Lions' Roar

Today’s Gospel from Matthew (18:1-5, 10) is quite similar to the one I usually read when I baptize babies and young children.  I use Mark (10:13-16) that has Jesus say: “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it…”

I always tell parents, godparents, and all assembled to dig a little deeper into this reading to understand what it really means for all of us adults.  Like children, we need to forgive, trust, and be humble – that which we tend not to do or be when we’re adults and hardened by life’s daily struggles and conflicts.

I also occasionally tell this story.  “Once upon a time, a sculptor was chipping away at a huge block of marble.  Two young children watched him work for many weeks.  They sat silently to the great surprise of their father and mother.

They were amazed when finally a magnificent lion emerged from the stone and stood towering over them.  They ran excitedly to the sculptor their eyes wide-open with wonder and asked, “How did you know there was a lion hidden in that rock?”

The sculptor laughed and thought to himself, “How do I tell these beautiful children that I had to know the lion, before I knew the marble stone and what it hid?” 

But he looked at the children and said, “I was very quiet when I first started, and I listened to the stone.  I heard the lion roaring inside.  Then I chipped away at everything that wasn’t the lion and set him free!”

God is our sculptor.  Jesus holds the chisel.  God chips away at us to reveal the lion within all of us – the lion hidden within our hearts.  All we have to do is let God do the work.  Then, when we are set free from the stone, we find the courage to roar.

This is what we give babies and children through baptism.  We teach them how to roar by telling them that God is our Sculptor, and God has expectations.  We teach them that God expects them to love, to forgive, to seek forgiveness, and to fight for what is right and just.

And then I remind parents and godparents of a key statement in the baptismal rite when we cloth the babies and children in the white garment: “See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity.  With your family and friends to help you by word and example (my emphasis), bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.”

Without the right words and examples, the roars of children become “meows.”

Deacon David Pierce