, ‘Behold, I send you…’ (Matthew 10:16).
For this is no way they have chosen themselves, no undertaking of their own. It is, in the strict sense of the word, a mission… Where the Word is, there shall the disciple be. Therein lies his true wisdom and his true simplicity.
If it is obvious that the Word is being rejected, if it is forced to yield its ground, the disciple must yield with it. But if the Word carries on the battle, the disciple must also stand his ground. In each case he will be combining wisdom with simplicity. ‘Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’ (again, Matthew 10:16).
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Ch. 24
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