St. Boniface House

In the passage that we heard from Matthew this morning, Jesus set forth a child as the paradigm of what it means to be “greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”.  Become like one of these—accept insignificance for the sake of others, and you are living out what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that to receive a child in his name is to receive him—and then instructs them not to despise “one of these little ones, because their angels always see the face of the Father.”  Now, without trying to figure out exactly what Jesus means by “their angels”, and so on, we can still see what he means.  Right at the very heart of the Kingdom of God is this principle that “the weak are welcome”.  Surely Jesus is using the weakness and insignificance and neediness of very small children to make the point that there can be no favoritism, no class or rank, no pride in the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are to set aside our privilege for the sake of others. But it is just as certain that in setting forth children as the model of those who are to be included, he would not have us then turn around and exclude them. And this is why we understand our children to be part of God’s covenant family from their earliest days.  This is why we thankfully and with great joy administer baptism to them and so formally initiate them into the covenant community.  This is why we keep them with us in worship, even though sometimes they’re noisy and fidgety.  And this is why they eat bread and drink wine at the Lord’s Table together with all the rest of us.  Because Jesus said “See that you don’t despise one of these little ones”.  The Kingdom of Heaven is not like any other Kingdom in the history of the world.  It is a Kingdom in which the weak and helpless and insignificant are cared for and served and welcomed and strengthened and helped.  What could testify to that fact more clearly than that our Lord Jesus Christ welcomes our little children into his presence and is pleased to feast with them?  The church is not, I say again, the society of the religiously mature or the theologically minded, but the body of those upon whom the mercy of the Lord Jesus has been poured.

And what we need to see is that you grown ups who have dotted all your theological i’s and crossed all your theological t’s, and who are successful in your jobs and have earned the prestige of the world and the church for what you are able to do: you are at this table because you are also weak and helpless and insignificant, and Jesus has had mercy on you.  All communion is paedocommunion.  You are here for the same reason your children are—because the Good Shepherd left the 99 and sought you out.  Learn the mercy of God in this and revel in it.  And learn how you ought to live toward all these other little ones.

This is the Lord’s Table…