{"podcast":{"title":"Holy Trinity Winchester Podcast","slug":"holy-trinity-winchester-podcast-7049899","podcast_index_feed_id":7049899,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/6021977/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/holy-trinity-winchester-podcast","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/3627be6e6fd267505d435813f91eadfe.jpg","author":"Jamie Franklin","episode_count":139,"summary":"Sermons and Messages from Holy Trinity Winchester holytrinitywinchester.substack.com","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T18:18:26.171961+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/holy-trinity-winchester-podcast-7049899"},"episode":{"title":"“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” - Citizens without Fear","slug":"behold-i-am-sending-you-out-as-sheep-in-the-midst-of-wolves-citizens-without-fear","published_at":"2026-06-25T09:16:46+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/holy-trinity-winchester-podcast-7049899/behold-i-am-sending-you-out-as-sheep-in-the-midst-of-wolves-citizens-without-fear","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/holy-trinity-winchester-podcast-7049899","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/behold-i-am-sending-you-out-as-sheep-in-the-midst-of-wolves-citizens-without-fear--72685820","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72685820/ad07d7b330639510816c176dbaa59787.mp3","summary":"Last week I was speaking about the proclamation given by Christ to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And I said that Christ did not come to start a religion called “Christianity” but that he came to found a new kingdom here upon earth: the Kingdom of God.I spoke a little about what it means to be part of that kingdom: namely, that it is to be formed into a people who have God for their king, who are obedient to God, and who call others to be gathered in to this kingdom.I’d like to continue with this theme of what it means to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Our gospel reading is simply a continuation of Christ’s charge to the twelve apostles.Persecution will comeSadly the lectionary misses out an important section with a memorable line. Christ warns his disciples, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” This changes the picture from labourers sent out into the harvest field. The world we are sent into is not passive or ambivalent about the message of the kingdom. It is often hostile to it, even intensely so. And this makes sense because the world outside of the kingdom has other loyalties, other standards, or, as St Augustine would put it, other loves.Notice the words of Christ, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master…If they have called the master of the household Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household.”Translation: they called Jesus the Devil. He is the master and we are his servants. If they called him the devil (and, indeed, if they crucified him) what will they do to us?Again, Christ says, “Do not fear those who kill the body…” Meaning, of course, that they may kill the body. And the history of the Christian Church is soaked red with the blood of the martyrs. Chris…","meta_description":"Last week I was speaking about the proclamation given by Christ to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And I said that Christ did not come…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":898,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/holy-trinity-winchester-podcast-7049899/episodes/behold-i-am-sending-you-out-as-sheep-in-the-midst-of-wolves-citizens-without-fear/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/holy-trinity-winchester-podcast-7049899/behold-i-am-sending-you-out-as-sheep-in-the-midst-of-wolves-citizens-without-fear.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}