‘When the cat is away, the mice will play,’ says the proverb. The Christian believers at Colosse had fallen into the trap. Paul had praised their faith and had none the less found it necessary to say some hard things.
In chapter three he had to tell them to stop being angry, hateful and evil. They must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. Thy must stop lying to each other (CEV vv 6-9). How could it come to this, we may well ask? But we must remember the kind of society they were part of. Much of this behaviour must have been commonplace – no harm meant, just harmless joshing, banter. But there must have been a hard core to it and something short of encouragement and delight in each other’s company. Compassion, kindness, forgiveness must be the hallmarks of their behaviour. Now, of course, they had come to be in Christ and things had to change. More was expected of them.
We have another proverb about the cat. ‘A cat in gloves catches no mice.’ In other words you can’t expect a cat to catch mice if you make it impossible for him to do so. Put a collar and bell on a cat’s neck and you may as well expect him to jump over the moon.
It is commonplace to say that proverbs offer a paradoxical function. They say one thing and then its opposite. ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ but ‘Many hands make light work.’ Proverbs reflect the oddity of life in which a saying and its opposite are both true.
A cat’s paw is not a nice name for what is not a nice thing. A cat’s paw is a person used as a tool by a person wishing to keep his identity unknown. A more up-to-date version of the same thing is to keep somebody at arm’s length. A cat’s paw can pose as a friend. He may be above suspicion for a while but he is likely to be seen for what he is before long.
For all that, I like cats. Condescension incarnate you may say. Better that than what the big ones have to offer.
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