IN MANY STORIES, one of the characters is the proverbial “wolf in sheep’s clothing” — someone who pretends to be something they’re not for selfish or evil purposes. It’s an enemy who pretends to be an ally, a bad guy masquerading as a good guy in order to do…well, bad-guy things.

We can see this even in stories for children. There is, of course, Little Red Riding Hood, happily entering dear old Granny’s house only to be surprised at how Granny has such a big nose now — or more importantly, such big teeth. Or we might think of the Disney blockbuster Frozen, in which naive Princess Anna falls hopelessly in love with a handsome prince from another land, to the funny, sappy lyrics of “Love is an Open Door.” An open door to what? Poor Anna doesn’t realize that Prince Hans is manipulating her to get control of her kingdom. She doesn’t discover the deception until it’s almost too late.

But hey, it’s a Disney movie, so no worries.

Life, unfortunately, is not a Disney movie. Wolves in sheep’s clothing aren’t mere fiction. Without going into all the sordid details, I think here of the recent headlines about a former police chief who confessed to two felonies — including murder — and even managed to escape prison temporarily by impersonating a corrections officer.

A police chief? This was a man who somehow wormed his way into a position of public trust that he didn’t deserve. He knew how to pretend to be something he wasn’t. And for a time, he got away with it.

Some believe that the image of a wolf in sheep’s clothing may go all the way back to Aesop’s Fables, a collection of tales from ancient Greece that existed centuries before Christ. But this is disputed, and the metaphor may in fact have been original to Jesus. Either way, the metaphor was natural enough; everyone knew that wolves were predators who preyed on sheep. In the gospel of Matthew, for example, Jesus used the metaphor when he sent the Twelve out on an evangelistic mission, warning them against the dangerous opposition they would face:

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. (Matt 10:16, NIV)

We still need to be both shrewd and innocent as we strive to embody the gospel of the kingdom, seeking to be salt and light in a sometimes hostile world.

But as Jesus warns in the Sermon on the Mount, the wolves aren’t just out there somewhere. They’re right here with us, disguised as innocent, harmless sheep.

SHEPHERDS AND SHEEP were common in the world of the Bible, and the relationship between them was a metaphor for the relationship between God and his people. Think of Psalm 23, the Shepherd Psalm, for example, or read the less well-known passage in Ezekiel 34.

Real sheep would not survive long without a shepherd to lead, care for, and protect them. Similarly, God’s flock constantly needed his guidance and protection, or that of his anointed king, like David, the shepherd-boy who became a shepherd-king. Later, Jesus himself would take on the mantle of the Shepherd-King. He stood before the Pharisees and boldly declared himself to be the Good Shepherd who would protect his sheep from wolves even if it meant having to sacrifice his own life (John 10:11-13).

But again, the wolves aren’t just out there; they’re right here. Here’s the second of Jesus’ four warnings at the end of the Sermon on the Mount:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Matt 7:15)

THE ROLE OF prophets in Scripture is to bring an authoritative word from God. False prophets claimed to speak for God, but had other motives. Micah, for example, an authentic prophet, once delivered God’s condemnation of false prophets this way:

As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
they proclaim “peace”
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them. (Mic 3:5)

These are, if you will, for-profit prophets: Feed me, and I’ll tell you what you want to hear. God also commanded the prophet Ezekiel to condemn the prophets of Israel who led the people astray with false visions and empty promises of peace (Ezek 13:1-12). Ezekiel’s words are reminiscent of the final warning in the Sermon on the Mount, so we’ll circle back to them in a later post.

As we’ve seen, Jesus himself warned the people against the coming of false prophets in the sermon, and he did so again near the end of his earthly life, as he privately warned the disciples of the rise of false prophets and false Messiahs at the end of the age (Matt 24:11, 24).

And the apostle Paul gave the following passionate plea as he said goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus:

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:28-30)

Paul was on his way to Jerusalem. He knew he would face trouble there and would probably never see them again. Be good shepherds, he pleaded. The wolves are coming, and I won’t be here to protect you. Don’t let them devour the flock with their lies. And don’t be naive: some of the wolves may be in your congregation already.

IF IT LOOKS like a sheep, and sounds like a sheep, is it a sheep? Maybe. But looks can be deceiving, and so can words. Sheep are easily led astray. And hungry wolves who seem like fellow sheep can insinuate themselves into the flock. How is one to know?

This is why the Sermon on the Mount ends with warnings. Jesus argued against what the Pharisees had taught the people about righteousness, and instead told his hearers the truth about what God really wants from his people. They must now hold onto his words; they must hold onto the truth in order to recognize lies.

But there’s more than that. Throughout the sermon, Jesus has given example after example of how true righteousness is not just a matter of what people say they believe, but of how they live in relationship to others. How do you know the difference between a sheep and a wolf? As Jesus will say next, you have to watch how they live.